The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project is an American low-budget horror movie produced by the Haxan Films production company, and reached the movie theatres in 1999. 

The movie is a horror movie presented as a documentary, where the three young student filmmakers Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams enter the Black Hills in Maryland to film their experiences in the woods that are, according to local myths, haunted by the Blair Witch. The myth says that the people who enter the woods never return, and they go there to document their hike in the large area.

Heather on a rather scary part of the movie.

Before they enter the woods, we see clips from interviews with the locals telling their versions of the myth, about young children gone missing, and stories such as. One of them even claims that she have seen the Witch herself, but everyone thinks she’s just crazy. After that, they enter the woods with no worries at all – this is just a myth, right? 

What’s really interesting in the movie is the camera setting: the entire movie is based on the clips the three students filmed with their two handheld cameras. We usually see all the scenes from both of the cameras, so you get to see the different happenings they experience and the weird things they see from different angles and perspectives. It also makes the horror scenes more intense. One thing is to see three kids run through a forest from above or behind by a still camera, but seeing it through a handheld camera in the hands of one of them makes it more intense and real.

One of the weird obejcts they find in the forest.

Another thing is how “real” the movie feels like. At the beginning we were told that all this was real and the cameras were found in the woods, and at a certain point in the movie I believed that for sure. The acting is really believable, and the camera setting makes it a lot more realistic and helps building up the whole ‘this is based on real footage’ setting. I could also really feel the frustration they shared, and all in all this is a good low-budget movie.

The movie is a horror movie and the excitement is rising all the time. After a while, when this hike in the forest turns out to be something else than what they were expecting, the excitement curve leaps. The age ratings I’ve found goes from 13-15 years (depending on the countries), but I personally don’t care what the age ratings are. I’ve always felt mentally mature enough to watch movies, and so I have. This is a creepy but good movie and a great option if you want to see an alternative movie (it’s not standard Hollywood with guns blazing and insane special effects) with an interesting story. Might not be as scary as you would want, but it’s really exciting. 

Trailer: The Blair Witch Project trailer 
The myth: The Blair Witch legend

- LB

The Troll Hunter (2010)

The Troll Hunter is a Norwegian thriller movie made as a mockumentary, containing many funny elements, directed by André Øvredal. The movie features actors like the Norwegian comedian Otto Jespersen and three relatively unknown actors like Glenn Erland Tosterud, Tomas Alf Larsen and Johanna Mørck.

The movie is about three film students making a documentary about a supposed bear poacher in the Western Norway. They stalk the poacher, Hans, to get an interview with him, but he always avoid them. One night, they follow him into the woods, where they hear weird noises followed by Hans running for his life screaming “TROLL!”, and after this he allows them to follow him on the journey called life, as a troll hunter. He works for a secret governmental department whose job is to seek down and kill trolls that break out of their territories. 

The troll hunter Hans, played by Otto Jespersen

The Troll Hunter is truly inspired by movies such as The Blair Witch Project, but one of the main differences between the two movies is how The Troll Hunter is so humorous compared with The Blair Witch Project. The Blair Witch Project is a movie with a serious story and no funny elements or anything, and all we see is the students being lost, frustrated and scared. The Troll Hunter, in the other hand, uses famous stand-ins in the movie, such as Knut Nærum and Robert Stoltenberg (both comedians), and the whole plot is so distant that it’s funny. Both of the movies are filmed by handheld cameras!

André Øvredal and the rest of the crew have picked great places to shoot the scenes, because the movie gives us Norwegian nature at its best. Western-Norway is known for its beautiful nature, and almost the entire movie is filmed there. The rest is filmed at Dovrefjell, a Norwegian mountain range. The movie does apply a lot to Norwegian culture (old Norwegian adventures, songs for children etc.), and this could be a little confusing for foreign viewers – I laughed while Otto Jespersen sung “Ay-ay-ay-ay-boff-boff” to a big, dumb troll, but I’m not so sure that foreign viewers will get why he sung exactly that song. 

Out in the woods looking for trolls

It’s a pity to say that the special effects were of such variable quality. Some animations looked pretty unfinished, while other scenes were simply amazing. The quality of acting, however, was good - surprisingly good, thinking of the three students. 

I would say that this is a movie worth watching, and many of the aspects are making this movie a good choice at a Friday night. With subtitles, foreigners can watch it and get almost as much out of it as a Norwegian (except from some of the references to Norwegian culture). Everything, from the secret governmental department to the trolls being able to smell sweat from Christian people is just hilarious, and makes this movie a funny mockumentary about a conspiracy. 

The movie is a funny anecdote with no specific age rating. This movie can be seen by everyone in their early teens to the late retirement age, and this is on my recommendation list, mainly because of two reasons: 1) it’s a good movie, and 2) it’s a foreign movie that fits people in Europe and the rest of the world as well as Norwegians. This should not be missed. 

Here's a link to the official trailer, w/ English subtitles: The Troll Hunter

- LB