Troll Hunter [Celluloid Hero]

Troll Hunter 2010

A number of bears are being killed in the Norwegian mountains. They aren't part of a hunt, and not killed by licensed hunters, so a trio of college students decide to investigate. They follow the supposed poacher, only to learn that he's not hunting bears...he's hunting something much much more dangerous.

The three students, Thomas, Kalle, and Johanna, follow Hans, a troll hunter. Hans decides to reveal his career on film, in a sort of cathartic cleansing, finally being able to talk about his secretive job after years of silence. He reveals there are multiple species of trolls spread across multiple areas of Norway. A clandestine government organization is in charge of monitoring the beasts and killing them if they attempt to cross into places inhabited by humans.

I really enjoyed this movie. The mock-umentary style worked well, being able to disguise the trolls for the most part so you couldn't point out any glaringly obvious uses of CGI or puppetry. I'm not saying I believe trolls are real, but the digital work put in for this movie was pretty impressive and almost made me believe it COULD be real.

It sort of combined Cloverfield and Jurassic Park. They used the idea of "found footage" to explain how this material got out to the public. It takes the Jurassic Park technique of first hiding the creatures in the trees, only hearing roars in the distance and feeling the ground shake. It builds the fear by not revealing the monsters right away, or keeping them in shadowy areas, letting your imagination run wild and fill in the blanks.

No trolls were harmed during the making of this movie.

On the Celluloid Hero scale, "Troll Hunter" gets a 7 out of 10.

[Each week, Varacchi explores cinema from his own perspective. From indie to foreign to mainstream, he'll watch it all. Suggestions and recommendations are welcome, leave a comment below. CLICK HERE for the Celluloid Hero archives]