The Traveler & The Troll is the kind of movie that, had we watched a feature-length version on VHS in 1987, would have inspired a whole legion of copycats. While generational debates about “whose childhood was more challenging” are beyond cringe, Gen X and older millennials are pretty untouchable when it comes to the claim, “our kids’ movies messed us up forever.”
I don’t know what was in the water during the dark fantasy boom of the 1980s, but so many movies geared toward all-ages were loaded with nightmarish imagery that continues to scar future generations for life. If you’ve never seen the countless videos of parents showing their children Artax getting swallowed up by the Swamp of Sadness in The NeverEnding Story, you’re missing out. Spoiler alert: this is one style of generational trauma that seemingly unites us all.
And while genre offerings have been regurgitating 1980s nostalgia for the better part of 30 years, it’s odd that the deeply twisted dark fantasy well has remained largely untapped. Fortunately, for anyone with nine minutes and a desire to go on an adventure that leads to a face-to-face encounter with a six-foot-tall puppet, Adam Murray’s festival darling The Traveler & The Troll is now available to watch for free. And we’ve got it for you right here”
“The Traveler & The Troll is a Horror-Fantasy Comedy about a weary adventurer who stops to rest in a haunted forest, where they’re terrorized by a Troll. The Traveler must answer the Troll’s three riddles to survive the night, but it turns out the Troll might have underestimated his prey.”
Adam Murray wrote, directed, edited, and produced The Traveler & The Troll, which was majority-funded through Kickstarter. The film stars Erika Ishii (Ghost of Yōtei, Dropout), Dave Child (Eye·ritis), and puppeteers Brittaney Talbot and Chelsea Pickens Tonick.
I’m lucky to be in a position where I can see a number of killer short films by virtue of attending film festivals, but the larger movie-loving public doesn’t always have that access. And when a short film's festival run ends, there’s no telling where it will end up. But if you attend genre festivals, you may have been lucky enough to see this short with a crowd. The Traveler & The Troll seemed to be everywhere.
After premiering at the Overlook Film Festival in 2025 (where I first caught it) and taking home the Audience Award for Best Short Film, Murray’s short played at over 20 different film festivals, including Soho Horror, Chattanooga Film Fest, Philadelphia Film Festival, Fog Fest, San Diego Comic-Con, Palm Springs International ShortFest, Fantasia, and FilmQuest, 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.
And the accolades are deserved. Murray and his crew shot the film in Los Angeles at Laurel Canyon Stages, using fully practical special FX, stop-motion, 2D animation, real sets, prosthetics, slime, original puppets — including the six-foot-tall troll — AND ZERO AI.
Oh, you need your precious Chatbot to help you be creative? These freaks made a giant, tactile troll by hand that has taken up residence as my new sleep paralysis demon, born of their own sick minds. And in the 1980s dark fantasy tradition, The Traveler & The Troll is also jam-packed with whimsy, a sense of humor, and a hero we should all aspire to be more like. So if you’re sick of ugly slop being cranked out by morally bankrupt corporate decision-makers hell-bent on squeezing the life out of human ingenuity and creativity, escape for a few minutes with this short. And even let it inspire you to create your own weird little project.
For more information on the team behind The Traveler & The Troll, you can follow them on Instagram.
