Troll 2 is a
1990
horror film, directed by
Claudio Fragasso, under the pseudonym Drake
Floyd. During production, the film was known as
Goblins, and some foreign releases of the
movie were labeled as such, but upon release in the United States,
the title was changed to
Troll 2 in an attempt to help
sell the film by connecting it to an established horror movie, the
1986
Empire Pictures film
Troll. The two films, however,
have no connection apart from the title. In fact, despite the
title, no actual trolls appear in
Troll 2.
The plot concerns an American family, the Waits family, who are
taking a trip to the country to visit a small town called "Nilbog"
(goblin spelled backwards), but are plunged into a nightmare as
they are relentlessly pursued by
vegetarian goblins, who turn people into
plants before they eat them.
The cast includes
Michael
Stephenson, George Hardy, Margo Prey,
Connie Young (here credited with her maiden
name, Connie McFarland) and
Jason F.
Wright.
Plot
The film begins with the main character, a child named Joshua
Waits, being contacted by his dead grandfather, Seth. Seth informs
Joshua of evil creatures known as
goblins
roaming the world who force or trick humans into consuming food
which will turn them into vegetables. The goblins would then eat
them.
Meanwhile Joshua's sister, Holly, receives a visit from her
boyfriend Elliot. She accuses him of being a
homosexual because he spends large amounts of
time with his friends Brent, Arnold and Drew. Since she and the
rest of the family are going to Nilbog for a holiday, he offers to
meet her on the way. She agrees but under the condition that he
will come alone without his friends.
However, Elliot does not turn up at their meeting point and her
parents, Michael and Diane, go on without him. They meet him
further up the route but she angrily dismisses him since he is
accompanied by his friends. Joshua has a dream that his family are
actually goblins in disguise preparing to consume him but wakes up
to find Seth again, this time posing as a
hitchhiker. Joshua tells his parents to stop the
car and runs up to him. Seth informs Joshua that their holiday
destination is in fact the kingdom of the goblins he mentioned
earlier, and urges him to convince his parents to turn back. Joshua
is unable to, and the family arrive at Nilbog.
A meal has been prepared at the house where they are staying, but
Joshua's grandfather shows up again and freezes time for thirty
seconds, giving Joshua a chance to stand up on the table and
urinate on the food, and thus prevent his family from eating. He is
threatened by his father, who makes it clear that he intends to
wait it out until Joshua caves in and eats something.
Meanwhile one of Elliot's friends goes out for a walk and meets a
woman being pursued by the goblins. Running away, they enter the
house of the goblins' druid leader, Creedence Leonore Gielgud, who
uses the "Stonehenge Magic Stone" to give the goblins power. After
being forced to drink a paralyzing concoction, the woman is eaten
by the goblins and Elliot's friend is morphed into a plant.
That night Holly is unintentionally contacted by Seth via a mirror
and she and Joshua swap rooms. Seth gets through to Joshua and
tells him to convince his parents to leave Nilbog and return home.
Joshua removes all food in the fridge apart from some sour milk,
but this only results in Michael going to the local shop.
Joshua looks into a car mirror hoping to contact Seth again but
only succeeds in noticing from the reflection that Nilbog is Goblin
spelled backwards. He concludes that the area must be their kingdom
and skateboards off to an abandoned church where the goblins are
listening to a sermon espousing the evils of eating meat. However,
he is noticed and brought to the basement where they attempt to
feed him spiked ice cream. Michael walks in and grows slightly
suspicious, taking Joshua out.
The family returns to find that the village has prepared a surprise
party to "make up for the misunderstanding earlier". Joshua runs
upstairs hoping to contact Seth but instead is confronted by a
goblin. Seth appears and chops its hand off with an axe. The two go
outside in an attempt to create a distraction but are attacked by
another goblin. Seth defeats it by igniting a confiscated
Molotov Cocktail with magic lighting powers
but the others see and come out. It is then that the goblins reveal
who they really are. The family run back inside the house and
barricade the doors.
Joshua, Elliot, Holly, Michael and Diane hold a
séance to communicate with Seth, who tells them
that he has ten minutes before he disappears from the mortal world
permanently. Just then the goblins gain entry and Joshua is sent to
Creedence's house somehow. The rest of the family go upstairs,
chased by the goblins. Seth tells Joshua to put his hands on the
Magic Stone and focus in order to defeat the goblins and gives him
a bag which he must only open if he is in mortal danger.
Just when Seth leaves, the goblins chasing the Waitses disappear;
Creedence appears before Joshua and he is backed into a corner by
the goblins. He opens the bag to find it contains a double-decker
bologna sandwich, which he consumes making Creedence unable to harm
him. The rest of the family, guided by Seth, arrive at the house;
Joshua passes on the instructions he got from Seth and together
they defeat Creedence and the goblins by touching the Magic Stone
and concentrating.
During the epilogue, Diane is killed by consuming spiked food left
in the house. Joshua discovers her corpse being eaten by the
goblins.
Cast (in alphabetical order)
- Arnold – Darren Ewing
- Brent – David McConnell
- Creedence Leonore Gielgud – Deborah Reed
- Diana Waits – Margo Prey
- Drew – Jason Steadman
- Holly Waits - Connie Young
- Elliot Cooper – Jason Wright
- Joshua Waits – Michael Stephenson
- Michael Waits – George Hardy
- Seth – Robert Ormsby
- Drug Store Owner – Gregg Zaun
Reception
Troll 2 is widely considered to be of poor quality. In
fact, for a time the film was rated as the
worst film of all time by
IMDB.com. The goblins' costumes, designed by cult erotic actress
Laura Gemser, consist of burlap clothes
stuffed with foam rubber, and latex masks, only one of which
featured a movable mouth; the musical score consists of only a few
synthesized themes repeated numerous times. In addition, the acting
and dialogue have become notorious for their camp value. The scene
where Darren Ewing's character states that he will be eaten next
has become an internet
meme, often appearing in
videos alongside the "Garbage Day" meme from
Silent Night, Deadly Night
2.
Troll 2 was recently given
RiffTrax treatment by
Michael J. Nelson (of
Mystery Science Theater
3000 fame) and special guest
Richard Kyanka from
Something Awful.
The movie
was filmed in Morgan,
Utah
and Porterville,
Utah, in the summer of 1989. A major
Troll 2
event took place in Morgan called
Nilbog
Invasion. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema's Rolling Roadshow turned
Morgan into "Nilbog" again for a weekend, and screened the film for
an audience of fans from around the world. Much of the cast
attended and appeared in a panel discussion, as well as the writers
and director of the film. Director Claudio Fragasso was presented
with the key to the city by the Mayor of Morgan.
At the event, Fragasso and writer Rossella Drudi announced plans
for a sequel to
Troll II, and the audience was polled for
their opinion on what the film should be called. The winning title
was
Troll II: Part II.
Best Worst Movie
The child star of
Troll 2, Michael Stephenson, directed a
feature-length documentary about
Troll 2 titled
Best
Worst Movie. The film debuted March 14, 2009, at the Alamo
Lamar Draft house in Austin, Texas, as part of the Spotlight
Features for the SXSW Film Festival. Several cast members from
Troll 2 attended the premiere. The screening was followed
by a showing of
Troll 2.The documentary is currently
screening at major film festivals across the world, the most recent
being the
American Film
Institute Festival.
The film won Best Feature Documentary (as voted by the official
jury), as well as the Audience Choice for Best Documentary Feature
at the 11th Annual
Sidewalk Moving Picture
Festival in September of 2009
References
- www.horror-movies.ca
- YouTube teaser trailer for Troll 2
documentary
- http://www.sidewalkfest.com/
External links
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