Sundance report: TROLL!!!!

I started my 2011 Sundance experience with a Norwegian film called The Troll Hunter.  And writing a pithy headline for this show was easy.  I had a bunch of choices like, "Zombies are so Sundance 2010," "Troll is the new vampire," "Blair Witch Project meets the Brothers Grimm," or "Another good use for the blood of a Christian man."  I chose "TROLL!!!' because one of the best early moments of the movie is when the troll hunter runs out of the forest screaming, "TROLL!!!."


There are several problems with this movie.  It could have lost at least 10 minutes, maybe even 30 and I wouldn't have noticed.  This movie also is reminiscent of Blair Witch Project and that style of movie gets old fast for me.


But there's also plenty to like.  There are some seriously funny moments.  Writer/director of the movie, Andre Ovredal was there for a Q&A.  He noted that this was the first time an audience had seen the movie and that it was fun to listen to the audience laugh in all the right places.  He did say there were a few "Norwegian" jokes that we didn't get.  The humor worked thanks to the deadpan delivery of the actors.


And for a movie made on a budget of just a couple of million dollars, the special effects were fantastic. The trolls are really awful, in a great way.


A movie like this could start a whole new trend.  I'm thinking the next book in the Twilight series might see the vampires and werewolves teaming up to fight trolls.