by Andrew Bowcock
“Bad food is bad, and bad books are bad, but bad movies are not always bad.”
-Scott Weinberg of Cinematical.
Troll 2 is one of the most prime examples of massive cinematic incompetence brought to the extreme that probably resulted in the coining of the phrase “so bad it’s good.” Depending on who you are (and who you’re with), watching this film can be a torturous experience or a transcendent one. If you are a B movie connoisseur (which I consider myself from time to time), Troll 2 will definitely rank up there at the top of the list for not just how poorly made it is, but also how bizarre, unintentionally hilarious, and oddly watchable it manages to be.
If you’re new to Troll 2, there are a few things to note. First, it is not in any way related to the first Troll film. Secondly, it’s not just a bad film, but also a film that fails so miserably at everything that it achieves a sense of ironic amazement. Thirdly, the story is the most ludicrous thing you’re likely to ever hear of…it goes as follows:
A young boy goes on vacation with his family to a location where strange creatures are manifested from his worst nightmare. These incredibly fake looking goblins (yes goblins…there are actually no real “trolls”) are controlled by a bizarre witch person (played by Deborah Reed) and it soon becomes apparent that the goblins want to eat people…but being that they are vegetarians, they must first convince people to eat a strange substance to turn them into plants. Meanwhile, little Joshua is constantly being visited by the ghost of his dead grandfather to help him make it through. Yes, you read all of that correctly.
Best Worst Movie is the premiere documentary by Michael Stephenson, who also played little Joshua in Troll 2 over 17 years ago. The film’s purpose is two-fold: partially a “where are they now?” bit with all of the principle actors, and also an exploration of the film’s late-blooming cult status. It initially follows several strange events put on by super-fans who have created Troll 2 clubs, where they have public viewings of the film and invite people to Troll-related parties such as the “Trollympic games” and tag people who show up that have never watched the film with a V (for virgin). Needless to say the fans of this bizarre cult film are no average fans: just like Trekkies or sports fans they have a near-unhealthy obsession with this celluloid beast.
The journey Michael Stephenson takes leads him to many places around the world (including several horror and science fiction conventions) but none so interesting as the home town of Dr. George Hardy, who played the father in the film. If you ask anybody who knows Hardy (including his ex wife of all people) they will tell you that it’s practically impossible not to love this man. Just from watching the successful smile-a-second dentist interact with his family and patients for even five minutes, it’s easy to get the same impression. Hardy’s embarrassment over starring in the film was only a footnote to his life for many years, since it would only be brought up every once in a while by somebody who recognized him. However, there came a point in his life where he decided to embrace how ludicrous the whole thing was and just have fun with it. Hardy’s goal in life seems to be to spread joy and entertain whoever he’s around, so he becomes an increasingly important part of the story as he rallies alongside Michael, making it a point emphasize the appeal of Troll 2 as the “worst film ever made which I starred in” to the masses wherever he goes.
As Stephenson’s journey helps him try to uncover the rest of the film’s stars, he discovers eccentric and endearing people, some retired or making a living by other means while others continued a career in acting, erasing Troll 2 from their resume and hoping it doesn’t come back to haunt them. Some of the stories are hilarious and heart-warming while others are representative of misguided dreams and unfortunate delusion (like Margo Prey, who played the mother). However, nobody seems more delusional and blinder to the film’s shortcomings than the film’s Italian director, Claudio Fragasso, who legitimately believes he made a profound piece of art and has a hard time accepting the film as anything but. The documentary takes a really interesting and tension-inducing turn when Claudio is flown out to face the infamous cult he unintentionally birthed. During a public screening, Claudio misinterprets the enthusiasm of the masses, but not long before realizing that people are “laughing at parts that are meant to be serious.” As it turns out, Fragasso still has a difficult time speaking English, and such an impediment begins to explain why the communication with and between actors (as some of the cast explains) seemed so vague during the shooting of the film.
In the end, everybody involved needs to come to a decision on whether they want to feed off the appeal of Troll 2 in order to advance a career in acting (as George Hardy seems to be genuinely tempted to do) or simply move on with their lives and let the phenomenon be as it is (the question is then begged, “will there be a Troll 3?”).
Admittedly I had more of a slight curiosity about seeing this documentary than a burning desire, but man I am glad I made the choice to check it out. The more the film progressed and showed a diverse representation of who was involved in this film’s inglorious conception I felt like I was part of every situation, and thus invested myself in every laugh to be had, feeling the awkwardness and despair of fallen dreams as well as embarrassment and pity for the delusions of grandeur. From a technical standpoint it can be argued that this film doesn’t do anything entirely new (and I’ve heard a critic describe it as “too episodic”), but when you have such an amazing story as this none of that really matters. However, I must say that I was impressed in finding out from the cast/crew Q&A session after the screening that the editors (Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews) had never edited a film before, but were just massive Troll 2 fans that wanted to be involved somehow (talk about random ambition!)
Not only is this probably my favorite film of the year so far, but all in all this is now probably one of my favorite documentaries; definitely one of the best to come out in the past several years…up there with The King of Kong (which tonally it’s very similar to) and Dear Zachary. If you get the chance…you NEED to see this film. It is powerful and entertaining enough to make you want to watch “the worst movie ever made.”
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photo sources:
http://www.slashfilm.com/
http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/
http://www.fearnet.com/
http://flixster.com/
http://www.cinematical.com/
other resources:
http://www.imdb.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://blog.spout.com/2009/03/23/best-worst-movie-sxsw-2009-review/
Thanks for the great review, we’re glad you liked it. As an editor, I feel that I’ve done a good job when people are more moved by the story and characters than any “techniques” or flair. Early on, we were toying with ideas like animated sequences, narration, the “director’s quest” trope, so to speak, but the more we got involved with the story we decided to tell, the more those things felt like superfluous distractions, and they fell away until the voice became simple so the characters would stand out more.
-Andrew
Yeah – as I like to say, “let the story tell itself.” This film was a great example of that…fantastic job!