Troll
June 17, 2009
A friend pointed me to this little gem from Monday’s edition of NPR’s Talk of the Nation: an interview with Michael Stephenson, the guy who played the kid in Troll 2, the worst movie of all time. It seems he’s made a documentary about the movie and the cult following around it. Frankly, I don’t understand why it even has a cult following. Because when I say it’s a bad movie, it’s really a bad movie, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It’s not even funny bad. The thought of sitting through it again, even for the purpose of making fun of it, makes me gag. But hey, I’m glad the actors seem to be having fun with it.
I’ll admit: part of the reason I despise Troll 2 so much is that I absolutely adore the first Troll. It’s less horror movie and more kid fantasy of the same ilk as Labyrinth and The Neverending Story. It stars Noah Hathaway as a kid named Harry Potter who discovers a world of magic. I’m so not making that up. June Lockhart plays the witch who lives upstairs, and there’s a wicked troll who has to transform each unit in the apartment building into a realm of Faerie so that the whole building will become a gateway, allowing Faerie to burst entirely into our world. It’s got Sonny Bono and a really young Julia Louis-Dreyfuss.
And it quotes The Faerie Queene. Then the trolls sing. I just love this movie. Troll 2 doesn’t even have any trolls.
June 17, 2009 at 9:53 am
One of my first dates with my husband ended up with two bottles of red wine and catching Troll 2 on cable. The fact that he was willing to sit through something that bad just to satisfy my curiosity about how much worse it could get was one of the early signs that he was a keeper.
That movie was terrible. It’s right up (down?) there with Cthulhu Mansion or Raging Sharks. I watch too many bad movies.
June 17, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I always thought “Highlander 2″ was the worst movie ever – followed closely by “From Dusk Till Dawn”.
June 17, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I also had some fond memories of the first Troll movie, but i was spared from the sequel.
Thanks for the save!
June 17, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I never saw the first Troll. I’ve seen Troll 2, but only because Mike Nelson did a riff of it for Rifftrax. It was terrible. I wasn’t even aware there was a cult following for it.
I’m not sure if Troll 2 is the worst movie ever, or if Manos the Hand of Fate is. If I recall correctly, Manos had a cast member commit suicide because of how bad it was.
June 17, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Loved the first Troll. When I bought the DVD it came with Troll 2 also. I’m guessing that’s the only way they could sell it.
I can believe that Troll has a cult following. Just because an actor from Troll 2 claims the same about his film doesn’t make it so. He’s mooching off of the original Troll’s following.
June 18, 2009 at 4:38 am
I believe I haven’t watched those movies, but I don’t like things like epic movies, the heroes always dies in the end… If your wondering who I am I’m on FB.
I’ve been a make up artist for 6 months. 
June 18, 2009 at 6:42 am
There is a reason why Rocky Horror is a cult classic and Shock Treatment isn’t. Please people show some discretion out there.
June 18, 2009 at 11:03 am
Highlander 2 is pretty bad if you know the whole story of the first movie, but on its own is about on par with many SciFi originals.
Can’t comment on Troll or Troll 2… but the sequel thing needs to stop. When even bad movies are getting sequels, there’s a problem.
Maybe if there was a law about shooting directors of movies so bad they cause blood tears and aneurysms in the audience…
June 18, 2009 at 1:27 pm
*SHUDDER* you should not mention that film unless you are trying to defend Battlefield Earth as Travolta’s finest work(jk).
June 19, 2009 at 9:18 am
Cat: What you are saying is true, I actually watched Highlander 2 before Highlander, and I didn’t find it so bad, just a bit disjointed. There are far worse movies out there on their own merit.
June 21, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Carrie, the first Troll seems interesting. Thanks for the summary. I’ll have to convince J-L to rent the movie so I can see it.