André Øvredal’s Trollhunter, one of my favorite films of the year, is hitting the Blu-Ray/DVD shelves today and with that I shall give you a breakdown of the film along with its special features.
Last night was the second time I watched Trollhunter and it still managed to impress me, this time from a filmmaking perspective. It’s one of the most well constructed mockumentaries in recent years and much of it is attributed to the fine acting combined with the realistic visual effects and matter-of-fact storytelling. Not only that, it is chock full of humor along with plenty of thrilling moments that are comparable to Jurassic Park, except instead of a massive T-Rex you have gigantic angry trolls from Scandinavian folklore.
The plot: “The government says there’s nothing to worry about – it’s just a problem with bears making trouble in the mountains and forests of Norway. But local hunters don’t believe it – and neither do a trio of college students who want to find out the truth. Armed with a video camera, they trail a mysterious “poacher,” who wants nothing to do with them. But their persistence lands them straight in the path of the objects of his pursuits: Trolls. They soon find themselves documenting every move of this grizzled, unlikely hero –The Troll Hunter – risking their lives to uncover the secrets of creatures only thought to exist in fairy tales.”
I had reviewed this film once before (click here to read it) but there are a few things I would like to add. First off, it’s a film that spans every age gap. Subtitles may not be your thing but this is a wildly entertaining film that both of my parents enjoyed as well as a handful of my non-film buff friends. Besides being a very cool film, it also shows what happens when you let your imagination run wild. The film combines folklore with the modern world and is the perfect example of how one could go about making a hybrid film such as this feel very authentic, an feat which isn’t easy to achieve.
Now onto the DVD! Thanks to Magnolia Home Entertainment, the film has made its way onto my DVD shelf and will hopefully make it into yours. The disc was surprisingly loaded with more special features than I am accustomed to with these foreign titles, which is a good thing for people interested in mockumentary filmmaking. The special features include deleted scenes, improv and bloopers, extended scenes, a look at the visual effects, behind the scenes videos, photo galleries and HDNet: A Look at Trollhunter.
The ‘deleted scenes’ and ‘Improv and bloopers’ portions of the dvd are pretty standard. There were few scenes that were cut f
rom the film which actually made me happy because they weren’t that impressive at all. There were also two bloopers that were really funny especially since one of them happened during a serious troll chase. As for the extended scenes, while not that special, they did provide some clarity to certain portions of the film in addition to a little extra humor.
The one special feature I was looking forward to watching was the special effects section. It gave a shallow look as to how they incorporated the trolls into the film. The only problem with this section is that the video was silent and moved way too quickly for you to actually see the details and learn how they evolved from a basic computer generated effect to being incorporated into the live action sequences.
In addition to the special effects, the behind the scenes videos showed you how the actors interacted with the trolls and how all the practical effects worked, which I thought was pretty cool. Also, this gave you an opportunity to see how the film was shot and how good the acting was since the cast was filming this entire thing with no trolls or significant props actually there. It actually made me appreciate acting a little more. There were other videos that were just funny and provided further insight as to how much work went into the film (much of this was shot at night in Norway-it’s sooo cold there!) This, along with the special effects, was my favorite portion of the special features.
There was also a photo gallery section that just showed you sketches of the trolls and pictures of the different locations where the film was shot. All I can say is that Norway is beautiful.
Lastly, the HDNet: A Look at Trollhunter was simply footage from the film with pieces of interviews from director André Øvredal and actor Thomas Alf Larsen cut into it. It’s a bummer that they didn’t just show the interviews because I wanted to learn more about the filmmaking process and how the film came to be but unfortunately we never get much out of them.
Overall, Trollhunter is definitely worth owning just for the film alone. If you are interested in filmmaking then the special features will definitely be a treat for you despite their limitations. If you want something original to watch but also something funny and exciting then look no further than Trollhunter, it’s one of the must-see films of 2011 and one of my favorites of the year.
DVD Rating: An exciting and witty mockumentary that is bound to surprise you in more ways than one. 8.0/10
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