Do you have nine minutes to feel totally transported? We bet that you do. So we have the perfect offering for you—a brilliant short movie that captures the best of the ’80s fantasy genre, feels steeped in emotion and artistry, and will have you laughing, crying, and on the edge of your seat. C’mon, you have nine minutes for that. So press play on The Traveler & The Troll and go on your own fantastical quest, right from your living room or wherever you are. You won’t be sorry you did.
There’s just something to the fantasy movies of days gone by. ’80s movies have a real heart to them, a real depth. Humor, darkness, fear, and hope layer one onto the next in a way that feels rarer and rarer in our day and age. There’s a certain level of thought you can feel throughout those films.
But The Traveler & The Troll manages to perfectly tap into the vibes of those halcyon cinema days. The description for the fantasy short shares, “A Traveler stops to rest in a clearing of a long haunted forest. They soon learn they are not alone and have stumbled upon the lair of a terrifying troll. To survive the night. Much to the Troll’s surprise, the Traveler is more of an adversary than the Troll ever could have expected.”
As we mused in a previous write-up, “It’s an excellent-sounding tale, but whatever you’re envisioning, the actual short is even better than that. In nine glorious minutes, it works its practical magic on you. The Traveler & The Troll immediately casts its spell deftly, taking viewers into a fully formed realm that feels both at once real and fabulously magical, and introducing you to its mythical troll and epic traveler. But, of course, both are more than meets the eye. And this short manages to be both enthralling, humorous, and emotional all in one go. We love its quick wit and banter, and star Erika Ishii very much delivers the true gravitas we want to see in our fantasy heroes in such a short piece.”
Naturally, then there’s the true star, THE TROLL PUPPET, a creation you really have to see to believe. But his greatness lies in the fact that he is a work of true art, an amalgamation of human craft resulting in unbelievable results.
The creators of The Traveler & The Troll share, “The film was proudly shot in Los Angeles, at Laurel Canyon Stages, and features fantastic performances, incredible cinematography, along with fully practical special FX, original puppets, including a six-foot-tall troll, stop-motion and 2D animation, real sets, prosthetics, slime, and zero AI.” The real slime also truly won us over. We jest, but the movie is really just so beautiful.
And we’re not the only ones who think so. Since its arrival on the scene, The Traveler & The Troll has won MANY awards. And, we mean, just look at it, this is one short that would be very hard to compete with. A relase notes:
The multi-award winning short film ‘The Traveler & The Troll’ is making its online premiere after an impressive two year festival run.
‘The Traveler & The Troll’ is a Horror-Fantasy Comedy, starring Erika Ishii (Dropout, Ghosts of Yotei) as a weary adventurer who stops to rest in a haunted forest, where they’re terrorized by a Troll, voiced by performer Dave Child (See You Next Christmas, Townies). The Traveler must answer the Troll’s three riddles to survive the night, but it turns out the Troll might have underestimated his prey.
After premiering at the Overlook Film Festival in 2025 and taking home the Audience Award for Best Short Film, the film was the official selection of over twenty different film festivals, including: Palm Springs International ShortFest, Fantasia, FilmQuest, Soho Horror, Chattanooga Film Fest, Philadelphia Film Festival, Fog Fest, San Diego Comic-Con, and won Best Horror Comedy at Midsummer Scream, Best Genre Short at Baton Rouge Underground, Best Film at Warped Witch, and Best Horror Comedy at HollyShorts Comedy Festival.
‘The Traveler & The Troll’ was written, directed, edited, and produced by Adam Murray and was majority funded through Kickstarter.
The film stars Erika Ishii, Dave Child, and puppeteers Brittaney Talbot and Chelsea Pickens Tonick
A generational run for a generational troll. And, as we said, if you want to see what all those folks at the film festivals saw, now you can! Just press that play button and be transported into a realm we can only dream of in reality.
Now that we’ve brough it up, we really feel like we have to watch it again. But honestly, we would love to see the further adventures of The Traveler and the Troll. It can’t really end there, can it? You can learn more about the project here.
Editorial Note: Adam Murray is employed by Legendary Digital Networks, of which Nerdist is a subsidiary.
The post Watch THE TRAVELER & THE TROLL Short: It has a SIX-FOOT Puppet appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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