Best Worst Movie - The documentary about Troll 2

[Dom Cruise]

I watched Best Worst Movie again, the documentary about the phenomenon that surrounded Troll 2 in the 2000s.

And I was not prepared for how great of a time capsule for the 2000s it is, the first time I watched it in 2012 it already seemed like a time capsule, but now it was filmed well over a decade ago and it kinda blew me away.

It was filmed in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and it was really interesting looking back, when they hold screenings of the movie in cities like Los Angeles and Austin, you see the hipster type crowd just having so much fun and I can't help but think that today none of those type of urban hipster people would be able to have that level of fun again, so obsessed are they with Trump.

And that's something that has been lost, back in the 2000s despite what was going on back then people still knew how to have fun.

What's also sad is how forgotten Troll 2 is today, so eclipsed by The Room, which makes sense given that The Room is even more singularly bizarre, but it's still a shame.

But I had a question for anyone who's been on the internet longer than me, when did the Troll 2 phenomenon really start? When did it start to really gain the big cult following in it had by 2006 and 2007?

 

[cypocryphy]

I actually rented Troll 2 for a Halloween party I had in like 6th or 7th grade (which would be 95-96ish) We could tell it was pretty goofy but I had no idea how bad it was until I got older. I remember laughing about it in high school with a kid in my study hall who had seen it. So I was somewhat aware of how "awesome" it was before it got big on the internet ( ) But I can't pinpoint when it gained the big cult following.

 

[Dom Cruise]

I actually rented Troll 2 for a Halloween party I had in like 6th or 7th grade (which would be 95-96ish) We could tell it was pretty goofy but I had no idea how bad it was until I got older. I remember laughing about it in high school with a kid in my study hall who had seen it. So I was somewhat aware of how "awesome" it was before it got big on the internet ( ) But I can't pinpoint when it gained the big cult following.

It'd odd because there's an obvious starting point for The Room and that's when Adult Swim aired it for April Fool's 2009.

But there's not something like that for Troll 2.

 

[frozenrunner]

I've always wanted to see this documentary, but I never have. I hope it's streaming somewhere.

It'd odd because there's an obvious starting point for The Room and that's when Adult Swim aired it for April Fool's 2009.

But there's not something like that for Troll 2.

I don't know about that. Wasn't it covered by some site like SomethingAwful way back in the day? I have a vague memory of that. (Before you say that's not comparable, remember that "2: Electric Boogaloo" is internet popular as a suffix entirely because of classic SA.)

Also, everyone talks about Troll 2 being terrible (because it is), but nobody ever talks about the original Troll and how awful that is. Julia Louis-Dreyfus in that trash...

 

[Dom Cruise]

I've always wanted to see this documentary, but I never have. I hope it's streaming somewhere.



I don't know about that. Wasn't it covered by some site like SomethingAwful way back in the day? I have a vague memory of that. (Before you say that's not comparable, remember that "2: Electric Boogaloo" is internet popular as a suffix entirely because of classic SA.)

Also, everyone talks about Troll 2 being terrible (because it is), but nobody ever talks about the original Troll and how awful that is. Julia Louis-Dreyfus in that trash...

It's streaming on Amazon, which is how I watched it.

From what I understand The Room was a cult phenomenon in LA but didn't gain any real national attention until the Adult Swim airing, at the very least that's when most people first heard of it.

At least the original Troll has that cool, freaky chant they sing that goes "TAMPON! HERBA HERBA HERBA WAY!"

 

[Easterling]

I actually rented Troll 2 for a Halloween party I had in like 6th or 7th grade (which would be 95-96ish) We could tell it was pretty goofy but I had no idea how bad it was until I got older. I remember laughing about it in high school with a kid in my study hall who had seen it. So I was somewhat aware of how "awesome" it was before it got big on the internet ( ) But I can't pinpoint when it gained the big cult following.

 

[Inflatable Julay]

If you want a great "bad movie" time capsule, watch American Movie.

 

[Megaroad 2012]

you see the hipster type crowd just having so much fun and I can't help but think that today none of those type of urban hipster people would be able to have that level of fun again, so obsessed are they with Trump.

I don't think they ever knew how to have fun to begin with, tbh.

Also, everyone talks about Troll 2 being terrible (because it is), but nobody ever talks about the original Troll and how awful that is. Julia Louis-Dreyfus in that trash...

Legally, we're not allowed to talk about any Harry Potters that predate the books.

 

[Dom Cruise]

If you want a great "bad movie" time capsule, watch American Movie.

I've been meaning to watch this one for a while.

I don't think they ever knew how to have fun to begin with, tbh.

There is a part where they show some hipster doofus laughing at Troll 2 so intensely, with his mouth wide open, in a way that seems to convey that smug cynicism that typified hipsters and evolved into part of the SJW mentality we all know and hate.

But there's also stuff like them holding a festival for Troll 2 in the small Utah town it was filmed circa 2007 and there's just such a vibe to it, I don't know if anything like that could happen today, people coming together to celebrate a silly movie like that.

There really is a vibe to the 2000s that is missing from the present day, where everyone is so hateful and pissed off all the time.

 

[Vampirella]

I don't know if you can put an exact date on it. Troll 2 just kind of popped up on the internet the same way Garbage Day! from Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 just happened. That's the way it was back then. You'd be on the internet and run in to something, than share it with your friends and so on. It's not like today where things get hashtagged and spammed for a week then forgotten.

 

[Muttnik]

I fucking love Troll 2 and part of me is sad to see it come up behind The Room when they are both equally delightfully terrible.

 

[Dom Cruise]

I don't know if you can put an exact date on it. Troll 2 just kind of popped up on the internet the same way Garbage Day! from Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 just happened. That's the way it was back then. You'd be on the internet and run in to something, than share it with your friends and so on. It's not like today where things get hashtagged and spammed for a week then forgotten.

If I had to wager a guess though I'd say 2005 was when Troll 2 probably started to really gain a lot of viral steam.

A obsession with 80s B movies and video games really typified the mid 2000s internet, I think of sites like I-Mockery or the AVGN, it's weird that we now have a phenomenon of "nostalgia for nostalgia" where for someone my age who wasn't around for most of the 1980s but picked up on second hand nostalgia from the internet is now both nostalgic for 80s culture and nostalgic for the 2000s nostalgia for 80s culture, something like Troll 2 now evokes memories of the 2000s as much as it does when it was made.

I fucking love Troll 2 and part of me is sad to see it come up behind The Room when they are both equally delightfully terrible.

It is a shame because in many ways Troll 2 is even more bizarre and surreal than The Room.

But I think the reason is that Troll 2, for as bizarre as it is, is still a B horror movie of which there are countless examples of, but The Room trying to be a serious drama makes it wholly unique.

Still, they are both equally delightfully terrible movies and there should be room enough for both of them.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Great documentary but the one thing that annoyed me is that they never took the time to explore Claudio Fragaso's back story. This isn't a guy who blinked into existence with the great American dream of making a horror movie called Troll 2. No. This guy goes all the way back to the mid 70's and was Bruno Fucking Mattei's partner in crime throughout the 80's. Starting from The True Story of the Nun of Monza all the way up until 1990 where one of their final collaborations (Night Killer) is a loose rip off of Nightmare on Elm Street that was called Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 in Italy and there's not even one chainsaw!

There's an entire lineage of crap that shares the very same DNA as Troll 2 that the hipster cocksuckers have ignored. Maybe this is a good thing? Who knows? But it annoyed me that the docu never mentions this at all and never once makes the point that Fragaso has a long history of making crap. He was always pretentious in his interviews as well so it was glorious watching him at a crowd showing of Troll 2 and seeing everyone laugh at his garbage film making.

Choice Fragaso/Mattei films to check out:

Genuinely great zombie make up and gore effects. Obviously inspired by Dawn of the Dead and even uses the soundtrack from Dawn of the Dead (along with the scores to Contamination and Buio Omega). Rampant usage of stock nature footage taken from a Mondo film. Bizarre whatthefuckery with one character dressing up in a tutu and top hat and dances while zombies are around. A classic.

Mad Max ripoff meets Willard ripoff with a dash of Night of the Living Dead. Insane almost fever dream crap.

I think this is the 3rd or 4th Nunsploitation movie of theirs. Not as funny bad as other entries but there's great moments including very blatant use of a baby doll as a stand in for an actual baby.

Bruno had nothing to do with Zombi 4 (but the duo was involved in Zombi 3 which was the reason why that movie was such a shit show) but it's very similar to Hell of the Living Dead and Troll 2. It also stars legendary gay porn star Jeff Stryker killing zombies @bearycool .

 

[Damn Near]

If you want a great "bad movie" time capsule, watch American Movie.

I can say completely without hyperbole that if you consider yourself a fan of documentaries (or even just film), you need to see "American Movie".

 

[Dom Cruise]

The only thing I don't really like about Best Worst Movie is I wish they gave dates for when stuff was filmed.

The segment at the horror con can be easily surmised to have been filmed in 2008 and I think I read online that the festival held in the town where the movie was filmed happened in 2007 and I surmise that the majority of the doc was filmed in 2006 and 2007, but I just wish it was clear when exactly some of the screenings for the movie they show were.

At any rate does anyone else find it honestly kind of weird how forgotten Troll 2 seems today? For such a big phenomenon as it was at the time I feel like it shouldn't be quite so forgotten today.

 

[Maamtis]

I don't know if you can put an exact date on it. Troll 2 just kind of popped up on the internet the same way Garbage Day! from Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 just happened. That's the way it was back then. You'd be on the internet and run in to something, than share it with your friends and so on. It's not like today where things get hashtagged and spammed for a week then forgotten.

I remember coming across a Youtube video called Worst Acting Ever which was Creedance's introduction (Thisssss is MY housssssssse!) but didn't know what Troll 2 was until I fell down the bad movie rabbit hole after seeing The Room.

I fucking love Troll 2 and part of me is sad to see it come up behind The Room when they are both equally delightfully terrible.

I really feel like people who just watch The Room are missing out on some truly amazing crap.

This documentary was a rollercoaster. You've got the highs of seeing the dude who plays the dad going to screens and cons in the US and having a blast and the lows of the interviews with the guy who played the Grandpa and the chick who played the mum and the dad going to a con England and being ignored all day and getting increasingly bitter about it.

 

[queue-anon]

I forget. Did the documentary talk about how Troll 2 got funding? Because I learned a while back that Mormons occasionally fund movies that align with their religious beliefs, like not depicting drinking alcohol. I'm pretty sure that's how Troll 2 got bankrolled, and it explains why the movie was filmed in Utah and why there's all that weirdness about the townspeople drinking milk.

 

[BrunoMattei]

I forget. Did the documentary talk about how Troll 2 got funding? Because I learned a while back that Mormons occasionally fund movies that align with their religious beliefs, like not depicting drinking alcohol. I'm pretty sure that's how Troll 2 got bankrolled, and it explains why the movie was filmed in Utah and why there's all that weirdness about the townspeople drinking tard cum.

No, but I can explain the funding. It was produced by Aristide Massaccesi aka Joe D'amato who was a prolific producer of exploitation movies including porn. The funding was most likely from the Italians and the script is bizarre because Fragaso and his wife are hacks and tried to make something that felt American in their way. Just like Tommy Wiseau tried to make the great American drama and Amir Shervan tried to make the great American Lethal Weapon ripoff with Samurai Cop.

 

[McAfee'sCorpse]

Best Worst Movie would have to go to Samurai Cop.

There's plenty more clips.

 

[Bumwine]

No, but I can explain the funding. It was produced by Aristide Massaccesi aka Joe D'amato who was a prolific producer of exploitation movies including porn. The funding was most likely from the Italians and the script is bizarre because Fragaso and his wife are hacks and tried to make something that felt American in their way. Just like Tommy Wiseau tried to make the great American drama and Amir Shervan tried to make the great American Lethal Weapon ripoff with Samurai Cop.

If someone starts digging in the underbelly of Italian genre cinema of the 60's,70's and 80's he will never stop finding hilariously crap movies

And Fragasso was an hack even by those standards (Him and Mattei making a cameo on "Zombi 3" burning a prop suspiciously similar to the late Fulci was a real act of class)