Movies
[Book Review] Marcus Dunstan and Stephen Romano’s ‘Black Light’
Now in stores from Mulholland Books from Marcus Dunstan (writer of Feast 1-III, Saw 4-7, Piranha 3DD and director of The Collector) and Stephen Romano (“Shock Festival”) is “Black Light“, a new horror novella reviews by Ryan Daley.
“Buck’s got a way with spirits that no one else can match. He was normal, once. Until Something Horrible killed his parents and left him for dead.
Buck has spent years using his gift to trace his family. It’s his only hope of finding out what happened to them-and what made him the way he is.
Now the voices say that something big is coming. Buck already knows what it is-a super high-tech bullet train running express across a stretch of unforgiving desert known for the most deadly paranormal events in history. A place where Buck almost died a few years ago, and where he swore he would never return.
But as the train prepares to rumble down the tracks, Buck knows it can only be the inevitable hand of fate pulling him back to the most harrowing unfinished case of his career at four hundred miles per hour.”
Read Daley’s thoughts on the book inside and pick it up at retailers everywhere.
Is it easier for a novelist to become a screenwriter than it is for a screenwriter to become a novelist? I’m not sure, but the success of novelist-turned-screenwriters like David Benioff (Novel: 25th Hour; Screenplay: Game of Thrones) or Alex Garland (Novel: The Beach; Screenplay: 28 Days Later) seems to indicate that established novelists have an easier time making the transition. But Saw screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (parts IV through VII) do their best to break the mold with Black Light, a well-paced and highly imaginative supernatural thriller, penned with co-writer Stephen Romano. It’s a novel steeped in rich, vivid descriptions–more than a reader could hope to expect from a dialogue-obsessed screenwriters–but the excessive number of peripheral characters makes for a sometimes confusing read.
Buck Carlsbad is a medium on a mission: to ingest evil spirits and put them to rest. Once he discovers an evil spirit, he gulps it down, stores it in his gut for a while, and then regurgitates it into a silver urn, which can be subsequently buried in a graveyard, or burial ground, or what have you. Sometimes he’s forced to carry a spirit for a day or two before finding a release vessel, and carrying around an evil spirit in your belly is apparently hard on interpersonal relationships.
Buck never really knew his parents, only that they were killed somewhere in the Black Triangle, a patch of haunted land in Nevada where a bunch of bad-ass prisoners were executed. When a load of rich dudes decide to run a super train through the Black Triangle, they hire Buck to accompany them on its maiden voyage, to thwart the attacks of any evil spirits that might want to board without the captain’s permission. Buck is into the paid soul eating and everything, but his primary motive is to find out what the fuck happened to his parents. Frankly, he’s not a complex man.
The authors take an earnest approach to the nutty plot, and while the summary may sound like a cheesy TV-movie (Buck Carlsbad: Lonely Soul Eater, perhaps), the novel is written in the confident first-person voice of a hardboiled, pre-war private investigator. Buck is a ghost hunter straight out of a Raymond Chandler novel. I was amazed that three different authors could produce such a singular narrative perspective.
But while the novel can be an action-packed blast, particularly in the latter half, the authors introduce far too many fringe players to the cast list, most of questionable relevancy. There are dozens of named characters in Black Light, from Buck’s support crew, to the handful of bigwigs riding the super train, to the security agents (from varying agencies) who are there to protect them. The first third of the novel is spent introducing all of these characters and the super train/Black Triangle set-up, and the authors seem to hope all of their dangling character sketches will pay off once the action kicks into gear. But the disparate character arcs don’t converge in a way that’s coherent or satisfying; they’re simply tossed into the climax like so much fodder. Black Light moves fast enough to obscure its more prominent weaknesses, but it would be a stronger novel if the authors had culled the expansive herd of supporting characters.
3.5/5 Skulls
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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