Troll Hunter (Norwegian film)

[Jackolantern]

Just saw this the other day, and I can say it was awesome. I do have to say it is in the "found footage" style, similar in some ways to Blair Witch and Cloverfield. However, this one does it better, letting go of the infamous "sickening shaky cam", actually shooting from a still camera with very few frantic running away moments.

That out of the way, I can say it was very solid, even not being Norwegian and not growing up with the fairy tails of trolls. The basic premise is that a group of college students with hopes of being journalists track a bear poacher to try to get an interview with him. They find out that he is actually keeping a secret and is hunting something much more dangerous than bears.

The movie has great variety in the types of trolls they show, and the special effects are excellent considering the movie's budget. Everything is believable looking, and the movie works up to a great climax.

It is on Netflix right now, so check it out if you are a fan at all of fantasy, found footage, and even horror movies (although this is not really clear-cut horror).

[OldRod]

I saw it last month on cable - I agree with you , it's a great movie.

They did a great job building a mythology that was pretty believable. I'm getting worn out of these found-footage movies, but this one was worth watching.

[hallsofvallhalla]

awesome will watch.

[Sharlenwar]

I had a chuckle when they threw in the fact that trolls can smell out Christian blood. Where did the troll hunter find the "Christian blood" for that troll that was at the bridge?

Anyone know the reason behind that? Thinking it through, it would make sense to me that when Christianity was spreading in the early years, they would have told their children that the trolls eat Christians to make them fear the religion? Fascinating.

[Jackolantern]

I think that the original mythology that they smell the blood of Christians was probably there to make the myth and the trolls more scary for the average citizen. According to wikipedia, Christianity spread through Norway in the 10th and 11th century (about the time it became dominant in most of Europe), so a Christian majority probably predated most of the modernized troll myths (which is the troll mythology the movie uses). Trolls date back to into the Viking age, but the myths probably got updated after Christianity became common.

And yeah, I wondered about the bucket too.

[OldRod]

I had a chuckle when they threw in the fact that trolls can smell out Christian blood. Where did the troll hunter find the "Christian blood" for that troll that was at the bridge?

If I remember right, didn't the hunter have some vials of blood in his trailer to use whenever he needed one?

[Jackolantern]

I had a chuckle when they threw in the fact that trolls can smell out Christian blood. Where did the troll hunter find the "Christian blood" for that troll that was at the bridge?

If I remember right, didn't the hunter have some vials of blood in his trailer to use whenever he needed one?

Buckets of it in fact

[Sharlenwar]

Right, but how did he get them? Blood bank? Half eaten bodies? That was the one loose end I find they didn't explain unfortunately. Just trying to figure out what the mythology or lore would be behind that thinking.

[Jackolantern]

I actually thought it was funny that they didn't explain it and I'm glad they didn't It just kind of adds to the mysterious badassery of the hunter when he just shows up with a miscellaneous bucket of Christian blood haha.

[OldRod]

Well, I got curious, so I looked around on Google tonight. Apparently it comes from an old Nordic fairy tale. I see lots of references to it, but not the actual fairy tale itself.