Live from SXSW: A 'Troll 2' Virgin No More
Filed under: Festival Reports, Fandom
The cult following for the film Troll 2 has always perplexed me. There are lots of lousy movies in the world, after all. What makes this one so special? And doesn't enjoying something ironically get old after a while? (I'm not a fan of that thing hipsters do where something terrible is described as "awesome.")
But I am nothing if not eager to learn, so I took in a double feature Saturday night at South By Southwest. First up was Best Worst Movie, a highly entertaining documentary about the Troll 2 phenomenon, directed by Michael Stephenson, who as a young boy starred in the film. The doc prepared me for a screening of Troll 2 itself, which took place at midnight at the Alamo Drafthouse and was populated mostly -- they asked for a show of hands -- by Troll 2 virgins such as myself. That was nice, actually, because it meant there weren't a lot of people shouting the lines along with the movie, which is always a sure way to prevent newbies from enjoying something.
The verdict? Troll 2 is a singular piece of work. I assumed it would be bad, of course, but it's almost impossible to describe its badness to someone who hasn't seen it. You seldom see a real movie in which none of the actors actually knows how to act, but here it is. Nearly every reading of every line of dialogue is flat-out wrong, and the dialogue itself, as written, is impossibly bad, as if written by non-English-speakers (which it was) and translated by a computer (which it may well have been). There were times when it seemed like a parody of bad movies, like something you'd see on Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job.
Some of the Cinematical gang was there, including Will Goss, who had seen it before, and Eugene Novikov, who had not. I can't speak for everyone, but I know Eugene and I were frequently in tears from laughing so hard. If you haven't seen Troll 2, I cannot overstate how important it is that you do so. Its badness is genuinely entertaining. You don't even have to try to enjoy it. No heckling is required -- its awfulness is so self-evident that any commentary you added would be superfluous.
And that's what sets it apart from most of the other grade-Z movies I've seen: I laughed at it. Most bad movies are baffling, or annoying, or off-putting, or stupid, or illogical, or whatever. But if you think about it, actually laughing out loud at something idiotic that a movie has done is much rarer. And Troll 2 is 90 minutes of almost non-stop laughable ineptitude. Making fun of it is redundant. All you can do is watch it and let its hilarity roll over you.
Girls on Film: Domestic Violence and Media
'Spider-Man 4' Villain Rumor: Rachel McAdams as Black Cat
Original A-Team Making Cameos in New Movie?
Is the 'Avatar' Budget Approaching $500 Million?_thumbnail.jpg)
Exclusive: Poster Premiere for 'Extraordinary Measures'
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-15-2009 @ 8:13PM
Ziggy said...
Dang!
I tried to rent it on blockbuster online and it now has a "long wait". hopefully in a couple months i can finally lose my troll-ginity !!!
Reply
3-15-2009 @ 7:33PM
MCW said...
But after all that, has anyone actually seen Troll 1?
I first heard about this doc + Troll 2 on Reelz Channel a year or two ago...
Reply
3-15-2009 @ 8:03PM
marcusfromnc said...
If I'm not mistaken, there was no Troll 1. And I heard talk of a sequel to this one which would be called Troll 2 Part 2.
Reply
3-15-2009 @ 10:01PM
Kim said...
There is a Troll 1, an 80s classic (sorta) starring Sonny Bono, but it has nothing to do with Troll 2. Apparently it is common in Italy to simply name something similar to something else to attempt to gain the same audience. There aren't even any trolls in Troll 2, just goblins. Nobody in the movie knew what it was going to be called until it came out - they thought it was Goblins. It was also some time after it came out before most of the cast even knew it had been released.
Reply
3-16-2009 @ 2:55AM
Kristopher said...
Troll one was actually somewhat popular when it came out, and had absolutely nothing to do with the sublime piece of perfection that is Troll 2. Until this week, I had assumed that my friend and I were the only people that understood the hilarity and perfection of that horrible little flick. In a way, finding out about the cult has been both exciting, and kind of a little sad, like something special had been ripped from my soul...
Reply
3-16-2009 @ 10:00AM
madgamer said...
I found the most recent street fighter movie to fall into the cateogory you described in that last paragraph. I will have to see this movie some time, as I had never heard of it before.
Reply
3-18-2009 @ 1:49PM
rossella said...
They are much content of the involuntary happened one of this old film turned in 1989 to Park City in Utah.E' one of the first history that I have written, today is to 100 scenarios. I do not understand because horror demential comic and intentionally ironic on the sense of the life and against the fanatical vegetarians us, or be considered mistaken, defective and involuntarily comic. Because it is not wanted to be understood that l' idea originates them is a comic and ironic history. Perhaps because l' European irony is difficult to understand for the Americans. I do not know. The title it Troll2 is not true, the just one title it of the film is Goblin, the title it of the script is Goblin. The MGM America, has changed to the title it with Troll2, not I and not even the director of the film. The MGM America has declared that Troll2 is the continuation of Troll, but is not true. I have not never seen that film and I do not know it. I have sold my history to Eduard Serlui for the society " Eureka film" Serlui made to realize the film to the Italian society " Filmirage" like executive producer. I hope finally that the truth comes mnemonic. You could not know it. The actors of the Troll2 film " Goblin" they were not actors. They have been chosen to Park City, nobody of they was a true actor professional. The director, Claudio Fragasso has asked to it to recite in that way " strip comic" and funny, in order to make to laugh the public. Troll2 is a fable for children a crazy horror, much comic. The film did not have to be prohibited, nothing censorship, therefore nothing blood that I have replaced with the chlorophyll, using the green color of the goblin, North European Celtic legend, like monster vegetarians many fanatics us of the salutista, macrobiotico food. I have used the goblin like vampiri, using the amburger (tipical american food) of meat to the place dell' Saint water, of the , like the mortadella of the famous sandwich " Bologna" this is the true name of ours mortadella, a company for my Italian identity, a way in order to laugh to us on, but you could not know it. They are much content that a film thus small, turned in sun 4 weeks and only cost 50 or 60 million old Italian lires, in 1989, today is a phenomenon, are content that the cast of the actors, particularly Michael and George, today make transactions also with gadget of they the production, and te documentari director ,ex baby goblin actor, thanks to my small history and the personages from me invented and the food from invented me. Rossella Drudi
Reply