Trolljegeren (2010)

Originally a name to describe negatively a jötunn (giants) in Norse mythology, the word Troll evolved in Scandinavian folklore to define not the giants, but a different and very particular class of supernatural being. Varying in size and appearance, trolls became primitive pagan monsters, ugly and simple minded, though often big and remarkably strong. An important element of Scandinavian folklore, trolls have entered popular culture via the fantasy stories inspired by these legends. Being savage and ugly made them good material for villains in fiction, and as such can be seen in fantasy novels ("Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" for example"), role-playing games and of course, movies. While the better known instance of trolls in films may still be the infamous horror films "Troll" and "Troll 2", Norwegian director André Øvredal will hopefully change that with his "Trolljegeren", a remarkable horror film in the now familiar style of "found footage" mockumentary that continues that generation of great Norwegian horror films that have been released since the last decade.

"Trolljegeren" or "The Troll Hunter" begins as a documentary by film students Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen). The group is trying to make a movie about a bear poacher, Hans (Otto Jespersen), who has been illegally killing bears. Through the eyes of cameraman Kalle, and with Johanna as sound recorder, Thomas attempts to interview Hans, and uncover him as the bear poacher, but he avoids contact with them. During one night, Hans goes hunting and the three students follow him into the woods, hoping to film him in action. However, they are attacked by a giant monster that Hans insists is a troll. The monster bites Thomas and destroys the crew's car, so Hans helps them return. However, the group wants to know more, and Hans confesses that he is not a bear hunter, but a troll hunter, hired by the government to secretly control the troll's population. Tired of his job, Hans allows the students to film him, hoping that the truth about trolls gets to be known.

As it can be noticed, "Trolljegeren" opens with a premise similar to the 1999 horror "The Blair Witch Project", which also dealt with the found footage of three students that were making a documentary; however, André Øvredal's screenplay (done with contributions of Håvard S. Johansen) is significantly different in tone, as his story is more a cynic comedy about the thankless job of the troll hunter. However, the comedy employed by Øvredal is of a subtler humor, one which finds the laughs not in the vulgar parody of a genre, but precisely in the serious tone in which such outlandish events are treated. Cleverly written and filled with countless references to the trolls folklore, "Trolljegeren" is a mockumentary that actually works its fantasy elements into reality, that builds up its verisimilitude by fleshing out a coherent mythology of its own, and all while at the same time takes a dig at Norwegian government institutions. The clumsiness, carelessness and stubbornness they show is just part of "Trolljegeren"'s very Norwegian self deprecating humor.

However, the most remarkable accomplishment of André Øvredal's "Trolljegeren" is the way he employs the mockumentary genre to capture the sense of wonder that folktales are supposed to have. As written above, Øvredal's intelligent screenplay already plays a big role in this, but it's the execution of it what would ultimately make of break the film. Fortunately, Øvredal succeeds and the result is a mockumentary that truly feels like the real thing. As in most found footage films, the point of view is that of the camera, and what Øvredal achieves is to transmit the very same amazement that the three filmmakers feel when Hans shows them the truth. Their curiosity overcomes their fear, and Øvredal's narrative just keeps on feeding that curiosity. A common flaw of found footage films is that in their search for capture realism, the tedium of real life tends to crept into the film. Not the case of "Trolljegeren", as Øvredal keeps things moving without wasting time and always adding to its story instead of rambling into another direction.

Given that his character is the subject of the documentary, Otto Jespersen receives countless moments to shine as Hans the Trollhunter. Certainly, the movie's weight is on him, and in a subtle, restrained style, Jespersen remarkably builds up a very natural and realistic portrait of the tired hunter. Several scenes consists of interviews to Hans, and it's in those scenes in which Jespersen is shown at his best. Often with only his body language he transmits the melancholy of the hunter, dissatisfied with his job and hoping for a quieter life. Glenn Erland Tosterud, who plays the interviewer and director of the documentary, is probably the weakest amongst the film's cast, though he makes up for his lack of skill with a natural charm and strong presence. Way better is Johanna Mørck, who plays sound recorder Johanna, whose character grows as the events of the film unfolds. Tomas Alf Larsen has the difficult job of being the point of view as he plays cameraman Kalle, though fortunately he rises up to the challenge and delivers an effective job.

Another highlight of the film is Hans Morten Hansen's brief but substantial performance as Finn Haugen (Hans Morten Hansen), head of the Norwegian Wildlife Board, and the one that's chasing the crew in an attempt to prevent the secret to go public. In fact, there are many things to praise in this humble low budget wonder from Norway, which after "Villmark", "Naboer" and "Død snø" has proved to be a fountain of a new and refreshing generation of horror films. From the clever cynicism of its screenplay to its great performances, and even the remarkable (for the budget) special effects that display trolls in all their somber glory. As written above, the serious tone in which such an absurd premise is taken only adds up to the subtle black comedy of Øvredal's film, and the mix of comedy and horror works pretty nicely for the most part. Perhaps the film's biggest problem is simply the fact that it can't help but feeling derivative due to the overuse of the found footage device, however, amongst these kind of films, "Trolljegeren" is a winner.

Perhaps the best way to describe "Trolljegeren" is captivating. What initially begins as a boring student documentary about illegal hunting soon evolves into a dark trip full of wonders. Of pretty dangerous wonders by the way, as director André Øvredal doesn't back from the original myth: trolls aren't cute, trolls are monsters, very dangerous monsters. "Trolljegeren", for all its satirical humor and sheer absurdity, it's still at its core a true return to the original horrors of fairy tales, to that mixture of terror and fascination that surrounds all the good horror stories of the world. More than a decade after "The Blair Witch Project" kick-started the boom of found footage films, "Trolljegeren" puts an ironic twist to the premise of three film students in the woods and delivers a vibrant and exciting documentary on supernatural wildlife.

8/10
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De dødes tjern (1958)

To global audiences the name of Norwegian writer André Bjerke may not be entirely familiar, but in his native country, Bjerke was one of the best known artists and intellectuals of the twentieth century. A prolific writer and translator, Bjerke was a man of many talents, including being a renown chess master and a TV personality; however, his best work was when writing crime fiction. His mystery novels (written under the pseudonym of Bernhard Borge), particularly those starring psychoanalyst Kai Bugge are ranked amongst the best in Norway, and are based on the concept of using psychology to solve crimes. The second of these novels, "De dødes tjern" is the one considered as his masterpiece, and since its publishing in 1942 has enjoyed of great popularity in Norway. "De dødes tjern" also became the very first of Bjerke's novels to be adapted to cinema, though this would only happen until 1958, with director Kåre Bergstrøm at the helm. The resulting film was Norway's first full-fledged entry into the horror genre, and still is considered a masterpiece. And not without a reason.

"De dødes tjern", known in English as "Lake of the Dead", is the story of 6 friends and their trip to a cabin located deep in the Norwegian forest. The group includes crime writer Bernhard Borge (Henki Kolstad) and his wife Sonja (Bjørg Engh), lawyer Harald Gran (Georg Richter) and his fianceé Liljan Werner (Henny Moan), literary critic Gabriel Mørk (André Bjerke) and psychologist Kai Bugge (Erling Lindahl). The group expects to find Lilja's twin brother Bjørn at the cabin, but when they arrive, they find no sign of him and the cabin apparently abandoned. Lilja gets the feeling that something is seriously wrong, and when they find Bjørn's dog dead and some of his clothes near the lake, everything points out to a suicide, which becomes specially creepy when officer Bråten (Øyvind Øyen) recalls the story of the house: years ago a man named Tore Gråvik killed his sister and her lover before drowning himself in the lake. It is said that his ghost still haunts the cabin, and the anniversary of the murders is just three days away.

Adapted by director Kåre Bergstrøm himself, "De dødes tjern" is essentially a tale of horror and mystery in which the characters try to figure out what really happened to Liljan's brother. Officer Bråten thinks it was a suicide, while Harald Gran is convinced it was a murder. Bugge and Mørk agree with the suicide theory, though both come from very different ideas: the psychoanalyst attempts to discover what took Bjørn to kill himself while Mørk begins to consider the possibility that it was actually the spirit of Tore Gråvik what possessed Bjørn to fulfill his curse. Since his wife is more concerned about caring for Lilja's mental breakdown, the cowardly though good natured Bernhard ends up in the middle of everything, no longer sure if he should trust his friends or not. And the joy of the story is precisely that through Bernhard, each theory begins to be dissected, and what Bjerke and Bergstrøm ultimately achieve in "De dødes tjern" is to explore a clash between both science and magic.

Nevertheless, while the story is certainly a captivating piece, the real highlight of the film is how director Kåre Bergstrøm manages to make it both hauntingly beautiful and increasingly terrifying at the same time. With a brilliant work of cinematography by Ragnar Sørensen, Bergstrøm transforms the Østerdal forests into a nightmarish world in which the characters, isolated in the cabin, enter to the dark side of the human soul as they begin to unveil what exactly happened there. Mystery is a key element of "De dødes tjern", and director Bergstrøm keeps a quite appropriate ambiguity through the film, borrowing elements from film noir and supernatural horror to create a haunting atmosphere of uncertainty, where every answer brings another question to the mystery. As in french director Jacques Tourneur's 1957 masterpiece, "Night of the Demon" (of which this movie bears more than a passing resemblance in tone), the horror of the uncertainty is exploited to the max, in a subtle and classy way in which atmosphere is everything.

Another highlight of "De dødes tjern" is the great work of acting done by a that makes the most of such a great screenplay. Leading the cast is Henki Kolstad, playing Bernhard Borge, who's basically the audience's eyes as the mystery develops. While certainly a relatively simpler man than his intellectual friends (to whom he is a foil), Kolstad keeps his performance restrained and natural, never overacting, not even when his character demands him to be a bumbling fool. Bjerke's perennial detective, Kai Bugge, is played with great conviction and dignity by Erling Lindahl, who adds a certain degree of malice to his Bugge, in tone with the film's ambiguity. Writer André Bjerke himself plays the cynic Mørke, and while he is certainly one of the weakest links, his work is not really bad, if only, a bit overacted. Henny Moan delivers a remarkable performance as Liljan, in a challenging role due to her character's emotional breakdown. The beautiful Bjørg Engh plays Bernhard's wife Sonja, and actually makes of her character a strong woman thanks to her screen presence.

Visually breathtaking, "De dødes tjern" is a brilliant exercise in how the correct use of atmosphere can truly enhance a horror film, as while there is nothing particularly graphic, the movie never fails to be an unsettling work of art; and its use of light and shadows, sounds and silences truly show the talent of director Kåre Bergstrøm. Of great interest is the natural and believable way the characters behave, as they always remain true to their beliefs. And what they believe becomes the central point of the movie, as each one of them has a conception of the truth, and solving the mystery also becomes a way to find out who was right. Certainly, there's a lot of things to praise in Kåre Bergstrøm's horror film, but sadly not everything is perfect. The film hasn't aged that good, and this is obvious not in its outdated special effects (which are overshadowed by the film's greatness), but in its talky conclusion in which everything is explained in a long monologue (akin to "Psycho"). It's certainly a product of its time.

Haunting, eerie, and yet so beautifully poetic, "De dødes tjern" is an unfairly forgotten gem that truly deserves to be better known outside its native Norway (where as written above, it's considered amongst the best Norwegian films ever made). After all, it's really interesting to watch the recurrent concept of a group of people in a secluded cabin to receive a Gothic treatment, particularly when its done with such care as this one. With its haunting Gothic atmosphere, brilliant cinematography and its cleverly written screenplay, Norway's first foray into the horror genre ends up being a true masterpiece of filmmaking. In Tourneur's "Night of the Demons" it's said that evil "it's in the woods", this Norwegian classic takes that statement literally.

9/10
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Naboer (2005) @ Cult Reviews!

From time to time, the really cool website Cult Reviews invites me to contribute the site with a review, and once again I have written a piece that just recently got published there; this time for "Naboer" (2005), director Pål Sletaune's contribution to the horror filmography of his native Norway. Keeping up the good work in their dedication to the weird, the strange and the shocking of cinema, chief reviewers Vomitron and Perfesser Deviant continue bringing up reviews, interviews and information about the beloved horror genre, making Cult Reviews the site to go to satisfy that interest on the dark side of cinema. As for "Naboer", it's a terrific example of the new generation of Norwegian horror, in which director Sletaune has crafted a claustrophobic, suffocating atmosphere inside an apartment where bizarre things happen. If your first though was "Polanski" then you are on the right track about the kind of horror Sletaune attempts in "Naboer", though on a decidedly more sexual vein. To know more on it, check out the post at Cult Reviews.

Like my previous contribution, "Due Occhi Diabolici", this review of "Naboer" is part of a series of posts dedicated to the Mr. Horror Presents DVD collection. Known as the foremost horror guru of The Netherlands and Belgium, Jan Doense has built up his reputation as a horror film critic due to his constant work supporting horror filmmaking. Par tof this efforts have been the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival (formerly The Weekend of Terror) for example. In his “Mr. Horror Presents” label, Doense releases on DVD a collection of his personal recommendations, modern horror classics that had no previous release on the Benelux countries, but that definitely deserve a watch. In my personal opinion, this effort is quite worth of recognition, as while one may agree or disagree with Doense's opinions, it's great for the fans to be able to acquire some of those films. At Cult Reviews, severeal of the movies of the collection have been reviewed recently, like Jeff Lieberman's "Blue Sunshine", his more recent "Satan's Little Helper", and Scott Spiegel's "Intruder". For a complete of reviews on Mr. Horror releases check here.

On the greater scheme of things, Perfesser Deviant has written reviews of Conor MacMahon's "Dead Meat" and Tripp Reid's "Manticore"; while Marco Freitas has published an interview with filmmaker Michael Schroeder. Finally, Vomitro himself has chronicled his encounter with the bizarre "Dracula Vs. Frankenstein". More of the good stuff can be found at your favourite site on the weird and the strange of cinema Cult Reviews.

So, keep supporting Cult Reviews!

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