Troll Hunter is another found-footage film in the same vein as The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, albeit one with a slightly more inspired premise than most: a group of young film-makers follow a man they believe to be a poacher, but discover that he is actually a government employee trained in the art of disposing of troublesome trolls. Joining him as he carries out his work, the film crew captures amazing footage of real live trolls, creatures that the government would rather keep secret, but they put themselves in danger by doing so.
With matters played out perfectly straight, I found it fairly easy to accept the rather whimsical nature of the film, and there are some surprisingly atmospheric and tense moments that definitely qualify this as an effective horror; unfortunately, Troll Hunter doesn't know when to quit when the going is good, introducing monsters so large that they would be visible from space. Asking the viewer to believe in the existence of 200 foot tall trolls that could somehow still remain a secret from the general public is a step too far.
There are some fine touches—the creature designs and effects are fantastic, I had to laugh at the use of billy goats to lure one nasty troll out from under his bridge, and I love the idea of electricity pylons being used as fences to keep the trolls from straying too far—but the style soon becomes tiresome and the film ends in predictable fashion with the documentarians mysteriously disappearing, leaving behind their record of events.
6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.
With matters played out perfectly straight, I found it fairly easy to accept the rather whimsical nature of the film, and there are some surprisingly atmospheric and tense moments that definitely qualify this as an effective horror; unfortunately, Troll Hunter doesn't know when to quit when the going is good, introducing monsters so large that they would be visible from space. Asking the viewer to believe in the existence of 200 foot tall trolls that could somehow still remain a secret from the general public is a step too far.
There are some fine touches—the creature designs and effects are fantastic, I had to laugh at the use of billy goats to lure one nasty troll out from under his bridge, and I love the idea of electricity pylons being used as fences to keep the trolls from straying too far—but the style soon becomes tiresome and the film ends in predictable fashion with the documentarians mysteriously disappearing, leaving behind their record of events.
6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.