Review

Three student film makers from Volda College are working on a documentary about a sudden upsurge in bear deaths in the backwoods of Norway. Talking to a couple of registered bear Hunters, there's something new to put on the census under occupation, the students learn a "poacher" named Hans may have something to do with the bear carnage. Pretty much the Students stalk the elusive and solitary Hans till they find out exactly what he is involved in, which is a darn sight more interesting than inexplicable bear deaths.

The Students learn more than they bargained for as the world weary Hans invites them into his solitary world which involves giant trolls, Government cover ups, and the Troll Security Service. Unfortunately for the students Hans doesn't live in an entirely safe environment, Trolls aren't exactly fluffy bunnies, but there's another danger they are unaware of. Really, a movie about giant Trolls out of Norway and the Sci-Fi channel aren't even involved!

I've got to say I was amused by the whole concept here and was expecting an attempt at comedy horror rather than an out and out horror movie. Writer/Director André Øvredal is having none of it, grabs his outlandish idea and runs with it. While the movie isn't going to topple The Exorcist in terms of scare factor it still romps along like a brought one and delivers the tension in a fairly effective fashion. There's a raw edge to the movie that somehow raises it above the run of the mill to actual deliver an effective bleak experience that has something of an edge to it.

Guess I should mention this is another found footage effort, the footage coming from the student cameraman and no other source. What Øvredal gets right here is avoiding nausea cam, having people getting the flock out of Dodge when the brown stuff hits the fan, and otherwise making things as believable as possible. These folks don't stand around filming as the danger descends on them, they emulate Olympic runners and exit stage left at warp factor nine. Excellent use of the found footage approach that gave me a whole new respect for the faux documentary approach in use.

Very effective found footage movie that has some bite in amongst the outlandish ideas being presented

Not sure if the Norwegian Tourist Bureau financed this movie or not but got to say there's some excellent locations in use, does it always rain in Norway? - Øvredal fully uses the landscapes with some stunning long shots that must have looked awesome on the big screen. There's an epic quality to the movie with the use of the long shoots adding a lot more than a movie with a low budget can normally achieves. So even if you don't dig the mayhem on the screen you can still chill out to the backgrounds and sweeping vistas.

Guess I've put it off long enough, time to discuss the troll creature effects. Due to the size of the creatures and the lack of budget Øvredal goes with CGI to surprisingly effective results. The CGI looks pretty solid, even when the cameraman is running and shooting over his shoulder. Øvredal doesn't stint on showing the full creature design, well multiple creature designs really given the various differing troll types, and I didn't notice any problems with the post production insertion of the computer images. About the only problem I had with the various Trolls was that they were pretty non-threatening in appearance. To be honest they looked pretty comical, not being helped by long noses etc. Still you have to play with what you are dealt, Øvredal in this movie is prepared to change up the mythology but not dramatically change the creature appearance from the folklore sources. I would imagine if Boredwood does a remake we'll get some sort of travesty in this regard. Actually thinking about it I guess Troll Hunter would be the Norwegian equivalent to a Big Foot movie.

Which brings me to perhaps the weakest aspect of the movie, the actual characters as the script defined them. While the acting is pretty solid the students remain at best irritating if not outright dislikeable. They have this smug factor going down, that isn't helped when they remain sceptical through the first block of the movie even when the evidence points to something much different to bears causing the disappearance of locals and tourists. I dug Hans, dude had this sort of "man with no name" persona going down and the rest of the support cast but have to admit to hoping the students would be culled sooner rather than later. Hell think Heather from The Blair Witch Marketing Project multiplied by a factor of ten and you'll be on the money.

Gorehounds are going to be sorely disappointed with this one, about the only real death and destruction you get are Trolls turning to stone and then being pulverised with a sledgehammer. There's a couple of deaths but we're talking off camera. Likewise T&A isn't on the menu; think it might have been a tad cold for anyone to get their kit off to be honest.

Before closing I wanted to mention that Troll Hunter builds its own internal logic and then sticks to that logical, script writing 101 for speculative movies really. The Trolls are suddenly a nuisance due to a certain type having been exposed to rabies and driving the lesser ones out of their remote habitats, one of the students is bitten by a Troll and by end of movie is displaying rabies symptoms. Trolls are not seen during the day due to sensitivity to light, which also causes them to explode or turn to stone depending on age due to deficiencies in their makeup. Watch the movie to glean other factoids, just pointing out a couple kids and noting the excellent internal logic.

Troll Hunter is a subtitled, language is Norwegian naturally, found footage movie which will probably work against it in terms of audience reception. The teens hate having to read stuff or do anything really. I was anticipating this flick when I first read about it getting an Aussie release and am pretty happy with the final movie. If you like slightly left field genre efforts this movie is worth checking out, if after something slightly more contemporary, for want of a better world, then it's back to making a decision on your viewing requirements. I'm really hoping we get a sequel, I reckon the ending leaves enough room for one.