Z/Web

Now this is the way monster movies should be done! I adored this. I wanted to see this Norwegian film a while back as I’d heard it was good, but it was only showing in a tiny theatre in Portland and I didn’t make it.

Early into the film I realized this was a “found footage” film, which I’m not crazy about, and when we got to the first bit of wild action, I had a sinking feeling. With the crazy camera angles, blurry shots, and shaking, and I couldn’t make out anything (except my stomach churning). But fortunately that was only for that moment — the majority of the film doesn’t overemphasize the handheld aspect. In fact, what I really liked about this is that they actually do show the trolls — long, extended shots instead of quick, blurry flashes (like in Cloverfield). That’s much more realistic. After all, if you were filming Bigfoot or whatever wouldn’t you try to get more than two seconds of footage of him?

The plot of this film is brilliantly simple. There are bear attacks in rural Norway so a group of college students — wannabe filmmakers, I guess — decide to film a documentary about the hunt. Then they hear about a strange lone hunter who is mysterious and try and interview him. At first he won’t say a word, but after they follow him and get attacked by a troll, he opens up and reveals he’s a troll hunter. He then allows the crew to follow him as he hunts.

What I liked here is that there’s a bit of a mystery: why are the trolls showing up in populated areas? How did they get out of their territory? Most monster films don’t ask such questions — they just expect the audience to believe. Here we not only get the logical questions, but the answer is great, too.

Even better, this film continues that trend throughout the film: it asks all the questions I want to know about trolls. Through interviews with the hunter (and a doctor), we get to learn all sorts of interesting things about them. One of my pet peeves about most monster movies is the way the main characters just accept strange creatures without asking all the obvious questions. (Like how come nobody notices twenty-foot trolls roaming through the woods?)

This is a terrifically realistic look at the troll concept and halfway through the film I was a believer in them. (The troll special effects are pretty good, too. Not perfect, but much better than I expected for a non-Hollywood film.)

Another thing that I appreciated about this film is that it doesn’t try to be scary. There are no artificial scares or fake camera setups to artificially induce tension or suspense. Instead it’s more like watching footage from the Nature Channel. Fascinating, not frightening. Sure, there are some action moments and sometimes you are thrilled, but it comes from what’s happening, not gimmicky camerawork. This made the film far more enjoyable to me. Instead of being dark and depressing, it’s lighter, more scientific, and the occasionally grim moments are far more realistic and believable.

I’m shocked at how good this was. I loved it and would see it again. Just wonderful, fun, and fascinating. It’s very intelligent and doesn’t insult the audience. I hear Hollywood’s doing a remake: I bet they’ll ruin it and release a typical dumb monster movie.