This week's VHS is John Carl Buechler's
1986 urban fantasy Troll.
An evil troll terrorizes a modern day
apartment building in an attempt to restore his kingdom to its former
glory.
I had never seen Troll before. A few years ago, during all the Best Worst Movie hoopla, I got
swept up in all the wonderful badness of Claudio Fragasso's sequel and just assumed that there was nothing particularly special about the
film that, if only in title only, proceeded it. Recently, I
finally finished my Seinfeld box set re-watch and remembered Troll was
Julia Louis-Dreyfus' film debut. Seemed like as good a time as any to
cross this one of the list.
And oh my God, this movie! I was not
prepared for just how bonkers this movie was. It just kept on
giving. Even setting aside the hilarious fact this was a
fantasy movie with a main character named Harry Potter Jr, this movie
had me grinning pretty much from the get-go.
The Potter Family. |
I remember being surprised by how early
they showed the Troll. I guess I was expecting something along the
lines of Ghoulies or Elves that under-delivered on their antagonists. Not the case here, as this movie was teeming with all manner
of fairy creatures. During the fantastic sequence where Sonny Bono
transformed into – whatever that thing was – I remember exclaiming
“holy shit, this movie has some money behind it!” And the weirdness just kept on coming...
So much to unpack here. Like what was
up with the terrible hands-off parenting of Michael Moriarty &
Shelly Hack when Evil Wendy was playing up. I can tell you if I ever
bit my Dad I would have gotten my fucking teeth knocked out. I also recalled halfway through being bewildered that Moriarty was the least
wacky thing about this movie. And then he caught up...
I've seen 1993's Leprechaun several
times, but obviously never knew that Troll must have been their template, as the creature designs were similar and the
visual effects almost interchangeable. Also not lost on me was the coincidence that two
of the most famous sitcom actresses ever both got their starts
in these titles. Again, it's crazy to me that
seeing Elaine running around a magical forest half-naked seemed
completely normal within the zany context of this movie.
I went to this audition & yada-yada-yada I was wearing vines for underwear... |
Buechler must have had so many balls in
the air on this project and still managed to pull it off. I also
really dug that Phil Fondacaro, the guy in the Troll suit, also got
to do double duty as Professor Mallory. As wild as this movie was
there were some really solid exchanges between adults and children,
namely Fondacaro and Jenny Beck (who it took me a while to recall she was the alien hybrid from V) as well as The Neverending Story's
Noah Hathaway and June Lockhart. And I haven't even mentioned Richard Band's musical number!
Though the Critters series will always
own my heart when it comes to eighties puppet baddies, I really have
to applaud Buechler for how many creature effects he was able to cram
into eighty-two minutes. I now understand the initial reactions of the people
who saw the sequel. Troll 2 has its own merits,
unintentional as they may be, but it's worlds away from this gem from
Empire Pictures.
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