The film starts with the text that says:
On October 13, 2008, Filmkameratene AS (Film buddies, LLC) received an anonymous shipment consisting of two hard drives containing the filmed material. This film is a rough cut of the footage. Everything is shown in chronological order, and the images have not been manipulated. For over a year, a team of investigators has tried to determine whether this is a hoax or if the material is genuine. The conclusion was that it is genuine.
Hey, look, it’s actually real, you guys! No Blair witch bollox.
Some weird stuff is going on in the west part of Norway, such as suspicious bear killings by a mysterious lone ranger-like man named Hans. And yes, he’s a Norwegian, not a German. A group of film students follow Hans to get some real answers, and why some shady guy, who says he’s the head of the Norwegian Wildlife Board just coincidentally shows up on every kill site with the “nothing to see here, folks“ attitude (catching my breath). It’s too easy to smell the bullshite, or trollshite if you will, especially when he’s from Bergen. The film crew tries to get an interview with Hans, only to get a clear Stay away! Sure, bud. They follow him over to Sogn and Fjordane, a hotspot for trolls, and as they track him deeper into the woods after the dark has settled, they hear some unearthed noises. The next moment, Hans runs towards them in a panic and yells TROOOLL! I guess that wasn’t exactly on their bingo card.
And here’s a funny thing: If you view Sognefjord from Google Maps, it actually looks like an epic lightning strike. Thor was here, that’s for sure.
We eventually learn that Theodor Kittelsen’s classic drawings were not merely some products of imagination, and that anyone with Christian blood is safer in Oslo’s worst neighborhoods than in the forest. Muslims are safe, though, because that’s another religion. Asbjørnsen and Moe, on the other hand, (the Norwegian answer to the Brothers Grimm) do not quite align with reality, according to Hans. And now that the can of worms has been opened, and that Hans has not much to lose, he welcomes the film crew to join him as he hunts for the giant mountain troll Jotun, while exposing some secrets that would be Norway’s answer to Disclosure Day (catching my breath again).
Our Troll hunter is portrayed by Otto Jespersen, one of the most profiled, and sometimes controversial comedians of Norway. His primetime was during the ’90s and early to mid-2000s and us norse millennial gnomes will have some fond memories of the farmer Duggurd, Mr. Bean on bathsalt Friskusen and Barron Blod who got me into Black Metal. Fun, fun times. And his transition from the comedy scene to the big screen was not the easiest as he struggled to keel himself together and take the film seriously during the shooting. Most of the comedic one-liners he added was cut out, and that was maybe for the best. The mix of apathy and bitterness fits his ragged, scarfaced character way more which also makes a great paradoxical contrast to all considered with trollpiss, Tusseladder and all. This is no laughing matter, you see.
André Øvredal actually had his directorial debut in the mid ’90s with the thriller/fantasy film Future Murder, which he co-directed with his buddy Norman Lesperance. It was made as a student thesis at Brooks Institute of Photography in California, and released in 2000 with a limited DVD release of 5000 copies. It took another ten years until he made his breakthrough film, Troll Hunter, that would not only be the first mockumentary/found footage made in Norway, but also its first creature feature. And what could be more fitting than trolls? The real trolls in Norway will always be the politicians (yes, I despise them) and the Royal family, much like how the real vampires in Romania hides in the Victoria Palace in Bucharest.
The first remarkable thing here is, of course, the grim n’ gloomy Norwegian nature, which already makes a perfect backdrop. No set-pieces needed, just drive some miles, take a ferry and there you have it. And we haven’t even seen the troll yet, only the disgusting slime and other bodily fluids they leave behind. I must admit I was skeptical when seeing this back in 2010, and I really liked how the first troll was introduced and how the effects looked way more practical than CGI. The sharp sound design also adds some weight on their presence. They actually looked so convincing that there were people on the internet who asked if this was real, probably the same simpletons who still believes that The McPherson Tape is real, so…what can you say.
Most of the humor relies on folklore references, such as a scene where Hans tries to lure a troll by placing three billy goats on a bridge. We also finally have a “logic“ medical explanation of why the sunlight turns them into stones. Then there’s a scene where Hans and the crew enter an old mine, only to get trapped in a corner and exposed to gas. And yes, we’re talking about troll farts. Long, wet crusty bubbly farts. Ew. Speaking of stench, since trolls can smell Christian blood, a certain crew member has to smear their body and clothes with troll stench. The climax at the mountain where Hans’ Land Rover has been modified as something from Mad Max before the encounter with the giant troll, looks c o o l.
Troll Hunter still holds up, just like the 10 000 year-old Troll Cock (Trollpikken) outside of Egersund, and feels fresh to this day, sixteen years after its release. It’s still a unique triumph that doesn’t look like anything else coming from Norwegian cinema (if we’re gonna ignore the rather forgettable and shallow Troll films made for Netflix.) Norwegian horror films hasn’t been much to write home about during the last ten years or so, aside from very few exceptions, and the newest Kraken was a total embarrassment. Øvredal said under the press tour that he’d love to make a sequel sometime, and now that Otto Jesperen already has pushed his 70s, it’s maybe about time to gear up the Land Rover.
Writer and director: André Øvredal
Original title: Trolljegeren
Country & year: Norway, 2010
Actors: Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Urmila Berg-Domaas, Hans Morten Hansen, Robert Stoltenberg, Knut Nærum, Eirik Bech, Inge Erik Henjesand
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740707/
A father and a son who are running a coroner business from their own home, need to identify the body of a young woman who was found in a house full of brutally murdered bodies. The other bodies were that of the family living in the house…but in the basement, the police found the half-buried corpse of that young woman. The corpse is pristine, there isn’t even a scratch on her or any blood. As the old saying goes, however: looks can be deceiving…
