Troll 2

 

       I started with what might be the worst, or best. Troll 2 has seemed to topped a majority of the lists of worst movies that I have seen. The movie was originally made under the name Goblins, but was changed to Troll 2 to try to feed off of the popularity of the 1986 film Troll. The new name didn't help much nor did it make sense, since there are no actual trolls in the movie. Troll 2 was directed by Italian director Claudio Fragasso in 1990. Fragasso could barely speak English and hired an all Italian film crew who could also not speak English. It starred small-town dentist Dr. George Hardy, 10 year old Micheal Stephenson, and a group of I can only assume random people off the street, none of whom spoke Italian. Seriously , one actor explains he was out on a pass from a mental institution when he was cast as the ominous store owner: “The actor they hired didn't turn up and they said, OK, you've got the job.” Even the budget for the film was so low that actors had to provide their own clothes. From the start the movie was a disaster.
     The plot of the film, if you can even believe that there was one, was written by Fagrasso and his wife. It follows a family that goes on vacation by switching houses for a month with a family in the small country town of Nilbog, the name about as clever as the plot got. The son Joshua, can see and talk to his dead grandpa Seth, who warns him abut goblins. Basically the town is full of people who are really goblins that want to turn them into half plants half humans and then eat them. The whole plot doesn't explain itself at all. There are random bits that pop up, like the fact that the evil druid gets her power from a Stonehenge block and it is defeated by touching it. As with many things some people try to read into Troll 2 searching for a deeper meaning. Some have said that it is a brilliant film that addresses anorexia, vegetarianism, and heath culture in general. I can see some of the points that are made, but seriously? If you watch the movie you can see that any meaning was lost somewhere in the train-wreak that created this movie.
     Everything about this movie is awful. The plot is barely there, the acting is horrid, the soundtrack is almost entirely just an electronic keyboard, and it just leaves you wondering what you just spent the last 95 minutes doing. Ths movie is so bad that Micheal Stephenson, who starred in Troll 2 as a child, made a documentary about the movie in 2009 titles The Best Worst Movie. He now tours with some of the cast of Troll 2 to various conventions and events catering to the cult following of the movie.