Once in a while a movie comes along which is so so so so bad, it becomes an absolute cult classic. There’s no rhyme of reason behind it or magic formula but it usually involves a lot of honesty. Troma made an artform out of it, but the first great ‘so bad it’s good’ film was probably Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space. Today, The Room and its mysterious creator Tommy Wiseau is undoubdtedly the most famous. However, especially in North America, Troll 2 won a place in many film fans’ hearts. Eureka bring together all the Troll films in a new Blu-ray collection.
Troll, in retrospect, is a masterpiece compared to its sequel. Harry Potter (there’s a potential lawsuit here) and his family move to a new apartment in San Francisco. His young daughter Wendy is possessed by a troll and begins acting funny. Her brother Harry Potter Jnr (come on JK!) must team up with a strange woman upstairs (it’s as odd as it sounds) to save Wendy. As long as you come in from the perspective that it’s a daft ‘80s fantasy horror, then it’s actually quite good fun. There are even some pretty clever movements.
At least there’s actually trolls (or at least one troll, I’m still not convinced about the others) in the first film. Troll 2 (originally titled Goblin, which is not surprising when you watch it), doesn’t contain one troll. It does contain George Hardy as the father who takes his family on a house swap to the rural farming community of Nilbog (spoilers, don’t read it backwards). They discover the townsfolk are vegetarian vampires who want to change them into some kind of food (probably). Whilst it’s fair to say the ‘actors’ give everything, it’s was written and directed by Italians with only the slightest grasp of the English language or American culture. It’s truly awful but immensely fascinating.
Michael Stephenson, who plays the incredibly annoying child in Troll 2, decided to make a documentary about the cult phenomenon after discovering the film’s popularity via Myspace. Travelling around the US, and further afield, he catches up with fans to document the fandom surrounding it. He also gets the team back together, and my, some of them are a bit strange, to say the very least. Best Worst Movie is how I discovered Troll 2 and I will forever be grateful. It’s a beautiful, hilarious and touching film in its own right.
Special Features:
- Limited Edition O Card slipcase featuring artwork by Devon Whitehead (First print run only)
- 1080p presentation of Troll, Troll 2, and for the first time ever on Blu-ray, Best Worst Movie
- DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio on Troll and Best Worst Movie, with LPCM mono audio on Troll 2
- Optional English SDH subtitles for Troll and Troll 2
- The Making of Troll [50 mins]
- Feature length audio commentary on Troll 2 with actors George Hardy and Deborah Reed
- Best Worst Movie – over an hour of deleted scenes and interview footage
- Interview with Troll 2’s Goblin Queen, Deborah Reed
- Screenwriting Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith, Michael Stephenson and George Hardy [81 mins]
- “Monsterous” – Music video by ECOMOG
- Trailers for all three films
- Reversible sleeve featuring artwork by Justin Osbourn
- PLUS: A limited edition collector’s booklet featuring rare archival material (First print run only)
Troll: The Complete Collection is released on Blu-ray by Eureka Classics on 8th October.
