Editorials
[It Came From the ’80s] The Aquatic Terror of ‘Leviathan’
With horror industry heavy hitters already in place from the 1970s, the 1980s built upon that with the rise of brilliant minds in makeup and effects artists, as well as advances in technology. Artists like Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Tom Savini, Stan Winston, and countless other artists that delivered groundbreaking, mind-blowing practical effects that ushered in the pre-CGI Golden Age of Cinema. Which meant a glorious glut of creatures in horror. More than just a technical marvel, the creatures on display in ‘80s horror meant tangible texture that still holds up decades later. Grotesque slimy skin to brutal transformation sequences, there wasn’t anything the artists couldn’t create. It Came From the ‘80s is a series that will pay homage to the monstrous, deadly, and often slimy creatures that made the ‘80s such a fantastic decade in horror.
The year 1989 saw the release of not one, but five horror and sci-fi films set underwater. Of those five, The Abyss was the clear winner as the only one to become a box office hit. Of the four that failed to perform at the box office, Leviathan is the biggest surprise among them. Directed by George P. Cosmatos (Of Unknown Origin, Tombstone), featuring a cast of actors at a peak in success like Peter Weller and Ernie Hudson, and creature effects designed by Stan Winston’s studio. Ironically, it was due to Winston’s strong desire to direct that made him turn down James Cameron on The Abyss and choose Leviathan instead because of production schedules. Which meant that Leviathan was elevated beyond its strange Alien and The Thing creature feature mashup thanks to his team’s memorable work.
The plot sees a group of deep-sea miners approaching the end of their six-month shift at the ocean’s depths, when one of the miners discovers a sunken Soviet shipwreck. When miner Sixpack (Daniel Stern) sneaks off with a recovered flask of vodka from the shipwreck, he and another crewmember begin mutating. The mutations grow and spread, and the crew is forced to fight for their lives with nowhere else to go.
The nature of the creature meant a lot of variations for Winston’s team to create; from severed limbs that became sentient, to merging bodies, to one giant creature that the special effects team referred to as a monster stew, a kitchen sink of various sea creatures and human victims all combined. Designing the creature was a team effort, with every member contributing in some way to its design and creation. Alec Gillis, Richard Landon, Shane Mahan, Shannon Shea, John Rosengrant, and Tom Woodruff Jr. taking a roundtable approach, and Winston overseeing. It was a big job to do on its own, but when the producers got nervous about the team hired to handle the dive suits, the job shifted to Winston’s team, adding both insane pressure and work to their already heavy load.
There was a lot of puppeteering involved with the creature effects, and the massive suit built for the final form of the creature was likened to a parade float by Tom Woodruff Jr., the artist that wore the suit as lead creature (as he often did). Navigating in the bulky suit would make for an unpleasant job on its own, but Woodruff Jr. also had to contend with electric shocks every time he’d flail the suits tentacles and it would make contact with the electric grid of the station set.
When not pulling double duty on handling both creature effects and the dive suits, the special effects team had to spend their evenings getting scuba certified to puppet the creature for the climax, where the remaining mining crew members flee to the surface with the creature in pursuit. The fiber glass dive suits were easy enough to maneuver, but the creature suit was mostly foam latex, absorbing water like a sponge. Though the monster only appears at the surface, the water still made the suit extremely heavy as filming went on.
That Leviathan borrows heavily from classics before it means that it’s far from perfect, but it’s a lot of fun and creature effects team delivered a great ‘80s creature. It’s also a bittersweet film that marks the last time Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. would work under Stan Winston; they departed to form their own studio shortly after, making Leviathan an all-star showcase of Academy-Award winning special effects masters.
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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