Trollhunter/Trolljegeren/Troll Hunter/The Troll Hunter (2010) - Øvredal's original found footage kaiju horror comedy

♥♥♥

 

+ Best Norwegian Movie of the Year

+ Best Found Footage Movie of the Year

 

A Kaiju-size monster suggestive, rough-and-tumble poster for André Øvredal's Trollhunter

 

Three enthusiastic youth graduates from a university want to document bear hunting in Norway, when they discover something far more exciting: A taciturn macho veteran, who hunts trolls in the forests of the country for a covert security branch of the government!

You venture out with Trollhunter with some doubts, because the three youths are deeply uninteresting, and because their almost unbelievably amateurish recordings are cut together in a very high pace. This, however, is done with the justification that we then arrive faster to the forest, the night, the hunter - and the trolls. - Which certainly hooked me nonetheless!

Otto Jespersen (Børning (2014)) as the hunter and Torunn Lødemel Stokkeland (Løvekvinnen (2016)) in a smaller part as a veterinarian give impressively straight-faced, believable performances, and together with the hilarious Norwegian troll names, (some of which are invented for the film, I suspect), they raise the laugh-factor which is sizable, (especially so for Scandinavians.) Fun is had from the veterinarian's grotesque care gene, (which even extends to include trolls!), and the ultimate shame for a youngster in today's Norway, apparently: Being a Christian. But the humorous aspects could have gone even further, and it is a shame that so much focus is instead put on the moronic students, heightened but not unlike versions of the trio of youth filmmakers in the modern spearhead for the found footage genre, The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The trolls and the effects in general are well-made; the ending a little flat (perhaps not for Norwegians!) The film is a curio gem. It is written and directed by André Øvredal (The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)). Fun fact: As of 2016, the film is mislabeled on IMDb as a documentary!

 

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 3.5 mil. $

Box office: 5.3 mil. $

= Big flop

[Trollhunter was released October 29 and runs 103 minutes. Filming took place in Western Norway.  The film opened #71 to a 5k $ weekend in one theater in North America, where it peaked in 21 theaters at place #42 and grossed 253k $ (4.8 % of the total gross). Its biggest market by far was its native Norway with 3.9 mil. $ (73.6 %). Before North America, the 2nd biggest market was the UK with 0.7 mil. $ (13.2 %). Deadline.com has reported that Chris Columbus' company 1492 has acquired the rights to an American remake, although nothing has materialized yet. Trollhunter is certified fresh at 82 % with a 6.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Trollhunter?