Film: The Troll Hunter
Year of production: 2010
Running time: 90 mins
Director: André Øvredal
Starring: Otto Jespersen, Hans Morten Hansen, Tomas Alf Larsen, Johanna Mørck
Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy/Drama/Horror/Thriller
Country: Norway
Language: Norwegian
Review by: Ken Talbot
No confirmed UK release date as yet, but screened at festivals such as Sundance.
Following a hugely successful festival run, Andre Ovredal’s quirky horror is destined for cultdom. Now Western audiences get to see Norway’s answer to the ubiquitous shaky cam monster movie.
A group of student filmmakers track the movements of Hans, a mysterious figure painted by a local community as a dangerous poacher. He spurns their interview advances at first, until they catch him during one of his hunts.
Hans is a troll hunter, tasked with policing the borders of Norway and using lethal force against any troll that oversteps their own hunting ground. Tired of his thankless job, Hans takes the film crew on his travels in the hope that they can reveal the trolls to the rest of the world so he can finally retire.
The group begin a dangerous journey through the Norwegian countryside, to learn the tricks of the troll hunting trade and document the life of, as one of the students puts it, “a true Norwegian superhero…”
The Troll Hunter is first and foremost a love letter to Norway, with an almost endless succession of postcard images that just happen to feature trolls. Orvedal’s camera spends more time staring longingly at the beautiful vistas than he does on the titular pursuant and his fantastical prey. It’s this focus on nature that forms the basis of many of the film’s underlying themes, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, juxtaposing the natural and the un-natural, an extraordinary set of circumstances viewed through humble digital video.
The arrival of the trolls on screen is deftly handled by Ovredal who teases us before showing his hand. Low angle shots of tall trees wait for a reveal that never arrives. Cars are decimated off screen, leaving us to gawp at the carnage post-attack, meanwhile, chewed tree branches and sticky “troll p**s” brings Hans closer to his target.
When the film’s antagonists are revealed, they do not disappoint. Half comical fairytale pastiche, half grotesque spectacle, their bulbous features covered in fur and slime - if Jim Henson had made a straight up monster movie, it would probably look like this. Ovredal builds some great setpieces around his beasts, including a standout moment of tension in a crowded troll cave, bathed in the eerie green of night vision.
The human element is always important in what can most appropriately be tagged the ‘shaky cam’ horror film. They are the audience’s visual anchor, a presence to cling to during the scares, and someone to empathise with. In The Troll Hunter, we mingle within a group of naïve, almost childlike students as they follow the life of a truly extraordinary yet utterly grounded individual.
Hans is the star of the film, though, and Jespersen imbues him with gravitas and stoicism. Whether he is recalling a horrific memory involving a sector-wide troll massacre or chastising one of his wards for lying about their belief in god, he is always engaging to watch. He plays the ‘trolljegeren’ as a downtrodden civil servant, someone who no longer accepts their societal role and has decided to rebel against his masters (here represented by shady wildlife officials who don’t want the students filming Hans). His deadpan delivery is instrumental in the darker comic moments of the film, when one of the group asks whether a replacement camerawoman is safe despite her Muslim beliefs, he simply replies, “I don’t know, we’ll see what happens.”
If The Troll Hunter has a failing, it’s in the deliberate vagueness of the story. Too many threads are left ignored, a subplot about troll rabies never seems to go anywhere, and a relationship between Hans and a kindly veterinarian is hinted at and then quickly abandoned. It’s a testament to the quality of the film that, when most questions are often best left unanswered, one still yearns for more information. Indeed, there is enough content and establishing lore here to give birth to a franchise (and, god forbid, a western remake), yet Ovredal decides to end with an abrupt climax, the impact of which is sullied somewhat by a comical coda that seems more like a punchline than a conclusion.
A hugely imaginative genre piece, The Troll Hunter’s beautiful locations, imaginative monsters and memorable central character deserve a mainstream audience. Likewise, writer/director Ovredal should follow hand-held monster movie alumnus Matt Reeves in becoming a talent to watch. KT
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