NY REASONABLY COMPETENT HACK CAN DIRECT A BAD FILM; however, it takes a perverse level of genius to make a movie that once reigned at the very bottom of the worst 100 movies of all time list on the Internet Movie Database (
IMDb.com). But such is the 1990 cult classic Troll 2, the in-name-only sequel to the 1986 horror fantasy Troll – and a film that has effectively usurped Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from
Outer Space as one of the most lamentable genre films of all time. So why is Troll 2 so deserving of these unfortunate accolades? “As a bad movie, it fails in every filmmaking principle: bad script, bad writing, bad
acting, horrible effects,” explains Michael Stephenson, the child star of the film and director of Best Worst Movie, a documentary about the phenomenon of Troll 2’s ex- ploding cult status. “And then you add a non-English-speaking Italian crew and place them in the middle of Utah and the result is a disaster. But it’s an entertaining dis- aster.” The brainchild of Italian schlockmeister Claudio Fragasso (Monster Dog, Zombie
4: After Death), Troll 2 stars Stephenson as Joshua, the youngest member of the Waits family, who, while vacationing in rural America, pass through the mysterious town of “Nilbog” (That’s “goblin” spelled backwards!), where they come face-to- face with a gang of kill-crazy hobgoblins (yes, despite the title, there are no actual trolls in the film!). After near-endless inexplicably bizarre set pieces, utterly brutal di- alogue (“You can’t piss on hospitality!”) and monster costumes that look as though they were plucked from the Halloween section of a dollar store, the goblins’ nefari- ous plan is revealed: as strict “vegetarians,” they aim to turn the Waits family into plants before they swallow them whole.
“I felt like we were making the next Gremlins or Labyrinth,” admits Stephenson. “I
had no point of reference. At the time, we all thought we were making a great horror film.” When Troll 2wrapped production, Stephenson assumed he’d get the chance to see
it with his family at the local multiplex. But as time passed, it never hit theatres. Instead, it went straight to VHS and was then banished to late-night cable outlets. “It was about a year later, on Christmas morning,” explains Stephenson. “We’re all
gathered around the tree and I unwrapped this weird VHS tape. And I hear my mom, ‘Michael! It’s your movie! Let’s watch it.’ And all of us sat around and we pressed play and it wasn’t long after that jaws dropped and I remember my dad saying, ‘Oh Michael! This is a terrible movie!’ I was still young at the time but I was old enough to realize that it wasn’t Labyrinth. It wasn’t Gremlins. That was a Christmas we’ll never forget.” Fourteen years later, Stephenson was happily working in LA in the advertising in-
dustry, but he still couldn’t shake the spectre of Troll 2. “Up until that point, anything related to Troll 2
I turned so far away from,” he confesses. “I mean, I hated baloney sand- wiches. Every time I heard the name ‘Joshua,’ I just shud- dered. But then I started getting MySpace mes- sages from different fans around the country and they
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