Yesterday, I mentioned that despite the worldwide popularity of J.R.R. Tolkein’s epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy, there aren’t tons of related fan films out there. It’s not all a barren wasteland, however—here’s some LOTR fan films that the fans swear by (or at, and occasionally even in):
The smartest LOTR fan film I’ve seen is the simple by the wacky kids over at howitshouldhaveended.com, who I’ve written about before. If you’ve read the books or sat through all 20,000 hours of the Super Extended Special Edition Platinum Director’s Cut of the movies, you’ll love their ‘let’s get to the point’ take on it.
Almost There And Back Again is about fans hiking all of New Zealand in costume (and in character); it aims for Spinal Tap-like humor and misses (plus it has never played right on my computer).
The Dork of the Rings turns the epic saga into a cautionary tale of credit abuse (well, sorta). Watch as “Frudo Buggins” possesses the One Ring of Circular Credit and has to close down Lord Mauron’s bank account.
The Lord of the Rings: The Sons of Elrond is a real rarity for LOTR fan flicks, in that it’s a serious, respectful, dramatic short by two brothers who want to become film composers; there’s no comedy here at all. It’s a pretty cool-looking, completely computer graphic-based flick that I reviewed ages ago, back when I wrote insanely long blog entries like this one.
Finally, one of the sickest, albeit funniest ideas to come out of the early Millennium years’ LOTR hype tidalwave was the Hobbit gangsta rap group, Lords of the Rhymes, which is completely NSFW. They recorded a few songs and made an OK DVD, but their masterpiece remains the low-rent video for their self-titled single. The cardboard props are a riot and Gollum beatboxing is breathtaking for all the wrong reasons, but I think it’s the rappers’ performances that sell me on this stuff.
Seriously—I mean, close your eyes and listen to them screaming, “Well, my name is Gimili, I’m a f—–’ dwarf! / I been slayin’ mother—-ers from the South to the North / That ain’t Mirkwood I’m choppin with my battleaxe / I’m on an orc stampede like Shadowfax!” There’s a real sound of joy going on there, precisely because it’s so stupid. Be warned: This stuff is catchy; more than once, I’ve found myself with the chorus, “Elf booty got soul / Elf girls like to rock n’ roll,” stuck in my head. Pity me.
Know a sweet LOTR flick that I missed? Tell me about it in the comments below!
Hi, there.
I wondered if you could add one Fan Film that’s missing from there.
It hasn’t been totally released, yet. But, Trailers
and clips are available.
It’s Made by teenagers in Ireland and it’s called
“Halifirien.”
Check out the blog:
http://www.halifirien.blogspot.com/
Thanks.
Well the number one Google hit under “Lord of the Rings fan film” is Born of Hope. We have been around for a number of years. We did a test shoot in 2006 which has given us a load of featurettes and a trailer and are currently in production on the feature version.
Born of Hope is a serious feature film about the parents of Aragorn. To find out more please visit http://www.bornofhope.com
regards
Kate Madison
Actor/Director/Producer – Born of Hope
Well, the two fan films I have been watching for a while are ‘Born of Hope’ and ‘The Hunt for Gollum.’ Both look much, much better than simple fan films. Of all the LotR fan films, these are the only two I intend to download and place right beside PJ’s LotR trilogy in my library. Both are coming out in 2009; that’ll hold us for a while before ‘The Hobbit’!
BoH sounds like it has a ways to go, but you’re right, both BoH and Gollum look very promising. I’m looking forward to both of them, as is my wife, who isn’t much for fan films, but who loves LOTR. Gollum has gotten some extra press recently online, including an interview with the actor playing Aragorn; I’ll have to link to those soon.
Two The Hunt for Gollum and Born of Hope.
The Hunt for gollum is about Aragon in search of gollum.
Born of Hope is about aragon’s parents trying to keep aragon (baby) alive.
Hm… I have neard about the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Sons of Elrond for the first time. Where can I find it?