[Another long lost bust found languishing in my freemail inbox, written contemporaneously with the movie's cinema release. I watched an English subtitled print.]
Troll Hunter (Trolljegeren) (2010) is a darkly comic Norwegian fantasy spoof documentary film, written and directed by Andre Ovredal, starring Otto Jespersen, Hans Morten Hansen and Glenn Erland.
In the end, anonymously received footage shot by a student film crew, of which no trace can be found, seems to confirm a throw-away remark made by the Norwegian Prime-Minister that his country has a problem with trolls.
While covering a bear attack story, student reporter Glenn Erland, his cameraman, and their sound recordist decide to track down a mysterious man, Otto Jespersen, reputed to be an illegal hunter.
The trail leads them to a caravan park where they lie in wait for Jespersen to return to his dilapidated travel trailer. Despite Jespersen's insistence that the trio leave him alone, they spend several days following him and his heavily scarred land-rover, trailer in tow.
Stalking Jespersen during one of his night-time excursions, the students are lead down an increasingly narrow forest track, eventually being forced out of their compact car to continue on foot.
Passing Jespersen's abandoned land-rover, the sound recordist is increasingly disconcerted by strange noises her equipment picks up, until the group are panicked into fleeing when Jespersen suddenly appears out of the darkness bellowing the warning "troll!"
Before they can reach the safety of Jespersen's vehicle, Erland's shoulder is badly mauled by some unseen creature, though he seems more upset to discover his car has been wrecked with its tyres apparently chewed off, prompting Jespersen to agree to letting the trio tag along for an explanation of what caused the car damage and the injuries to Erland.
The next night, however, the trio have almost convinced themselves that Jespersen is staging an elaborate prank, before they are confronted by a shrieking, fifty foot, three headed troll he flushes out of the woods in their direction, and which chases them all back to Jespersen's vehicle, where a bank of roof-mounted ultra-violet flash lights turn the creature to stone.
Jespersen then sets about demolishing the evidence using a sledgehammer and explosives, reducing the troll to a pile of rubble just in time for his boss, government official Hans Morten Hansen, to show up with a van full of Poles delivering the corpse of a dead Russian bear that Hansen hopes will explain away all the damage to livestock the troll has in reality been responsible for.
Appalled to discover that Jespersen is allowing his secret work as the country's only troll hunter to be documented by the students, Hensen's threat to relieve them of the material they have so far shot, does not deter the students from following Jespersen as he tries to discover why trolls are straying from their secret government reserves.
Investigating another supposed bear attack, an iron armour clad Jespersen is forced up close and personal with his next troll victim in order to collect blood for a veterinarian colleague who shares what she knows about trolls with the students and who seems to have more than just a professional relationship with Jespersen.
Traumatised by a previous incident where authorities required him to massacre an entire troll community, the increasingly disillusioned Jespersen is convinced that Hansen is mistaken in his belief that the problem is confined to the local population of woodland trolls, and that the fact of the existence of trolls should no longer be kept from the general public.
Further reports of unexplained livestock attacks lead the group to investigate a disused mine Jespersen thinks is being used as a den by a group of trolls.
Finding themselves trapped when what turn out to be displaced mountain trolls return unexpectedly, their cameraman has a sudden panic attack, demanding more of the evil smelling "troll stink" Jespersen insists the students wear to disguise their presence from the big nosed creatures, as the cameraman is, unknown to the others, a god fearing christian, a fact he had initially hidden from Jespersen and which costs the cameraman his life when the group decide to make a break for it.
Arranging for a replacement camera and operator, the group head north onto an ice-bound plateau, ringed by power-lines that contain the trolls, where Jespersen receives the blood analysis results by phone that reveal the straying trolls are infected with rabies.
Realising what this means for the injured Erland, the students plead with Jespersen to break off the hunt for an enormous, earth-shaking troll that has appeared over the horizon.
Unswayed, and with dawn fast approaching, Jespersen sets off after the troll in his land-rover, complete with recently applied spike armour. However, the batteries powering his roof mounted search light fail before he can deliver a lethal dose, and he is forced to retreat, picking up the students and a lone seismologist they meet by the roadside.
Jespersen decides to use the vehicle as bait, hoping that the chasing troll will tire itself out sufficiently for him to finish off. But the injured troll still manages to catch and wreck the land-rover, forcing Jespersen out on foot to destroy it with a shoulder mounted rocket launcher, just as Hansen shows up to confiscate the students' footage.
They make off on foot, the rabid Erland, being the last one seen heading towards an approaching convoy of articulated trucks, just as filming breaks off.
America has its super-heroes. Britain has its super-spies. And Norway has... its troll hunter! In truth, Ovredal's idea makes a much better trailer than it does feature film. Although, without doubt he has managed to do for trolls what Danny Boyle did for zombies in 28 Days Later: make them seem more than objects of faint amusement. So, despite a script packed with humour, you're never going to stand there laughing, if you ever have the misfortune to encounter one of these creatures in life, after seeing this film. Just remember to keep your "troll stink" handy ;)
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troll_Hunter
