Carter Smith, the director of the much-anticipated horror flick THE RUINS, already has a few films lined up. The (potential) first is COME CLOSER, which we told you about last April.
The other is more intriguing: TROLL. Now I know what you’re thinking: “Wait, I thought John Carl Buechler was at the helm of that remake! I can’t believe that friggin’ film is being remade and I certainly can’t believe it’s from the same friggin’ director!!” Well, you may continue to think most of that – because Smith’s TROLL film is of a different variety. Here’s what he told Fearnet about the project:
There’s also a project I wrote called Troll which again is based on a novel by Johanna Sinisalo, a Finnish author. It’s a very dark adult fairytale… it’s sort of a dark cross between E.T. and Lolita.
Well what’s this thing actually about? Check it (courtesy of Amazon.com): A young Finnish photographer makes a pet of an orphaned troll in this strange, sexually charged contemporary folk tale.
Sweet lord I don’t know that I’m ready for a sexually charged troll film. Ready for an elaboration? You asked for it! (Maybe you didn’t – but you’re gettin’ it!)
Mikael, nicknamed Angel for his stunning blonde good looks, finds the troll behind some dustbins after a night of drinking, and feels compelled to bring it home. The troll is small and black, thoroughly wild but also oddly human, with an overpowering, arousing juniper-berry smell. Obsessed by his new companion, whom he names Pessi, Angel sets out to learn everything he can about trolls, which in the novel’s world are a real but extremely rare species. Much of the book is composed of excerpts from reference works and novels, the most valuable of which is a rare volume by Gustaf Eurén, called The Wild Beasts of Finland. This book is supplied by Ecke, Angel’s nerdy, fervid suitor; Angel also coerces help from a veterinarian ex-boyfriend; an advertising art director who buys his photographs and rejects his advances; and an abused Filipino mail-order bride who lives downstairs… The troll brings out Angel’s animal instincts, representing all the seduction and violence of the natural world. As the troll becomes ever more unmanageable, the sense of doom grows; the ferocious ending is thoroughly unsettling.
Okay, most likely the entire world is not ready for this project. But hell, it’s not the usual thing, is it? To finally see with this director’s got, check out THE RUINS on April 4.
The Ruins star Jena Malone.
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