Troll Hunter
Directed by André Øvredal
- fantasy
- horror
The story
A group of students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter.
What it’s like
Handheld digital footage with the jittery, under-lit look of a student documentary crew: sudden zooms, out-of-focus pans, and long stretches of dim forest and snowy ridgeline in flat, overcast daylight or murky dusk. The Norwegian woods are dense and cold, with blue-grey snow, pine-black shadow and the occasional harsh flash of a camera light cutting into night. Sound does much of the work, with wind through trees, crunching boots, radio static and the unnerving silence before something moves in the dark. The vibe is wry, damp and eerie, a mix of folk-tale mystery and deadpan road-trip comedy, best suited to a rainy evening or a late-night watch with the lights low. The pacing is loose and conversational for most of its runtime, then tightens into bursts of frantic, disorienting action. Its violence is brief and mostly creature-driven, with some bloody moments and jump-scare fear rather than gore or cruelty, and the tone stays more playful than grim. It suits viewers who enjoy found-footage horror, mockumentary humour and folklore-tinged monster stories with a dry sense of fun.
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