Hans manages to turn the troll to stone and explains to the students that he only allowed them to come along because he's tired of working for little compensation and wants them to divulge the truth.

Finn, who actually works for the Troll Security Service (TSS), arrives with a team to deposit a bear carcass and plant fake tracks, and tells the students that they will not be allowed to keep their tapes.

In a series of interviews, Hans reveals that Finn's work is to keep trolls a secret, while his is to kill any that come near populated areas.

After several attempts, Hans manages to kill the Jötunn by launching a rocket-like projectile that transforms the troll into stone.

The film ends with a news clip of the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg appearing to admit to the existence of trolls, though the press fails to take notice.

[7] Filming took place in the forests and mountains of Western Norway, and actress Johanna Mørck called it an exhausting experience.

[7] The song "Mjød" by Kvelertak is featured over the ending credits sequence, followed by "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg's music for the play Peer Gynt.

[18] With several of the cast being comedians that are fairly well-known to the Norwegian audience, including Otto Jespersen playing Hans, it also sets the tone of the film for many.

[22] Dagbladet's Inger Merete Hobbelstad gave the film four points out of six and compared it to The Blair Witch Project.

Nilsen also made the comparison to The Blair Witch Project and predicted great commercial success for the film.

He commended Øvredal's ability to combine "subtle humour with physical tension" and also commented on the "striking naturalness" displayed by Tosterud, Larsen and Mørck as the three students.

The site's consensus reads, "Trollhunter is a mockumentary with an appropriate level of creeping dread, but one that also benefits from generous helpings of dry wit.

"[6] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generaly favourable reviews".

[29] Mike Hale of The New York Times called it a "clever and engaging mock documentary" with "ultradry Nordic humor", though "about 20 percent too long" with "more traveling shots through car windows of the fjord-land scenery than are absolutely necessary".

The special effects, while "created with a computer-graphics budget that we can assume was far short of the Hollywood standard, are surprisingly lifelike and frightening".

[30] Frank Lovece of Film Journal International praised star Jespersen for "what ought to be a star-making dramatic performance", and found the film "both a remarkably suspenseful voyage ... and a dry-witted commentary on the nature of expedient bureaucracy ... Part horror movie, part social satire, and bursting with Norway’s savage beauty ... it is destined to be a classic of its kind.

"[5] V. A. Musetto of the New York Post gave it three stars out of four and cautioned, "You'll want to catch this clever movie before Hollywood ruins everything with a dumb remake.

"[31] British writer Ross Miller of Blog Critics gave it 4.5 stars out of 5 and said, "Troll Hunter takes what is now a conventional style of found footage filmmaking and puts a unique stamp on it ... one of the best examples of this type of film so far.

"[32] Prior to the theatrical release of Trollhunter, producers John M. Jacobsen and Sveinung Golimo had been given requests for the film to be remade.