Troll 2 was so bad that it earned its very own documentary, Best Worst Movie. Despite its title, Troll 2 was completely unrelated to the earlier movie Troll – and has no trolls in it.
Troll 2 is about a white bread suburban family that vacations in the mountain village of Nilbog (“Goblin” spelled backwards, get it?). The family doesn’t know that all of the locals are vegetarian predator goblins who can take the form of regular humans. The goblins are able to turn humans into vegetative matter (a green slime) that the goblins can ingest.
Troll 2 was made in 1990 with very primitive production values – and by a non-English speaking Italian crew and a non-Italian speaking Z-list American cast. Best Worst Movie showcases the inept acting and directing aside, but Troll 2’s screenplay is probably the source of the most laughs:
- Dead Grandpa Seth keeps appearing to the boy.
- The boy saves his family by urinating on the family dinner.
- There’s a teen make out scene so “hot” that it literally pops popcorn.
You can see some of the finer bits by doing a YouTube search for “You can’t piss on hospitality” and “Troll 2 O my God”.
Best Worst Movie contains some squirmy scenes with cast members whose mental health issues have since worsened. And the Italian director is a jerk who is narcissistically unwilling to acknowledge its badness, but is all to happy to bask in Troll 2‘s new found cult status. But the goodhearted goofiness of star George Hardy, a cast of good sports and Troll 2‘s cult following dominates.
Troll 2 is one of the films in my Bad Movie Festival. Best Worst Movie can be streamed from Amazon (included with Prime) and AppleTV.