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Trollhunter (2011)

tomatometer

82

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 101
Fresh: 83 | Rotten: 18

A slightly winking mockumentary that manages to be both irreverent and spooky.

74

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 23
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 6

A slightly winking mockumentary that manages to be both irreverent and spooky.

audience

71

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 19,234

My Rating

Movie Info

Shot in a vérité style, Trollhunter is the story of a group of Norwegian film students that set out to capture real-life trolls on camera after learning their existence has been covered up for years by a government conspiracy. A thrilling and wildly entertaining film, Trollhunter delivers truly fantastic images of giant trolls wreaking havoc on the countryside, with darkly funny adherence to the original Norwegian folklore." -- (C) Official Site

Aug 23, 2011

$0.3M

Magnolia Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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All Critics (107) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (83) | Rotten (18) | DVD (5)

The film is shot with handheld cameras in the standard mockumentary style, but the content is often hilarious, especially when the trolls show up.

December 13, 2011 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Given that the cast improvised all the scenes live on set, the dialogue has a surprising ring of truth, and is shot through with an unexpected, often unsettling, humour.

September 7, 2011 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's so steeped in troll and paranoia lore, it risks boring you with the details at times. But it also makes you more inclined to believe it, and the frights are real enough.

August 19, 2011 Full Review Source: Toronto Star
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Those fog-draped fjords provide a distractingly pretty backdrop to this tale of mysterious, massive creatures who roam the forest by night, searching for Christians on whom to munch.

July 7, 2011 Full Review Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It can't seem to make up its mind about whether it wants to frighten us or make us laugh. It does a little bit of both, to be sure, but not nearly enough of either to make much of a lasting impression.

July 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comments (5)
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

"Trollhunter" has a lot of down time as the crew treks to the fjords, but it's also got dryly subversive humor and, eventually, some impressive special effects.

July 1, 2011 Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A leisurely, shambling, deadpan movie about a man who finds trolls and kills them. That's enough.

June 23, 2013 Full Review Source: Deadspin
Deadspin

Not nearly as much fun as it might have been, neither consistently funny nor remotely scary.

January 14, 2013 Full Review Source: McClatchy-Tribune News Service
McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Trollhunter adopts the form of a found footage documentary, which translates as lots of banal conversations, abundant shots of the Scandinavian countryside, and competent but shaky handheld camerawork.

August 17, 2012 Full Review Source: Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

TrollHunter is both creepy and funny, a clever combination for this sly monster movie.

January 29, 2012 Full Review Source: IGN DVD
IGN DVD

... this one is well worth the troll hunt to find.

January 22, 2012 Full Review Source: MovieCrypt.com
MovieCrypt.com

What do you get when you combine Cloverfield with Nordic Trolls? This very funny monster mockumentary.

January 13, 2012 Full Review Source:

The trolls here all are the spitting image of Muppets with a hyperthyroid problem. In fact, imagine a Sweetums doll after three wash cycles.

January 4, 2012 Full Review Source: CultureCatch
CultureCatch

This found-film sci-fi trolls-on-the-loose story works well enough as a kind of tongue-in-cheek comedy spoofing films of this kind and the sheer idiocy behind these kinds of conspiracy theories.

November 29, 2011 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope
Laramie Movie Scope

It never seemed more than a student film.

November 22, 2011 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comments (5)
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

TROLLHUNTER is an unexpected pleasure for viewers who can shudder at the horrific aspects while still appreciating the humor.

September 29, 2011 Full Review Source: Mark Leeper's Reviews
Mark Leeper's Reviews

Delightfully silly and likely to etch the battle-cry of "troll!" into audiences' minds long after its end.

September 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment (1)
Film4

There's fun to be had if you're willing to surrender to it.

September 14, 2011 Full Review Source: Scotsman | Comment (1)

Richly deserves an audience.

September 12, 2011 Full Review Source: Birmingham Mail
Birmingham Mail

[A] funny, scary, highly individual horror flick...

September 11, 2011 Full Review Source: Observer [UK]
Observer [UK]

Øvredal's Troll Hunter delivers an earnest fantasy adventure bathed in Nordic spirit and folklore that captures the heart, as well as the imagination.

September 10, 2011 Full Review Source: Real.com

One of the year's most blindingly brilliant films.

September 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK]
Daily Mirror [UK]

Øvredal's movie has wittier ideas up its sleeve than the average "mock-doc" shocker, a genre it transcends through sheer originality.

September 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph
Daily Telegraph

Jespersen is a veteran comedian and he uses all his gravitas and dry wit to make us care about a lonely man on the verge of a crisis of faith.

September 9, 2011 Full Review Source: This is London
This is London

There's tons of delicious suspense of the horror-flick variety... and plenty of Spielbergian shock-awe... but what makes it one of the most satisfying examples of found-footage flicks yet is its observational, journalistic ethos.

September 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher
Flick Filosopher

Audience Reviews for Trollhunter

A trio of students from a local college follow a suspected poacher but when they discover he works for a state sanctioned troll management agency, he allows them to film him perform his secret work. Yet another faux "actual footage" pseudo documentary from the Blair Witch school, Troll Hunter at least has an inventive premise and a sense of humour about what it's doing. It's all very tongue in cheek and the cast are actually quite believable and naturalistic in their roles; Otto Jesperson's jaded hunter is good fun, playing his part like a dejected Crocodile Dundee fed up of his thankless task. But thanks to the format, all we really get is more wobbly cam footage of people running around in the woods and hiding in caves just like Blair With itself; in fact thanks to some spectacular Scandinavian scenery, a lot of the time it looks like a promo from the Norwegian tourist board. The biggest problem with it however is despite its sense of humour, it just isn't funny enough; it's mildly amusing whenever the government bureaucrat who's trying to cover up the existence of the trolls appears, but it's never laugh out loud funny and without any real drama or spectacle it needed more laughs. The closing battle with the giant troll is very well done and it would've made an amusing short, but a few computer generated muppets and some woodland aerobics just isn't enough to maintain the interest for nearly two hours.
June 8, 2011
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img]

Here's a film that's got a laughably insane premise and a budget narrower than Norway. Despite all that and everything you would immediately expect from it, Trollhunter is one of the creepiest and most atmospheric horror mocumentaries i've seen in a while and in addition to that one of the funniest. The film brilliantly draws you into the beautiful Norwegian landscapes and features some darkly surreal and imaginative depictions of trolls. However the key to what makes it work is the outstanding performance of Otto Jespersen who effortlessly molds the title character into a believeable and engaging central character. As well as being tense and blackly comic it has an underlying satirical subtext about the difficulties of environmental protection and wittily touches on the subject of the folklore creatures existing. As silly as the plot may sound it never once breaks the illusion that everything shown on screen is real recorded footage of giant rampaging monsters. In addition to that the special effects are absolutely jaw dropping and there are many scenes throughout the film in which the director makes efficient use of the little material he's been given such as the 3.5 million dollar budget, and my amazement of what he had achieved with this film was constantly on my mind watching it. It's quite literally an enormous, smart, funny, and above all scary experience watching it. The acting is also very realistic which is very rarely found in films of it's kind. Having said that it effortlessly takes the predictable and often poorly executed found-footage horror genre, and revives it in the same manner of The Blair Witch Project, whilst throwing in more interesting ideas into the formula in a huge number of intriguing and epically startling ways. If your someone who understands why the subsequent Paranormal Activity sequels are boring, loud, obnoxious, lazy, dull and unengaging you'll appreciate and embrace Trollhunter for what it is. A solid film and one of the most thrilling and exciting mockumentaries in years. I enjoyed it enormously.
October 5, 2012
Directors Cat
Directors Cat

Super Reviewer

    1. Hans: Anyone need some gravel?
    – Submitted by Frances H (6 months ago)
    1. Thomas: Now we know that Trolls also explode.
    – Submitted by Alison J (10 months ago)
    1. Hans: No one here believes in God or Jesus?
    2. Thomas: Nope. None of us.
    3. Kalle: Don't look at me. Serious? Because they can smell the blood of a Christian man?
    – Submitted by Frank M (13 months ago)
    1. Thomas: In a sense, you're a true Norwegian hero.
    2. Hans: No, you're wrong about that. There's nothing heroic about what I do. It's dirty work.
    – Submitted by Frank M (13 months ago)
    1. Kalle: Do u have any more troll stench?
    – Submitted by Alex B (14 months ago)
    1. Thomas: Do you think Michael Moore gave up after the first try?
    – Submitted by Luke D (2 years ago)
View all quotes (8)

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Latest News on Trollhunter

September 20, 2013:
Neil Marshall Directing Troll Hunter Remake
He'll Americanize the Norwegian hit.
October 11, 2012:
Trollhunter Director Gets Enormous
Andre Ovredal is getting back into the giant-monster business.
June 13, 2011:
Chris Columbus Purchases TrollHunter Remake Rights
You knew someone was going to do it.

Foreign Titles

  • The Troll Hunter (DE)
  • The Troll Hunter (UK)
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