Best Worst Movie

The film Troll 2 has become something of a cult item in the last five or six years. It's one of the movies that truly defines the term 'so bad it's good'. It's a consistently ridiculous film that is so very amusing because it so clearly never intentionally tries to be funny at any point. Its mixture of earnest endeavour, cinematic hopelessness and general strangeness aligns it alongside the much-loved yet utterly inept work of Ed Wood. It's really a very rare occasion for any film to achieve the very specific anti-brilliance of Troll 2. So with this in mind, it only seems right that a documentary has been made to celebrate its existence.

It focuses mainly on two things. The people involved in the making of the film and the audiences it has subsequently attracted. What it doesn't do – and this is a mistake in my opinion – is tell us how the movie came to be made in the first place. It doesn't even answer the question that many people find the most obvious – why is it called Troll 2 when there aren't any trolls in it? I think the story of Troll 2 warranted a little more historical context and background info, as much of the facts are fascinating in themselves.

That said I did enjoy Best Worst Movie and think it's great it was made at all. I remember back in 2005 Michael Stephenson the director and child star in the film frequented the IMDb boards with other cast members and he did say back then that he was planning on making this very documentary. I must say I thought it would never happen but fortunately I was incorrect. George Hardy, the father in the film, emerges as a real star; a very likable man who seems to have lapped up his bizarre fame. Although the real main man of the piece turns out to be director Claudio Fragasso. Every time he was on screen was gold. He was a living embodiment to what made Troll 2 so entertaining in the first place, i.e. committed artistic seriousness and a refreshing lack of irony. Fragasso truly believed that Troll 2 was loved so much because it was a complex family drama. Although he at least didn't go as far as to compare it with Casablanca as Margo Prey did without any sense of jest. Prey was clearly a disturbed woman. But then so was Don Packard, the man who played the drugstore owner, he in fact was an out-patient at a sanatorium when the film was made. So this is surely an example of fact being as strange as fiction. Well, almost.

Best Worst Movie is ultimately a perfect accompaniment to Troll 2 itself. The documentary somewhat strangely does not really focus on the content of the film itself. There are numerous clips of course but they're never commented on and many of the best parts are bizarrely not featured in the first place. This would perhaps be more of a problem if you didn't have the movie itself to enjoy afterwards. Ultimately Best Worst Movie is a look at a group of people who were inadvertently involved in making a movie that not one of them could have imagined in their wildest dreams would go on to become something of a cult classic. It's a strange story but one worth knowing about.

Although I love Troll 2, I cannot concur with the general consensus that it is even close to the "worst movie ever made." (For that honor, you have to look at something that takes itself really seriously, with pretenses to high art, like a "film" by Godard). Troll 2 is a nutty little comedy with a ridiculous plot, silly dialog and amateurish costumes, and, as such, I really enjoyed it. It's fun.

IMHO, the main fault of this good-natured and generally excellent documentary is its failure to mention Deborah Reed, whose way over-the-top portrayal of veggie villainess and hippie druid Queen "Creedence Leonor Gielgud" is the wacky heart of the movie. She morphs from maniac priestess to gorgeous Elvira-like vamp whose hotness can literally pop corn (in the film's most overtly comic scene). Did Deborah Reed ask to be excluded from the documentary? (She does have an incomplete website). Was there a conflict between the documentary's creator and the actress? The documentary's failure to make any mention of Reed causes a real WTF moment. Anyway, Deborah was a doll, full of manic comic energy, and I was surprised to see that her career as a film actress seems to be limited to Troll 2. What happened to her? We want to know! But all-in-all, I am very grateful for Troll 2, and for Michael Stephenson's delightful documentary. Both of these films have made my life a marginally happier place. Bravo! And hang in there Margo! I really sympathize with your feelings about crappy neighbors!

Perhaps it was the build up for watching this documentary, but I found it to be the most enjoyable movie I've watched all year. I was reviewing the list of movies on display at the Sacramento Film Festival and I stumbled across the synopsis for this movie. I had vague recollections of Troll, but I couldn't really remember watching Troll 2. I recruited a few friends to watch the documentary since they'd heard of Troll 2 from some documentary about the worst movies ever filmed.

Three hours before the documentary was set to start, we gathered at my house with some chips and beers and set out to watch Troll 2. One friend had to switch to hard liquor to handle the outlandishly bad scenes in the movie, but the rest of us found the movie very watchable. It's like watching a train wreck at a high school talent show. You get a gut-wrenching feeling from watching these people make asses out of themselves, but you can't help but love their performance.

Anyway, we finished Troll 2 and we all agreed that there were several parts of the movie we'd love to have explained. That's where the documentary came in. It's like having an audio commentary extra from a special edition DVD, except you have to go to the local indie theater to watch it.

I don't know what the hell that one reviewer was writing about, but out of the 25 people who were in the small theater, at least 15 of them were constantly bursting into fits of laughter. The documentary is genuinely funny and I don't think people should watch it as a serious film... since it's about the worst movie ever. It'd make no sense.

One of my friends that went to the theater with us did so without watching Troll 2. After the documentary, he insisted that we watch the Troll 2 again that night, which we did. After watching the documentary, it's hard not to like Troll 2 since you now know the people that played the characters. It's comforting to know that they're as embarrassed about some of their scenes as you were for them.

The Best Worse Movie, is a look at the making of the film Troll 2 and its journey from being crowned the "worst film of all time" to a cherished cult classic. Troll 2 is a perfect example of the "so bad it's funny" category. Very few movies get everything, I mean everything so far from right, except for Troll 2.

The Best Worse Movie was made by the child actor from the film, he manages to find all of the cast and discusses with them how the movie changed there lives. It was funny to see the reaction from everyone involved who either wrote the film off as an embarrassment or just a good laugh. Except for the Italian director of Troll 2, who still regarded the film as a masterpiece.

I was very shocked how much I enjoyed this documentary. I enjoyed it as much as "King of Kong", and really enjoyed the story of how a film can go so wrong in every department. It goes to show how beloved some of these terrible campy 80's movies are today with the Nintendo generation.

Rating= A+

UPDATE: After watching this documentary, I went out and watched Troll 2, and yes, it was as bad as they say.

Every year, Wellington has a film festival and puts out a brochure with brief synopses of the films that will be shown. Something about the idea of a guy trying to track down the cast which he shared a movie with many years earlier appealed. It took a while to convince my other half that we should go and see a film about a horror film which neither of us had seen and had atrocious reviews on IMDb.

It was a risk.

However, it was a risk that with the benefit of hindsight I was very glad that we both took. Knowledge of the erstwhile Troll 2 was not necessary as the film is interspersed with relevant sections of the original movie as and when required.

I can only imagine that the previous reviewer has no sense of humour or has something against this film, because what I saw was one of the funniest films I'd seen in years. Some of the comic timing is absolutely perfect, as, for example, one of the cast members of Troll 2 is indulging in some ego massage only for the film maker to capture a telling glance or bemused expression from an onlooker.

At the screening, the director was present and took part in a Q&A after the fact. A question was somewhat rudely asked as to whether the director felt it was right to degrade his former colleagues in such a way, by displaying their insecurities, idiosyncrasies and foibles on celluloid. I, however, give this critic short shrift. With the potential exception of the director of the original Troll 2, these people have volunteered to be part of this film, and I found myself laughing along with these people rather than at them.

All in all, you won't find a much more amusing documentary to watch than this. Whether you are interested in the subject matter or not is largely unimportant. If you see this film advertised at a cinema, in a rental shop on DVD or maybe in your TV listings then make sure you too take the risk to see it. It'll be worth it.