Editorials
‘Captivity’ 18 Years Later: A Horror Controversy More Interesting Than the Movie Itself
Scandal and horror aren’t exactly strangers to one another, and sometimes bad press is good for business. However, Captivity’s own controversy didn’t do it any favors, financially speaking; this 2007 movie flopped at the box office. What caused the public ire back then was a promotional campaign that onlookers found to be disturbing. In all likelihood, the most hardened horror heads probably didn’t bat an eye at that multi-paneled “abduction, confinement, torture, termination” billboard ad. Even that one poster of Captivity lead Elisha Cuthbert (House of Wax), the one where she’s buried in sand, pressed up against glass, and her chest is emphasized for obvious reason, isn’t especially egregious. Maybe it’s worth an eyeroll. Nevertheless, it wasn’t fans of the horror genre who took issue and aired their complaints to Lionsgate and the MPA.
Sure, Captivity’s ad blitz can be accused of being distasteful—it was just one example of “escapist art” found in that period of horror—but at least it wasn’t deceitful. The movie, in its finished state, is exactly what it was sold as; a young and popular model named Jennifer (Cuthbert) is held against her will, and she, along with another victim (Daniel Gillies, The Vampire Diaries), is tormented by an unknown captor. The weird thing is, Captivity wasn’t initially planned to be of the torture horror persuasion. Once After Dark Films picked up the thriller, reshoots were ordered nearly two years after production had wrapped. Executive producer Courtney Solomon, who oversaw the reshoots, thought inserting more graphic violence would replicate the success of Hostel and the like. Reflect the times and all that. Needless to say, he thought wrong.
Meeting the final cut of Captivity on its own terms isn’t ever easy, largely because this version lacks sincerity. The pivot to torture is transparent, not to mention uninspired and unscary. And what might have been a potentially intriguing story, one about celebrity, stalking and perception, is now compromised by these awkwardly grafted and gross set-pieces. For the most part, these sequences are front-loaded, but even still, they take up too much space and air out of the whole movie. They start to border on parody, due to their over-the-top nature and generic design. Cuthbert’s character is put through the wringer, just for the sake of it, then again and again until some semblance of the original form can finally emerge.
By then, though, it’s too late to salvage the movie.
Image: A poster for Captivity.
Looking past the silly embellishments and add-ins would take more effort than most are willing to make, but the few commentaries in the story—one cooked up by Larry Cohen—can’t be entirely blotted out by Solomon’s blunders. First off, Jennifer’s celebrity and openness make her an easy target for the public as well as her abductor. The perverse pleasure in Jennifer’s suffering is, with little subtlety, a twisted reflection of reality. It wasn’t that long ago when Hollywood starlets were hounded and ripped to shreds by the press; it was like a sick ritual every week. As for the torturer, he could be a remark on the relationship between directors and their actors, however, the idea is underdeveloped like the rest of the script.
There is a 30 Rock episode that’s worth mentioning when discussing the mishandling of Captivity. It’s also just damn funny. In Season Five’s “I Heart Connecticut” (2011), Jane Krakowski’s character Jenna Maroney is cast in an upcoming movie. After she explains the plot to her peers—”it’s kind of an artsy character study about a young woman who has a lot of holes drilled into her head”—one of them calls the movie a “torture porn thing like Saw.” And to that Jenna says “exactly!” and explains how the producers came up with the idea by simply renting Saw and watching it. Eventually, the project undergoes a series of drastic on and off-screen changes to better suit its constantly evolving target demographic, or appease a new backer, and as a result, the frankensteined product ends up being plain unwatchable. Now, if that doesn’t sound familiar…
Image: Elisha Cuthbert in Captivity.
It’s doubtful that 30 Rock was targeting Captivity with this particular subplot, yet the parallels are there. Of course, the modifications to Roland Joffé’s movie—Captivity being directed by the director of The Killing Fields is perhaps the most shocking thing about it—don’t include anything along the lines of enlisting Wal-Mart as a paid sponsor, or placating the state of Connecticut in exchange for tax breaks. There is, however, a shared desire to turn a profit by mutating the movie in question and appealing to a different audience. Courtney Solomon read the room at the time, albeit incorrectly, and believed people craved more splatter, not less, in their new horror. His estimation wasn’t completely unfounded; the Saw sequels were making big bucks for Lionsgate. That said, the Saw movies had cornered the market on torture and traps, and there was no room for competition, much less lousy imitators.
There will be those who read this and want to see for themselves how Captivity fares in their eyes. After all, it can be hard to resist what could be an underdog. Keep in mind, though, there are reasons why, when thinking back on this era of horror, no one brings up Captivity. And if they do, it’s likely because of its troubled history, which is far more interesting than the movie itself. Critics have definitely been known to rescind their negative reviews upon reassessment, but in this case, they were right the first time around.
Image: Daniel Gillies in Captivity.
In this day and age, the word “troll” is often used to describe various online nuisances. Yet as abundant and irksome as the modern troll can be, they aren’t usually as fearsome as their mythological counterparts. I’m not talking about the small and gentler versions that have become more common to see in media. No, there are much bigger and scarier trolls out there—and André Øvredal’s movie Troll Hunter is one of the best places to find them.
It doesn’t take long for Troll Hunter (or Trolljegeren) to dump the Blair Witch Project-esque setup and aim for something a lot fresher. The trajectory of the story is augmented by Otto Jespersen’s character Hans, the titular Troll Hunter. The second he comes barreling out of the deep, dark woods and shouts “troll” at the camera, this movie takes a turn into what feels like uncharted territory. Not only subject-wise, but also conceptually.
For fantastical and made-up subject matter in cinema, found footage is a fast way to add a guise of believability. After all, what we accept to be the most crucial aspect of documentaries—the truth—rubs off on pseudo-documentaries, despite our understanding of the pretense involved. That is what Øvredal delivered with Troll Hunter: a movie so convincing that some viewers wondered if trolls really do exist. So, had this been straightforwardly made, it likely wouldn’t have been as effective. Conventional narratives would be more inclined to treat something like trolls as flat out unreal, and never try to convince the audience to think otherwise.
Hans petrifies the three-headed Tusseladd troll.
The viewers, like the characters trailing Hans, are quickly thrown into the deeper end of that extraordinary story. They have to process all this new information while staying on the go. So, although there is no significant amount of meandering, narratively or physically, there is still a good amount of atmosphere, not to mention tension building. It’s never anything frightful, but then again, Troll Hunter isn’t your standard offering of horror; it’s more on the low end of the dark fantasy spectrum. We aren’t ever spirited away to a faraway world—we stay in rather familiar surroundings, as well as dip into those less so. The outcome is a movie where you’re constantly more in awe than in terror.
As fantasy fiction might do, Troll Hunter prefers not to deal with incredulity. There is no time to waste on doubt, as interviewer Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), soundperson Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) all follow Hans around, recording whatever this character is willing to reveal about his bizarre job. Of course, the Troll Hunter himself is not an open book; in that respect, the diegetic documentary fails to fully capture and unpack the more interesting of its two subjects. Yes, all those giant, monstrous trolls are indeed incredible, but understandably, your mind wanders to their pursuer. What kind of person signs up for this gig and then chooses to stick with it for so long?
Reviews have called out Troll Hunter for its lack of character development. In regard to Thomas and his fellow documentarians, that criticism is valid, but bear in mind, they aren’t the focus of the story, either. Meanwhile, Hans is a well-crafted character. At least better than first realized. Before he was introduced, Hans had already grown tired of the troll grind. Fed up with that low compensation for his services, resentful of the bureaucracy, and wanting to expose his employer on a large scale, Hans’ discontent is glaring.
Then there are those finer details about the Troll Hunter, such as that indifference to both the natural splendor of his everyday surroundings and the affections of an obviously smitten colleague, that also suggest some level of despondency. So it is fair to say this movie doesn’t feature any sizable growth for its characters; however, the namesake isn’t underwritten. No doubt, putting a real-life character like Otto Jespersen in that role is partly why Hans is so fascinating—maybe even relatable.
Otto Jespersen as Hans the Troll Hunter.
There is always a small risk whenever using the term “mockumentary” to describe a found-footage movie, as the word could imply humor where there is none. In the case of Troll Hunter, the term’s usage is appropriate. Some folks have claimed the English-dubbed version has the more comedic tone, however, the Norwegian cut isn’t exactly humorless. Apart from the trolls’ absurd appearances, this is a movie where the characters nearly choke on the monsters’ farts, and Christians are like walking targets. Hans’ complete apathy towards everything is another cause of laughter. Overall, the comedy is intentionally dry and inconsistent. Unfunny, though? Absolutely not.
In a movie where endemic creatures are maltreated, as well as disavowed from living freely and peacefully, it’s hard not to notice the ecological message buried beneath the story. In addition to that is the unmistakable political satire. There is this whole business about intrusive and unsightly power lines—like trolls, they’re big blemishes on the land—that leads to what is perhaps the movie’s funniest moment. The scene in question is that one where certain electric lines, the ones secretly being used to keep the trolls at bay, go in a loop and don’t actually send power to any residents. Yet the monitors of said lines don’t find this at all weird. So it stands to reason that Øvredal was having a go at those who accept the government’s doings without question.
Looking past the fact that trolls aren’t actually real, this movie is an enlightening source of information. And not just for international audiences; Norwegians, too, get schooled about their homeland’s own mythology. It’s also evident from everything on screen that Øvredal and his crew were enthusiastic about the topic. The creature designs are the most indicative of that zeal; those imaginative yet myth-accurate manifestations are equally amusing and grotesque. One second you’re laughing at their phallic noses, the next you’re white-knuckling during a hairy sequence. Most surprisingly is how well the trolls’ visual effects hold up after fifteen years. It’s not all spotless, but on the whole, they remain impressive.
Vouching for a mockumentary about trolls isn’t easy, but those who do come around and give it a shot will more than likely be grateful for the recommendation. For Troll Hunter is a real find in that vast and varied genre we call “found footage“.
A bridge troll reaches up for food and finds Hans decked out in armor.
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