Troll

Some of my favorite movies come out of Norway, like Dead Sno and Trollhunter. For a moment I thought this might be the latter, but it’s horror with a light touch not a black comedy. If you’re ever looking for something like that, look to Norway, except for Dead Sno, which features a pitched battle in the snow with a platoon of Nazi zombies versus a chainsaw. Good but not exactly clean fun.

The film begins with a red dot climbing the sheer face of a mountain. It’s teenage Nora, who joins her father on the very small peak. As they rest pop explains how the “Troll Peaks” across the valley were formed by trolls stuck out in daylight. He tries to get her to really believe to really see it. Years later, paleontologist Nora finds a fossil skeleton “like a giant, like a fairy tale”. Nearby, a Big Ass Tunnel is being carved through the Troll Peaks under protest. Stir, shake, and there is your monster movie.

This is one of those Netflix partnerships with foreign entities, like Outside in the Philippines and Exterritorial in Germany. Trolls are the quintessential Norwegian monster, like Bigfoot is in the States. One of the tidbits thrown out is that as Norway became more Christian they imposed serious penalties just for having contact with trolls, until the 1840s when they disappeared. The Norwegian Godzilla has become a fun, stompy creature with well known weaknesses that guys with tanks love to shoot at.

 For a while the film portrays the government as the coolest on the planet as they do the traditional get the gang together around a big table to pooh pooh the outsider scientist who recognizes a house sized footprint as a, well, a footprint. But then we find out the cool government guy is actually a world class nerd, one of a couple who play a prominent role. It’s always fun to see heroics from regular humans, and also to see the muscley Army dude not being a misogynistic jackass.

The real hero is Nora, who stands by her convictions, comes up with good plans, and is the strongest character without resorting to kung fu or explosives. The filmmakers used a lot of well known tropes, always very well, like the old jiggling liquid as the harbinger of an approaching walking mountain. That and the dog smart enough to hide and the ole “hey, that rock just opened its eye to look at you” gags made me happy. They’re great examples of paying homage to other well known movie scenes while making them their own.

It’s a fun movie with quiet funnies and likeable characters and a good heroine dealing with a monster that doesn’t revel in gore. Your horror weinie friends should be able to watch it, and I recommend that you do because it’s pleasant. Stick around for a very quick mid credits scene. There’s supposed to be a sequel, but you know you can’t trust Netflix.

Triggers: walking mountains, scowling and stomping

Available on: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple tv

LINKS

• Troll – Official Netflix Site
• Troll – IMDB
• Troll – Wikipedia

CFR: In Addition

OMG I LOVE TROLLS! Ever since I discovered the Nordic deities and began to read the stories, I have loved trolls. I know, I know, trolls are often depicted as evil and bad, but to me, they are Earth, they are Nature, and they WILL NOT BE TAMED!

So I immediately told my husband we were watching this on Netflix when it premiered and we watched it and I loved it. Of course. In fact, I kinda felt sorry for the troll and wanted to make friends with it. Yeah. That’s me.

If anyone in Norway is going to make movies about their beloved trolls, I’m going to watch. I’ll happily befriend it as well. I don’t care how silly that sounds. If I die, I will die happy.

I also want to be Norwegian. Anybody want to hire me? I’ll happily move and learn Norwegian.

One day I will get to Norway, and my soul will sing. You bet I will be looking for the trolls. As the poster below says: Mountains Will Move.