Trollhunter (2010) Review

College students go out in the woods with a camera and disappear leaving only footage behind. Sound familiar? Well, this time it’s a wee bit different thanks to plenty of dry Norwegian wit and a ludicrous subject played with straight faces. Hoping for an interesting story on bear poaching, the students soon find out the object of their pursuit is hunting something different – trolls. Is the man insane or is there more than bears out in the wilds of Norway?

The found footage craze has slowly died down in movie making much to the relief of serious cinema buffs. However, this indie gem out of Norway proves that the format isn’t completely worthless and that a good movie can be made in the style. It doesn’t hurt that a very dark sense of humor is complimented by legitimate tension building, great effects, and deadpan acting.

Like all found footage movies things begin with text on screen informing us that the following content was edited from footage recorded by missing people, in this case college students working on a project in 2008.  We quickly get to know the main characters through glimpses of them setting up their gear and an early introduction for a documentary they are filming.

Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud) is the nerdy and earnest face of the production, clearly in charge even if not respected by his cameraman. Johanna (Johanna Morck) is an attractive blonde in charge of the boom mike and recording system. Her other job is trying to keep cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) from being a jerk toward Thomas.

Their quarry is a suspected poacher killing bears and depositing them in random places in the countryside. Clued in by the hunting community, they eventually track down the mystery man known only as Hans. Hans (Otto Jespersen) is a gruff cipher who rebuffs the trio when they confront him at a trailer park.

Something isn’t right though, even accounting for his illegally killing bears. One look at his battered Land Rover reveals some very nasty claw marks that don’t look very ursine in origin. Then there is the horrible smell coming from his camper.

As if the mystery hunter weren’t strange enough, another bear is found dumped in the countryside. What makes it odd is the presence of a shifty government official (Hans Morten Hansen) making excuses for the theories being made by local hunters. There’s a whiff of some kind of cover up that only motivates Thomas more.

As the students doggedly follow Hans, we the audience get treated to a great deal of Norway’s rugged beauty. It made me terribly nostalgic about a trip up to New Foundland I made back in ‘05. That’s mainly because the trio act much like tourists in catching the local scenery on camera. Lucky for us it is all in glorious HD.

Following a strange man into the forest at night is never the wisest of ideas. But since horror movies never have protagonists with any common sense, it is no surprise when the college kids find themselves in a spooky forest. Hans is nowhere to be seen at first.

Flashing lights and strange guttural sounds unnerve the trio, yet the real panic begins when Hans bursts out of the darkness and yells, “TROLL!” Time for the disorienting camera being carried by somebody running in a panic scene we all knew was coming. Forget shaky cam, this is far more annoying, but here it works better than it should.

Not everyone gets through this unscathed for Thomas has been bitten by something. It’s a nasty wound that gets treated in a matter of fact way by Hans that I found amusing. There’s something about duct taping a dressing applied through a worn jacket that resonates with me. Hey, I’m a practical guy, what can I say.

Despite the bite, the would be documentarians don’t believe that a troll was responsible, after all they are creatures out of folklore. There’s a story to be found yet, or so Thomas believes much to Kalle’s irritation. While we rarely get to see the cameraman, his abrasive comments are a regular occurrence early in the movie.

Then there is Hans. He’s not pleased to have the kids around, but after some thought the hunter has a proposal. They can follow and record him, but only if they do everything he tells them. Oh and none of them better believe in God or Jesus because trolls can smell the blood of a Christian man.

Not sure whether or not they are being pranked, they accompany Hans back into the woods. Soon they find out the man has told the truth when a three headed troll emerges from the trees.

After a terrifying chase through the trees, Hans manages to stop the monster with a battery of ultraviolet (UV) lights that causes it to turn to stone. Just like in The Hobbit and old fairy tales, trolls can’t handle sunlight. Or in this case, artificial sunlight.

This leads to a hilarious sequence depicting how the remains of the Tosserlad (a race of trolls) have to be destroyed to maintain the government’s hiding the existence of the dangerous creatures. Assisting in the doings is the shady official seen earlier.

Finn is his name and he’s none too pleased to see a film crew with Hans. It’s only one of the problems besetting the bureaucrat overseeing troll control. Whether it is handling the media, dealing with unreliable Polish bear providers, or faking bear tracks, none of it goes well for Finn.

No wonder so many government workers are cranky.

Which explains Hans blasé attitude and willingness to expose a secret operation that has gone on for decades. He’s at the bottom of the totem pole doing all the dirty work for terrible pay and minimal benefits. Fed up with his lot in life, the trollhunter is soon revealing all the day to day minutia of his job to the college students.

Everything from the amazing stupidity of trolls to what their favorite things to gnaw on are explained as they travel from region to region trying to find out why the critters are suddenly acting up. Something of a mystery is going on that has Hans concerned.

While they travel, Thomas begins to show signs of not feeling well, but insists he’s fine. After all, things are getting worse with “bear attacks” increasing to the point of the media getting curious. That isn’t the only thing causing problems. College kids being what they are, it isn’t long before Thomas is baiting Finn now that he’s in on the secret.

A need to get a blood sample from a rogue troll leads to a traditional setting for the mythological monsters, a bridge. Bait is required to bring out the beast, so a couple of sheep, a goat, and a bucket of special blood are employed. Normally this would be an utterly nasty scene, but that Norwegian humor undercuts it in highly entertaining fashion when Hans dons a ridiculous suit of protective armor.

Let’s just say that he doesn’t have the know how or budget of Tony Stark.

I have to say the effects are much better in this encounter than the previous one. The blending of the CGI and real things is handled deftly bringing a real sense of menace to the Ringlefinch troll. He’s blindingly fast like a wild animal while giving a real impression of having mass and weight.

A visit to a veterinarian participating in the covert program gives us further explanation of troll biology. It’s a sly mockery of technobabble in science fiction movies complete with a moment of bleeding heart concern. In fact there’s a lot of subtle moments in the visit that I don’t want to spoil, so enough said.

By this time Thomas has begun to hero worship Hans while Kalle has grown quieter and more sullen. He’s not enthused, but Johanna has gotten nearly as excited by the story as Thomas. Unity is not there, if it ever was.

Suspicious happenings in Jotunheimen takes the group to a farming community where the locals are clueless about what’s happening. It’s up to Hans deal with the reality of the situation and that involves going into a troll lair. In the darkness of the abandoned mine, the college students find out that pursuing a story at all costs can have dire consequences.

Trauma, power lines, trolls, and Norway’s Dovre region all converge for an eventful and troll filled ending.

Thoughts

Sometimes a little heard of film will come out of nowhere to wow me and Trollhunter is one of them. Working equally well as a horror film and a spoof of the genre, especially the found film subgenre, it’s a well crafted piece of likeable entertainment. It’s also hard to quantify being a truly unique movie.

Part of its charm is watching the wonderfully droll Hans dealing with a bunch of college students who act their age. World weary, cynical, and deadpan, the title character radiates stillness while all about him chaos rages. If there really were things like trolls, we’d want someone like him to deal with them.

The dark humor permeating the story works well because it is never overplayed or over explained. Presenting absurd things with an attitude of this is just how things are and why are you even questioning, the movie sucks you into its world. So when Thomas and his companions ask leading questions of bewildered people unaware of what’s really going on, it makes you feel like you are in on the joke.

Overall, the acting is superb with everyone believable in the parts they are playing. This of course helps with the suspension of disbelief while making you want to see what happens to all of them. One of the things I enjoyed was how often awkward silences and silent looks were used to set the mood of scenes.

Being a monster movie, the effects are an important part of creating the suspension of disbelief. I’m happy to report that the effects are really good, especially since this isn’t a high budget movie. Don’t expect SyFy Channel movie quality, but something much better. In fact, some CGI is better than things in The Hobbit, to name a very expensive blockbuster of recent vintage. Multiple rendering studios were used and in my opinion the best effects were saved for the final act. Though I have to say the bridge encounter was really good too.

One aspect that betrays the found footage concept is the employment of sound in the movie. Extensive and very effective use of surround sound is something that Johanna’s boom mike simply could not pick up. This isn’t a complaint due to the fact that the sound effects are fantastic in setting up various moods in the movie. The wind in the mountains, the stillness of the forest broken by the sound of trees cracking, and the bellows of huge trolls really add to the atmosphere.

This brings me to the one weak point of the movie release: the English language dub. Oh it’s bad. We’re talking Italian movies of the 1970s bad. Not only are the performances uniformly terrible, the track doesn’t mix well with the sound effects. Only a token effort was made to filter the voice actors to fit the various environments.

Making things worse is the decision to increase the frequency and intensity of the profanity with numerous F-bombs inserted. While doing screen captures I was barely able to make it halfway through the movie before changing to the native Norwegian track, the dub is so bad. Watch it with the subtitles instead and enjoy the Norwegian, it’s a lovely sounding language after all.

Trollhunter is rated PG-13 for “some sequences of creature terror.” Also of note to parents is the mild profanity in it of a scatological nature and some blood. What little “gore” is in the movie is so indistinct that you can’t make out what it once was which actually makes it creepier, at least in my opinion. This is a film for teenagers and up being far too intense for little kids. Some tweens will be able to handle it, but parental discretion is definitely advised.

I highly recommend Trollhunter to horror movie buffs, monster lovers, and anyone who likes a well crafted mockumentary. It’s a really good movie deserving of more attention that it has gotten.

Technical

My copy of Trollhunter is the Magnet label Blu-ray release from Magnolia Home Entertainment. It is a used copy in very good condition that I scored off of Amazon for a paltry price.

The movie and extras are all in 16:9 1080p HD and the picture quality is excellent since it was shot with a digital video camera. That means you’ll see grain in the night time shots, just like when you take photos with a digital still camera. I noticed IMDB.com has the ratio for the film listed at 1.85:1, but it was shot at 1920x1080 (or 1.78:1) so nothing has been cropped.

Audio options are Norwegian or English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio with subtitles in English, English narrative, English SDH, and Spanish. The sound quality is excellent in the Norwegian track with the previously mentioned issues affecting the English track.

There are actually quite a few extras in the Special Features section:

Deleted Scenes – Most are very short and add nothing to the story, showing good judgment in editing the movie. Only one is of any note and involves an interview with a woman insistent that wolves ripped off the doors of her barn.

Improv and Bloopers – Only two minutes worth and show how loose the cast were with each other.

Extended Scenes – Nearly eight minutes long, it included longer versions of the power plant, Pioter’s Paint Service, and diner scenes. Once again, shows how the final product was better cut as it was.

Visual Effects -  Six minutes of shorts showing work on the various trolls by different effects houses.

Behind the Scenes – This is the best part of the extras made up of  seven shorts that total 23 minutes. Content includes how they set up filming of different shots and what life was like for the cast traveling in an RV. Also revealed is that Hans beard is a fake!

Photo Galleries – A six minute slideshow of troll design sketches and vistas of the Norwegian countryside.

HDNET: A Look at Trollhunter – This four minute promo was made for HDNET, the pioneering high definition cable network which was rebranded to AXS TV in 2012. Featuring English language interviews with the actor playing Thomas and the director it functioned as a teaser for the movie in the States.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

AND TROLLS!!!!

 

 

 

 

BIG TROLLS!!!!

The return of the Mountain King trolls to their lair made for a perfect mix of genuine fear and black hearted humor. Getting trapped in a small dark space is a primordial fear of most humans along with the horrifying prospect of being eaten. The intrepid group has to deal with both and nearly toxic troll flatulence.

After all the build up about there being a closeted Christian in the group, it finally pays off with a classic riff on one of the group in a horror movie having a freak out. It turns out Kalle is the believer in a stereotypical depiction of Christians as cowardly hypocrites. Ah, the film making left.

At least they showed his death upsetting the survivors, except Hans. He’s too burned out to be phased by anything. It also sets up the amusing moment when Thomas asks their new camera woman if she is Christian only to find out she’s Muslim. Hans having no clue how that would work with the trolls made me laugh.

If I were ever to own a Land Rover, I’d want to mod it to look like this. Should be enough to keep deer from damaging it, right?

I loved the scene where Thomas asks the power station operator whether or not he wondered why hundreds of miles of power lines were run in a circle going nowhere. Functionaries are the same everywhere in the world.

Okay, the moment an isolated cabin shows up in a horror movie it isn’t good news for the cast. Just saying.

The stereotypical Vietnam vet style confession by Hans was quietly amusing. The actor is a comedian by trade and only a comic could deliver the lines with such a straight face.

I’ll confess that the reveal of the trolls have been infected with rabies and so has Thomas was my favorite comic bit in the movie. Especially his going into denial over it. Trust me, it’s funnier than it sounds.

The Godzilla sizes Jotnar troll makes for a great final opponent. Driven mad by rabies, he’s chased all the other trolls out and you can see why. The special effects are at their best here with the chase being the best part.

Much earlier in the movie, Hans mentioned he’d made a UV grenade in passing. It’s used to great effect and there was a feeling of him being sad to put the suffering giant down. That’s conveyed by his body language along with the long pause before firing in a nice touch.

The survivors celebration goes bad pretty quickly when Finn’s convoy of vehicles shows up. A frantic run ends with the last thing filmed, a line of semis approaching Thomas. It’s a nicely vague ending, since everyone involved has disappeared, but the footage had to be passed on by someone.

In a sly bit of dubbing and camera panning, Finn is inserted into a video from a real press conference of then Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. They dub in Stoltenberg making a reference to trolls that upsets Finn greatly.

Oh and watch through the end credits for a surprise.