The Hunt for Gollum

Indie Tolkien

By Steven Lloyd Wilson | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (15)

I don’t suppose this is technically trade news except for the fact that since I’m telling it to you, it’s news. A group of fans put together a 40-minute prequel to the Lord of the Rings, shot for only $5,000 but looking damned professional given that constraint. They’ve mimicked the general look and feel of the Peter Jackson films and captured a piece of Tolkien that in a broad sense is mostly canon. It’s the tale of Aragorn’s hunting of Gollum prior to the events of the trilogy, a summary of which is included in the appendices of Lord of the Rings, though the details are sparse so they had to be largely invented for this fan film. It’s on a slightly shaky legal ground because they don’t own the rights to it, but they’ve got a little bit of protection since they’ve released it entirely for free and aren’t seeking profit at all.

In any case, The Hunt for Gollum looks pretty good; full video is below. If you’d like fancy HD, you can find it on their site here. Worth a full scale review? Let me know in the comments.

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Comments

I am extremely impressed that this was made for only $5000! I can't watch all of it right now, but the first five minutes is surprisingly good and I think it's worth reviewing if only to give it some more press. These fans have made something worthwhile, and the more fans who know about it, the better!

Posted by: American Girl in London at October 8, 2009 10:06 AM

You know there's another Lord of the Rings fan film about to come out, right? http://www.bornofhope.com/Welcome.html

No idea if the acting and writing are decent, but the look is pretty good for an amateur deal.

I love it that these exist. Love it.

Posted by: marya at October 8, 2009 10:11 AM

Meh. I'd probably watch a movie of it.

Posted by: Xtreme at October 8, 2009 10:18 AM

I'm totally going to watch this. I bet if he hadn't been contractually prohibited or whatever, Viggo Interesting would totally have done this.

Posted by: AM at October 8, 2009 10:35 AM

Haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but actually reviewing it sets a scary precedent for ye who run the site.

What we have here is a fan film. If you start reviewing fan films that have merit, there's a serious standing body of horror fan films and even a handful of gems among the vast sea of dreck that constitutes Star Wars fan films. I even hear rumors of very watchable BSG and Farscape fan films and a Firefly fan film that's in the works now with good buzz.

I would be totally cool with it being reviewed, but then I would also like to see some attention lavished on the better examples of fan work across the board.... which may be more work than you want on your plate.

Posted by: ZombieScientist at October 8, 2009 11:24 AM

Yes, you should start reviewing fan films.

Anything to speed up the rapid demise of this once awesome website.

Fucking hell...

Posted by: Horace at October 8, 2009 11:50 AM

This should be a link in a Pajiba Love, and not it's own review.

Posted by: BWeaves at October 8, 2009 11:59 AM

Also, I tried to watch it. It's shiny, but a bit slow and doesn't really cover anything new.

Posted by: BWeaves at October 8, 2009 12:01 PM

Wow... who tied your panties in a double windsor, Horace?

Without a couple crazy cats pulling out the credit cards and dragging their friends out to make zero budget movies we wouldn't such mixed blessings as Sam Raimi and Kevin Smith, just to give two fairly recent examples. We could just as easily include John Cassavetes and George Romero in that list.

Few people are born as innovators. They have to start out trying the old ways so they can find the limitations of them. And they need feedback. The 2 or 3 cats making legitimately good Star Wars fan films aren't getting useful feedback at theforce.net. The half dozen people making good horror films on the convention circuit aren't getting useful feedback there either. They get plenty of uninformed feedback. Often it's just gushing praise, because their films stand so far above the rest of that milieu it seems ridiculous to actually criticize them. Or they get compared directly to big budget Hollywood and get eviscerated (sometimes by the drooling braincases who populate the user comments at Youtube). Neither of those is useful criticism. More like a microcosm of our political process, which isn't helping anyone.

This site might not be the ideal place for giving them legitimate input, but it's certainly one place it could happen. It's not like there isn't a soft spot for the independent around these parts.

Posted by: ZombieScientist at October 8, 2009 12:29 PM

11 minutes in and the tack the horse is wearing just about made me do a spit take. A shiny new western saddle and a side pull hackamore, with a little scrap of 'old timey leather' to dress it up.
Bitch please!
I've got 13 year olds who could have made a better middle earth style saddle and bridle out of random shit laying around the barn. Why not just put a Stetson and a Colt .45 on Aragorn?

I was just being all impressed with this and that had to go and ruin it for me. Sloppy sloppy sloppy.

OK, back to watch it and see if this was a forgivable sin in the greater context of the film. It only takes 1 floating roach leg to ruin the whole bowl of soup, though.

Posted by: Lindsey with an 'e' at October 8, 2009 12:56 PM

Why not just put a Stetson and a Colt .45 on Aragorn?

That would be awesome.
Oh wait, that was Appaloosa wasn't it? Fuck. Anyway, that would be awesome! Could you imagine that? Ring Wraith all up in Aragorns shit, he pulls out a .45 and shoots it in the face! Suck that Ring Wraith!

I wouldn't mind some fan films on the site. I've seen some fantastic Star Wars films and a great Batman vs. Predator one.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at October 8, 2009 2:38 PM

Viggo packs an 8-gauge Shotgun in Appaloosa. That would blow some mutherfukkin' Wraiths to Baco Bits. Never bring a ghost sword to a gunfight, I always say.

Alright, done watching the film. Stupid saddle mistake aside, I thought it was a really great effort. For $5K it seems like a tremendously well done film.
But, what the fuck do I know.

Posted by: Lindsey with an 'e' at October 8, 2009 2:55 PM

Color me impressed. And I don't care if the overlords decide to review fan films or not. Half of the movies reviewed, I don't watch anyway. I'm here for the snark.

Posted by: Cuca at October 8, 2009 4:39 PM

Making a complete, believable and professional looking film for such a slim budget is truly impressive. Film making isn't easy, and I respect anyone with the resourcefulness and the patience to realise a dream like that.

But... I can't help feeling like it would have been more satisfying if these guys had taken the time, effort and skill that they've expended on their LOTR fan film and made something original.

Posted by: Daniel Hall at October 8, 2009 8:17 PM

It looks as boring as the rest of them movies. Ain't ten fucking hours enough already??? And what about this Retardagorn????

Posted by: zito at October 9, 2009 11:16 AM

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