Film
Troll Hunter
A Norwegian found-footage film that treats troll-hunting as a gritty, bureaucratic job. Student filmmakers follow a weary troll hunter through the forests of Scandinavia, and what unfolds is equal parts creature-feature and deadpan comedy about the mundane reality behind mythical monsters. It's clever, inventive, and genuinely thrilling.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy found-footage horror that plays its monsters straight-faced, with a dry Scandinavian deadpan and a slow-burning sense that the myths might be real after all.
Skip it if you want a constant stream of jump scares or a tidy, fast-moving plot; this one lingers on quiet walks through forest and the odd bureaucratic joke rather than hurrying toward its set pieces.
What it asks of you: Just over an hour and a half of patience, with long stretches of ordinary travel and talk before the creature moments arrive, and a tone that swings between eerie and mildly comic.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Host2006
A South Korean monster film that balances family drama, dark humour, and creature horror with the same deft touch. The monster itself is unforgettable, and the film treats its mythology as lived experience rather than exposition.
But Shifts tone unpredictably and some of the emotional beats land differently depending on your patience for melodrama mixed with body horror.
A Dark Song2016
An Irish supernatural thriller about grief and ritual that's quietly hypnotic. Like Troll Hunter, it finds the eerie in slow-burn dedication to a strange quest, and refuses easy answers about belief and the impossible.
But Moves at a contemplative pace that some will find glacial. Long stretches contain only two people in a room, which is either meditative or tedious.
Willow1988
An adventure-fantasy that takes its world utterly seriously while remaining fun. It has the same commitment to practical magic, real danger, and a protagonist who's in over his head, just with more spectacle and charm.
But The pacing is brisk to the point of breathlessness, and some modern viewers find the earnestness dated. It's also very much a product of 1980s fantasy cinema.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Troll Hunter
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Paprika2006
Both use the documentary or surveillance-footage conceit as a way to let the audience discover the truth alongside the characters, creating real-time revelation rather than exposition.
Satoshi Kon's anime masterpiece about a dream-infiltration device spiralling into chaos. It shares Troll Hunter's found-footage DNA—characters documenting something beyond their control—but explodes into pure visual invention. Wildly imaginative and deeply strange.
But The narrative deliberately fragments and becomes dreamlike in the second half. If you need linear plotting and clear resolutions, this will feel deliberately evasive and annoying.
More like this (8)
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale2010
A Finnish film about a mining operation that awakens something ancient and monstrous. It shares Troll Hunter's Scandinavian sensibility, wry humour, and the idea that folklore might be explaining something real and terrible.
But The tone is peculiar—sometimes comic, sometimes brutal—and it doesn't always land where you expect it to. The third act divides viewers sharply.
The Ritual2017
A British horror film about hikers encountering something old in the Swedish forest. It has genuine dread, creature design you won't forget, and explores grief through survival horror. Atmospheric and unexpectedly moving.
But The final act leans into exposition and explanation that undercuts some of the mystery. Character decisions become increasingly frustrating as tension mounts.
Hellboy2004
Guillermo del Toro's adaptation captures the same blend of myth-as-job-description, practical monsters, and characters who treat the impossible as Tuesday. It's visually inventive and genuinely affectionate about its weirdness.
But Uneven pacing and the plot gets tangled in its own lore. Del Toro's indulgence in worldbuilding sometimes outpaces narrative momentum.
Annihilation2018
An exploration of a mysterious, mutating zone that works as both science-fiction and horror. It shares Troll Hunter's commitment to showing us the truly strange rather than explaining it away, with mesmerizing, disturbing creature design.
But Deliberately obscure about its plot mechanics and refuses conventional exposition. If you want clear answers, this will frustrate you deeply.
Let the Right One In2008
A Swedish vampire film that's quiet, precise, and devastating. It finds intimacy and terror in the same moments, and treats the supernatural as a lens for human loneliness and connection. Beautifully made.
But Extremely slow-paced by design. The horror is psychological and atmospheric rather than visceral, which can feel abstract if you want traditional scares.
A Monster Calls2016
A story about a boy confronting a tree creature that emerges from his grief. It's imaginative, visually stunning, and treats the monster as a real presence in an emotional landscape, blending fantasy and devastation.
But Openly sentimental and relies heavily on the emotional maturity of the viewer. The fantastical elements serve the drama, not the other way around, which some find heavy-handed.
Kwaidan1965
Both understand that folklore exists because something real happened, and both approach that something with genuine respect rather than skepticism. The monsters are not the story; why humans believe in them is.
Masaki Kobayashi's anthology of Japanese ghost stories told with painterly precision and mounting dread. It treats supernatural folklore as absolutely real and serious, with production design so beautiful it's unsettling. A masterpiece of atmosphere.
But In colour and widescreen, but shot in an almost theatrical style that can feel static if you're expecting conventional cinema. The pacing is deliberate to the point of being austere.
The Wailing2016
Like Troll Hunter, it's a film about investigators documenting something that shouldn't exist, but it operates in existential horror rather than creature-feature, asking whether belief itself is the trap.
A South Korean mystery-horror film that starts with a murder in a village and expands into theological and moral ambiguity. It builds dread through investigation and doubt, with stunning cinematography and performances that hold your attention through a two-and-a-half-hour runtime.
But Deliberately unclear about what's real, what's supernatural, and who to trust. The ending offers no closure, only competing interpretations. Some find it enriching; others find it frustrating.
People
Cast
Otto JespersenHans
Glenn Erland TosterudThomas
Johanna MørckJohanna
Tomas Alf LarsenKalle
Urmila Berg-DomaasMalica
Knut NærumE-plant Manager
Robert StoltenbergPolish Bear Hunter
Eirik BechCampsite Owner- TomTom JorgensenPolish Bear Hunter
Directing
- André ØvredalDirector
- Therese MesselScript Supervisor
Writing
- André ØvredalWriter
Production
- Jannecke BervelCasting
- Trond G. LockertsenLine Producer
- Marcus B. BrodersenPost Production Producer
- John M. JacobsenProducer
- Sveinung GolimoProducer
Recommended by
Cloverfield, Missing Link, Ghostwatch, The Blair Witch Project, Willow Creek, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, A Monster in Paris, Legend of Earthsea, The Heroes of Telemark, Strange Magic, Thale, The Time In Between, The Yeti, Exists, The Sea Change, The Retreat