TrollHunter

A fun Norwegian rift on The Blair Witch Project, TrollHunter is a hand held mockumentary about lost footage shot by a group of film students where they followed a mysterious poacher as he hunted and killed trolls.  There's also a huge government cover-up over the existence of the menacing, fairy tale creatures, expanded by oily fix-it bureaucrats, a tiny bit of environmental commentary thrown in for good measure, as well as a few sacrilegious digs for humor.  A little meandering and boring in spots; really let's just get to the thrills of troll killing, but nonetheless a pleasurably silly and affable film, TrollHunter aims to please.  Self explanatory and for the most part to the point, writer\director Andre Ovredal is clearly aiming for a nerdy, worshipful midnight cult following, and more often than not is quite adept at mastering the cheesy monster movie genre.  Yet there's something special in the quality of the filmmaking, an almost unexpected sophistication in the smoothness and crystallizing of the camera movements, the surprisingly masterful sound design, and the imaginative effects work that teases the idea that if Ovredal were to grow up into more than B-movie rides, he could possibly become a major international talent-- there's already a rumored American version in development.  For the camera, even with such constant jerkiness is fine-lined with clarity; it's never headache inducing, a problem with the sub-genre of cheaply made horror hybrids.  And while this foreign nerd-friendly little ditty seems unlikely to expand outside the uber-movie geek universe realm, there's a small joy in watching this film that the big Hollywood summertime blockbusters have all but given up on.  No, not every film must be enriched with expansive character development or sophisticated stories; a finely and craftily made silly movie can generate its own sense of magic by the infectiousness of its spirit, of which TrollHunter has in spades.  Plus there's also such interesting troll factoids to treasure (for instance: rabies, a real problem), and the ludicrously enjoyable sights and sound of trolls turned to stone, and blowing up; Michael Bay- ante up.  B