When Troll Hunter first showed up on my radar, I can’t say I was all that enthusiastic about tracking it down. I mean, sure, the plot sounded interesting — a covert government organization whose sole purpose is to control Norway’s not-entirely-secret population of trolls — but the fact that it was yet another “found footage from a crew of film student documentarians” turned me off. However, people I trusted suggested that maybe this time I might find things to be different. Even then, though, I was hesitant; people told me the same thing about Cloverfield, and that didn’t really pan out for me. In the end, though, no amount of misgiving was going to actually prevent me from watching a movie about a harried bureaucrat who has to deal with renegade trolls, especially when I saw that the trolls were rendered not as some terrifying new style monster, but as the big-nosed, lumbering galoots they’d always been drawn as in old fairy tales.
#1 by Doug Hudson on April 8, 2011 - 12:01 pm
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Fun movie, and your analysis of why it works is dead on. I was trying to describe it to a friend, and I had trouble putting it in a genre: is it horror? At times, but not really. Comedy? Well, it is pretty funny, but the humor is very dry and understated. I finally said, “its a documentary about a guy who hunts trolls”. That’s what it claims to be, and that’s pretty much what it is.
#2 by Gentle Benj on April 10, 2011 - 4:53 pm
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WANT! Netflix doesn’t have it yet, dammit.
#3 by Gentle Benj on April 10, 2011 - 4:53 pm
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Between this and DEAD SNOW, are we seeing a genre renaissance in Norway?
#4 by The Rev. on April 11, 2011 - 8:19 am
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Don’t forget Rare Exports.
Although that’s Finland, not Norway.
Let’s expand it to a Scandanavian renaissance.
I haven’t read the review yet, but wanting a scale for the trolls I clicked over and looked at the images.
Oh yeah, I’m seeing this.
#5 by KeithA on April 11, 2011 - 11:36 am
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DEAD SNOW was ruined for me by the totally out of character, against all rationality stupidity of one otherwise smart character. It’s amazing how one little thing can ruin an entire movie for you.
But yeah — Troll Hunter, Norwegian Ninja, Rare Exports, and so far at least the first of the three Fritt Vilt (Cold Prey) movies have all been a joy. Scandinavia is becoming a place to watch. Maybe these new filmmakers can destroy Scandinavian cinema the way Luc Besson destroyed French cinema.
#6 by The Rev. on April 14, 2011 - 7:56 am
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There’s a movie called Norwegian Ninja?
….Yeah, I’m seeing that too.
#7 by KeithA on April 14, 2011 - 9:40 am
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Indeed there is. TC will be posting a review…huh, actually, right now.
#8 by Doug Hudson on April 11, 2011 - 1:34 pm
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Cold Prey 1 was good, and (imo) Cold Prey 2 was even better; haven’t seen the third one yet.
Sauna (Finland) was extremely creepy, though even with subtitles I had no clue what was going on.
And don’t forget Let the Right One In (Sweden).
There’s definitely a horror renaissance in Scandinavia right now. With the added bonus that most of the movies have glorious scenery (esp. Troll Hunter and the Cold Prey series.)
#9 by Thomas on April 13, 2011 - 11:10 pm
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How can you destroy a cinema revolving almost entirely around violent cop films?