When I first sat down to watch “Trollhunter,” I honestly thought that it was going to be some amazing documentary about ‘trolls’ on 4chan or Internet message boards and the like. Then, I saw the cover and the plot description — boy, was I wrong!
Since it’s the Campus Film Series movie for this upcoming weekend, I thought it wise to sit down and have a look-see on what this mockumentary is all about.
In a nutshell: Think “Blair Witch Project” but set in Norway and with a group of students and an older fellow who are out to hunt trolls.
Yes, really, trolls: the ugly forest-dwelling creatures found in myths and storybooks.
Since the movie is in Norwegian, there are subtitles throughout. You get used to them after some time, I promise.
Anyways, this group of filmmaking students from a university is trying to catch a suspected poacher who’s illegally hunting bears.
But it turns out the bear hunter is actually a part of a trollhunter’s society (really) and they’re trying to take down these trolls living in the forest who prey on animals … and people.
Of course, one of the students gets bitten by a troll (gasp!), but that troll gets turned into stone via UV rays (because that’s how you kill trolls, friends). But it doesn’t end there …
After asking if any of them are Christians (none of them were, by the way; trolls can smell Christian blood, I guess), the students slather themselves in this troll-soup-goo and start hunting all sorts of troll breeds.
And since I don’t believe in spoilers — let me summarize: you get a lesson in troll blood chemistry, there is death and the students are just never seen again after the government confiscates their taped footage.
To quote the movie: “Do you think Michael Moore gave up after the first try?” And while Mr. Moore is still making movies, these guys honestly should have stopped 25 minutes in.
I know it’s supposed to be “real” and “scary,” but it’s not. It’s kind of (epically) dumb, to be honest.
When it comes to scary mockumentaries, they have to be over the top and extra campy for them to be funny.
“Paranormal Activity” and “Blair Witch” are so darned silly and ridiculous that they work. On the other hand, it seems “Trollhunter” seemed to have missed the memo … and actually tried to be serious.
I’ll give it some credit — I like the jumpy, amateur looking film style.
The special effects for the trolls weren’t completely awful, but … the acting was so bad. The dialogue was dry and cheesy. I found myself checking Tumblr a lot during the 1 hour 45 minute flick.
I just wasn’t sucked into it — if anything, I was deterred from it.
Clearly, though, I’m in a minority — “Trollhunter” currently has an 85 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and received generally positive reviews from European and American critics alike, saying it was an addicting mockumentary with hilarious and dry dialogue.
And just because I really thought it was terribad, friends, doesn’t mean you will. Maybe it’s your thing. Go see the movie all weekend in the Davies Theatre starting tonight and decide for yourself.
