The only trend in the contemporary horror genre that is more ubiquitous than the “found footage” movie are the American-remakes of foreign horror movies. The remake of the 2010 Norwegian film Troll Hunter is poised to capitalize on both of those trends with the help of acclaimed horror director Neil Marshall
Deadline was the first to report that director Chris Columbus’s production company, 1492 Pictures, had the rights to remake Troll Hunter with English filmmaker Neil Marshall on board to work on the script and take over directorial duties. Marshall made his first big splash in the United States with his 2005 horror film The Descent, about six female spelunkers who travel into an uncharted cave system only to find themselves being hunted by subterranean flesh eating creatures. Following the success of The Descent Marshall went on to direct Doomsday and Centurion, and most recently one of the biggest episodes of HBO’s hit TV series Game of Thrones.
Andre Ovredal’s original 2010 Troll Hunter was a “found footage” movie centered around a group of Norwegian film students who follow a suspected bear poacher, but find out that he hunts a much larger beast. In true “found footage” fashion, the students continue to document the self-proclaimed troll hunter and find the mythical creatures are actually real and quite possibly ready to change their diet from bears to something else (spoilers: it’s humans). Troll Hunter found both critical and commercial success in Norway and later, the United States.
News of the announcement of an American version of Troll Hunter was met with mixed reactions on social media and message boards. While many of the film’s fans deem it either too soon, or entirely unnecessary, to remake a movie that was just released in 2010, they also concede that Neil Marshall would be a fitting director for the project. Production is set to begin after Neil Marshall finishes up his current directing duties on another episode of Game of Thrones.
The original Troll Hunter currently has a 82% rating on movie critic aggregate, Rotten Tomatoes and is currently available on Netflix Instant Streaming in the U.S. region. Watch the trailer for the original below:
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