The actors just hoped for the best with Troll 2, at the time of shooting called Goblin (named for the name of the town in the film, 'Nilbog', get it?). The script was awkward, the creature effects shoddy, and most of the Italian crew, including director Claudio Fragasso, and nobody really knew what would happen with the movie. No theatrical release, straight to video and HBO, and when people saw it (save for the director, who still thinks it's a good movie, and the actress who played the mother, Margo Prey, who thought it was a solid "actors" movie) they knew how bad it was... and that included what is now the director of the documentary on Troll 2, Michael Stephenson, who played the lead kid/protagonist in Troll 2. He goes back to visit all the actors in the film, what they're up to, and then confront them with an astounding fact: Troll 2, in small-certain circles, is a big, big deal.

One of the main keys here is that the documentary works kind of like a cross between American Movie and Overnight, only it's all taking place many years after the fact. You have the 'characters' who are kind of nutty (the guy who was actually in a mental asylum and let out one day to play the store clerk in the film, Don Packard),and the ones who just tried to put it aside and get on with a career without Troll 2 (Connie Young as the daughter Waits in the film). And then there's George Hardy, who is like the anti Troy Duffy: instead of an obnoxious jerk, Hardy is the guy everybody likes (which could be to a fault, but who cares) and has that nice, sweet, all-American disposition working as a dentist and always with a smile or a laugh. And when he finds out Troll 2 is such a cult, he not only embraces it, he goes with it on tour!

This is also a wonderful treat for those film fans who know what it's like to find a movie so-bad-it's-fun like Troll 2. We see them here at the screenings that take place midnight all across the country, from New York to Los Angeles and cities in-between (most touching is the first screening that happens almost underground at a comedy club of all places and where the first real rise of Troll-mania happens). Stephenson gets what it's like for these people to be such fans, and that the cast (save for Prey who doesn't show up cause of her sick mother, and the director who is bitter about the guilty-pleasure love) gets what kind of audience loves Troll 2. As a cult you get the guy who tattoos Troll 2 on his arm. You get the people wearing their hand-made t-shirts. You get people who drive six hundred God-knows-how-many miles for a screening. And of course they all know all the words.

Stephenson captures what a phenomena like this is like, and at the same time the bittersweet coin of sudden "fame". Hardy goes all the way to Britain to promote Troll 2, and it's a little staggering to find out a) he didn't see if, you know, there were actual FANS of the film willing to go to conventions for it like they did the screenings in the states, and b) people don't seem to automatically find it cool all the time to be the "worst movie ever made" (smile). This also happens in Dallas at a convention we see, albeit the one time Hardy loses the admiration (at least from me) is when he slams the people who come to horror conventions, without realizing how horror audiences can be at such places, or that, you know, Troll 2 is still and always will be a big film for some, and for others they'll have a blank look on their faces.

Which, at the end of it all is fine for someone like Hardy, a genuine real-deal of a man who is fine with his dentist practice (albeit he is now acting in a few intentionally crappy movies like Ghost Shark 2),and for the director Fragasso and his co-writer wife who continue to berate the cast's friendly bashing of the film and the production, since, well, they think they did a good job with the movie (at one point, kind of unintentionally funny, Fragasso ponders why the audience laughs at the parts that "aren't meant to be funny", while also pointing out that the audience "saved" the movie from obscurity). Stephenson gets the human angle of everyone in the movie and understands them, even someone who could have been painted as a crazy like Margo Prey (who for some she may be anyway). And for such a movie like Troll 2 to get mainstream attention, if just for a little while, it's a swell treat for a movie so hilariously s***ty.

Moral of the story: You can't p*** on hospitality, I WONT ALLOW IT!

George Hardy is a happy dentist beloved by everyone including his ex-wife. In 1989, he acted in a small budget horror in Utah. It is Troll 2, and by everybody's opinion, it is one of the worst movies of all times. This documentary interviews various actors involved in the movie and even they agree with its poor quality. However, the movie has since garnered a cult following who love the poor quality but also the sincere artistic effort. The movie lovers start showing it in festivals and cheered on by Hardy. Then there is the movie's Italian director Claudio Fragasso who insists on its artistic merits. There is an unadulterated joy of movies in this documentary. There are also great characters just like any fictional movies. There is a minor concern as the movie struggles to find a specific ending. Claudio seeing the film print is probably a solid climax. This is directed by Michael Stephenson who was the child actor lead in the original Troll 2.

This is a documentary about "Troll 2"--one of the worst movies ever made. It revisits the cast and shows that, inexplicably, this terrible film has become an odd cult phenomenon--though I cannot see why. It begins with meeting the star (now a divorced dentist) and then, slowly, cast members and the film creators are introduced and brought together for an odd road show--where they travel to various art houses for viewings with VERY enthusiastic crowds.

With an IMDb score of 8.1, you'd think that "Best Worst Movie" is one of the best documentaries ever made--the score is THAT high. And, while I did enjoy it, I think the cult-like lovers of "Troll 2" have unrealistically skewed the vote. For a cult member, it surely deserves a 10. For the rest of us, a 5 or 6 seems more in line with the documentary. The biggest problem with me is that the film is that although it starts off well, after a while it's obvious that film needed about 20 minutes trimmed as it completely loses its momentum at about the 40 minute mark. A good editing truly would have helped, as there were just too many moments that SHOULD have ended up on the cutting room floor. In other words, 'less is more'--and the bit actor who says he's pretty much wasted his life is just too maudlin and made me want to turn off the film. Plus, it just didn't fit the tempo of the rest of the film.

It's a shame, as you have to admire the film makers' enthusiasm for the topic and a crazy willingness to travel through North America AND Italy to assemble the film--now that's commitment--especially for a low-budget film. You gotta admire their chutzpah!