Troll/Troll 2

Troll/Troll 2
by Claudio Fragasso, John Carl Buechler

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Category: DVD
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DVD details

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• Anamorphic; Closed-captioned; Color; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC

DVD Reviews of Troll/Troll 2

DVD Review: Sing That Song I Like So Much!
Summary: 5 Stars

The real treasure on this disc is the inclusion of "Troll 2." I first saw this movie on video back in 1998 or 1999, and my enthusiasm for the film reached a fever pitch when I learned it would soon arrive on DVD. B movie fans should note that none other than trash director Joe D'Amato directed this tremendously terrible film. "Troll 2" is so bad in EVERY aspect that it ranks as the greatest "worst" movie ever made. People will tell you there are plenty of other films worse than this one, but believe me when I tell you that D'Amato's efforts here trump every other contender. The script, the effects, the acting, the editing; everything is so marvelously, deliriously, deliciously awful that this movie sends me into paroxysms of joy every time I watch it. Viewing "Troll 2" makes you doubt your very conceptions of what a bad film means: did the people who made this film deliberately set out to create a nightmare of these proportions, or was it merely accidental? We'll never know, but every minute of this movie is sheer delight for lovers of yuck cinema. Goodness, where do I start? Well, "Troll 2" tells the story about a family moving to the village of Nilbog where they encounter a town full of goblins (no trolls here, sorry) led by a wacky queen who wishes to turn the visitors into goblin food. That's the plot in a nutshell, and I won't spend more time on it because I really want to discuss other aspects of the film.

You haven't lived until you have seen the people playing the characters in this movie. First, the hero of the film is Joshua, performed with screeching abrasiveness by Michael Stephenson. Accompanying Joshua to Nilbog is his dull father Michael, his hilariously wacked out Mom Diana, older sister Holly, her boyfriend Elliot, and the ghost of his grandpa Seth. Folks, you just can't imagine how bad the acting is here! The Mom speaks sentences that make little sense because the emphasis of the words is completely wrong. Holly, played by Connie McFarland, deserves a special place in our hearts with her performance. That dance she does in front of the mirror! Her lines of dialogue delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer! Grandpa Seth is not only a scream; he keeps flashing a sinister smile throughout the film that should creep anyone out. The townspeople of Nilbog also deserve a special mention, especially the guy playing Sheriff Gene Freak (!). His best line: "Otherwise, we'll be forced to kill you violently!" I'm not even going to delve into the weird relationship between Elliot and his friends, or the outrageously over the top performance of Deborah Reed as the Queen of the Goblins. A thousand reviews would fail to convey the depths of badness "Troll 2" plumbs. You need to see it to believe it.

The production values here are cosmically appalling. D'Amato regular Laura Gemser did the costume work for this film, and what a job she did. The goblins wear potato sacks and plastic masks that fit so loosely around the actors' heads that you can often see bare skin around the edges. In many scenes of the film, the editing is so poor that people look in the opposite direction of the person they talk to or react to things in completely unnatural ways. On one occasion, the Dad tells the family that there are no farmers on the streets of Nilbog because they are asleep for the evening, and it is broad daylight when he says it. By the way, did anyone else notice Joshua's skateboard magically reappears in his bedroom towards the end of the film? Yep, Ed Wood quality editing here, folks. Who knew we would see such an overtly atrocious picture as late as 1991?

"Troll 2" is pure magic and truly deserving of a five star ranking. I absolutely adore MGM for releasing this on DVD with such a good transfer along with a "Troll 2" trailer. What this movie really needs is a commentary track with the actors who played Joshua, Holly, Diana, Michael, Elliot, and Grandpa Seth. Hearing what these guys would say about the film would be a dream come true for this B movie fan, and I would have paid double the price if such a commentary came with the DVD.

Description of Troll/Troll 2