{"id":1275,"date":"2011-09-10T14:05:59","date_gmt":"2011-09-10T14:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/?p=1275"},"modified":"2011-09-10T14:09:10","modified_gmt":"2011-09-10T14:09:10","slug":"troll-hunter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/action\/troll-hunter\/","title":{"rendered":"Troll Hunter ****"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/action\/troll-hunter\/attachment\/filmgaze_troll_hunter\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1276\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1276\" title=\"filmgaze_troll_hunter\" src=\"http:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/filmgaze_troll_hunter.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/filmgaze_troll_hunter.jpg 350w, https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/filmgaze_troll_hunter-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a>There\u2019s nothing more appealing than a horror steeped with folklore that manages to question our sanity. This is precisely what foreign-based fantasies like Norwegian writer-director <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0004217\/\">Andr\u00e9 \u00d8vredal<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TrollHunterUK\"><em>Troll Hunter<\/em><\/a> achieve for the non-Nordic audience out there, desperate for mysteries such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster to have a touch of authenticity about them.<\/p>\n<p>Students discover that government officials have been less than honest about recent human disappearances and supposed bear killings, and track down the whereabouts of a mysterious troll hunter who has been tasked with keeping the various troll populations in the scenic Norwegian fjords under control and out of public sight. The anxious film crew are allowed to follow trolljegeren Hans (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0422151\/\">Otto Jespersen<\/a>) on his quest and learn about magical beings far more dangerous than your average bear lurking in the woods.<\/p>\n<p>To call \u00d8vredal\u2019s latest mockumentary yet another Blair Witch 2011 incarnation may have an ounce of truth to it -\u2013 many horrors since are choosing to go down the \u2018captured on camera\/CCTV\u2019 root to up the thrills, like the <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt1179904\/\">Paranormal Activity<\/a><\/em> series. But what makes <em>Troll Hunter<\/em> different is its chameleon nature, moving from pseudo-documentary to action adventure, all with a stoic comedic heart beating at its core and a huge amount of charm and wonderment to boot. It\u2019s like an adult bedtime story with a modest hero at its helm. It also mixes up \u2018documented\u2019 camera footage with dreamlike landscapes.<\/p>\n<p>\u00d8vredal also offers a variety of troll species in the film, like some kind of Attenborough nature programme, which in turn, gives not only each troll group a believable personality, but also the film itself. The scenes with the cave-dwelling \u2018Honey Monsters\u2019 for instance create a riveting and terrifyingly disorientating moment in the film \u2013 like a bunch of nature explorers stumbling on hostile territory.<\/p>\n<p>As with all nature programmes, there are a few lagging moments that follow a nice build-up of tension and potential end activity. But these are few and far between as the majority of the film is like one eccentric science project with a more bizarre collection of humans involved in troll control than beasts.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the most striking and equally outlandish scenes come at the end of the film with the daddy of all trolls making his presence known in some of the hairiest fantasy chase scenes witnessed in the genre. \u00d8vredal does not forget to place his tongue firmly in his cheek either, particularly at this point, with his own ridicule of religion very much apparent throughout in not only provoking but, neutralising the question of faith.<\/p>\n<p>Finding something different to rattle the fantasy appetite is a tall feat. But \u00d8vredal\u2019s <em>Troll Hunter<\/em> delivers an earnest fantasy adventure bathed in Nordic spirit and folklore that captures the heart, as well as the imagination.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4\/5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By @FilmGazer<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/FilmGazer\">\u00a0Follow on Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>WATCH THE TRAILER <a href=\"http:\/\/www.premierpr-online.co.uk\/TrollHunter\/clips\/TrollHunterTrailer.html\">HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s nothing more appealing than a horror steeped with folklore that manages to question our sanity. This is precisely what foreign-based fantasies like Norwegian writer-director Andr\u00e9 \u00d8vredal\u2019s Troll Hunter achieve for the non-Nordic audience out there, desperate for mysteries such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster to have a touch of authenticity about them. &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/action\/troll-hunter\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Troll Hunter ****&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10,9,103,6],"tags":[1450,1452,297,1449,1448,1451],"class_list":["post-1275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action","category-drama","category-fantasy","category-foreign-language","category-thriller","tag-andre-vredal","tag-otto-jespersen","tag-paranormal-activity","tag-troll-hunter","tag-trollhunter","tag-trolljegeren"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1275"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1285,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions\/1285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}