The Troll Hunter is yet another film I knew nothing about until my cinema buddy advised me to watch the trailer. What would I do without him? Probably see less films is what. :0)
No sooner had he told me about the film when I saw the trailer for Troll Hunter on the next film I saw at the cinema, Fright Night. I wasn't sure if it was going to be funny or serious but it intrigued me enough that I decided to go and see what all the huge praise was about.
We were quickly informed by cinema staff when purchasing our tickets, that this was a Norwegian film and therefore subtitled. I don't have a problem with subtitled movies but I certainly wasn't expecting that from the trailer I'd seen which showed no hint of subtitles (see below). Accepting the origins of the film and taking our seats we soon became very worried about the type of film Troll Hunter was going to be. From the trailer it looked quite light hearted, but all of the trailers before the movie were for horror films. And not just Final Destination type horror films but really sick looking horror films.
In spite of this we stayed in our seats and were soon transported to Norway, where we were told that a group of three college students were making a film about illegal bear poaching...and this was the footage that was found when they went missing! DunDunDUUUUUN! The documentary footage shows the students as they try to get to the bottom of the mysteries surrounding supposed illegal poaching of bears across Norway's forests and mountain ranges. The students soon discover that trolls have been responsible for the disappearances of local people and the bears are being brought in later by government officials to cover up the existence of the trolls. In discovering the conspiracy to keep the trolls a secret, the students also discover the price for what they've captured on film.
Troll Hunter is quite an odd film to describe as it's not a comedy (despite the vibes you might get from the trailer) but it's not a serious film either. There are funny moments, but not hilarious and not frequent enough for the film to be considered a spoof.
I also took into account the film following on from other movies which have supposedly been "real" documentaries, films like The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity to name but a few, which have all used the camcorder style of filming to chilling effect, in comparison to these films however, Troll Hunter just seems boring. There are moments that could have been genuinely scary but they just don't make the most of them.
Troll Hunter has quite good effects for what seems like a low budget Norwegian film but these don't make up for the movie feeling overly long. By the third troll discovery I was chomping at the bit for someone to die just to make it a bit more exciting. You could easily cut half an hour (possibly more) out of the film and it would probably have been all the better for it.
Troll Hunter held such promise but in the end it just didn't live up to expectations. 6 out of 10.
Viewing Date - 12th September 2011
UK Release Date - 9th September 2011
Cast Overview:
Otto Jespersen ~ Hans
Glenn Erland Tosterud ~ Thomas
Johanna Mørck ~ Johanna
Tomas Alf Larsen ~ Kalle
Urmila Berg-Domaas ~ Malica
Hans Morten Hansen ~ Finn
Director/Writer ~ André Øvredal
Contributing Writer ~ Håvard S. Johansen
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