[Mike @ Digitalhorror]

I wrote this review sometime back and will eventually post it up on my blog.

Somewhere in Western Norway large bears are showing up dead. Naturally, the local hunters deny their involvement due to the fact that the bear population in Norway is controlled by Government. These bear hunters point their fingers at one possible poacher/hunter, Hans. Armed with this information, 3 college filmmakers set out to film a documentary on the poaching of the animals and begin to follow Hans.

After being told to get lost, several times by Hans, the filmmakers refuse to listen and follow him into the woods. In the distance they see several flashes of light followed by loud monstrous sounds. Out from the trees in the distance Hans comes running screaming "TROLLS, RUN". The filmmakers follow Hans back to his truck and question him about why he yelled "TROLLS". Hans takes them to their car only to see that it has been completely wrecked. Hans then takes the filmmakers back into town but not before agreeing to be filmed hunting the trolls.

The following day, the filmmakers meet up with Hans returning to the same forest. Once the filmmakers smother themselves in troll scent, hiding their human scent, they head off deeper into the forest (all the while thinking Hans is playing a joke on them). Hans then has them wait in a large meadow while he disappears into the tree-line. A few flashes of light later, Hans comes running out and tells everyone to head towards the jeep telling the filmmakers to get behind it. Just then, a large 3-headed troll comes out of the woods. Hans then floods the creature with beams of light from a flood light mounted on the roof of his jeep. This freezes the beast and turns it to stone, killing it. The filmmakers are in awe of what they've just seen and are oddly excited about it.

As the film progresses, we learn that the trolls have some weaknesses due to their diet. This in part is the reason they either turn to stone or explode when hit with beams of light. From this point the filmmakers continue to follow and film Hans doing what he does best, killing pesky trolls. We also learn that the trolls have been leaving their designated zones for unknown reasons and Hans' needs to figure out why.

The Troll Hunter has been quite the buzz in the horror/sci-fi/fantasy online communities for sometime now. Just about every review I've read has been positive to outright fabulous. About the only way to form your own opinion is to watch it. So I did.

Filmed from a point of view perspective, POV if you will, and in the same vein as The Blair Witch Project, you know, the filmmakers shoot a movie, then disappear, then the film surfaces at a later time. This type of filmmaking process has become the norm for low budget films and generally fail, however, and in the case of The Troll Hunter, it works well.

For a POV film, the camera work is fairly steady, never really making the viewer feel ill, at least in my case. As far as the story goes, and due to quality filmmaking, it's believable from the get go. This is largely due to the amazing country-side cinematography, quality acting, and a rich fairy tale like story.

As far as the visual effects go, I half expected the trolls to be of the SyFy quality. As we all know, most monster movies on the SyFy channel are of low quality as are the visual effects. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the visual effects. When on camera the trolls actually look like they are "in-scene" and not 7-shades of color off. Bad visual effects can make or break a movie and in the case of The Troll Hunter they make it, big time. After all, the trolls are the key to the film and the story. Had they looked cheap and badly animated, the whole film would have fallen apart the second they stepped on screen.

To sum this up, The Troll Hunter lives up to the hype we're seeing online and I highly recommend a viewing. You can certianly do a lot worse. Try sitting through Troll 2.