Eureka Entertainment celebrate one of the worst movies of all time with this incredible box set containing the original 1986 Troll, its unintentionally awful “sequel”, and – for the first time on Blu-ray – Best Worst Movie, a tribute to the unexpected success of Troll 2.
Predating J.K. Rowling’s first book by more than ten years, Troll begins with Harry Potter (really) and his family moving into a new apartment. Within minutes, daughter Wendy ends up in the basement where she’s possessed by a troll who starts to transform the apartments and its quirky residents into plants, spawning more trolls and eventually taking over the entire building. Harry Jr is the only person who sees something is wrong with Wendy, and it’s up to him to sort things out. With plenty of good old-fashioned practical special effects, some tremendous comic performances (particularly from Sonny Bono as the sleazy neighbour Mr Dickinson), and very little time spent faffing around, the 82 minute runtime flies by in a whirlwind of insanity.
As fun as Troll is, the main attraction for many with this release is Troll 2. Completely unrelated to its predecessor in every way apart from the name, the film is presented here in its dreadful entirety, warts and all. No amount of upscaling, HD remastering or what have you can change the awful plot, script, acting or editing, but connoisseurs of the arse end of cinema are going to be over the moon with the overall package. Special features for Troll and Troll 2 are identical to those on previous releases (a 50 minute “making of” Troll documentary, and cast and crew audio commentaries on Troll 2), but this release excels itself with Best Worst Movie.
A 2009 feature-length behind the scenes documentary directed by Troll 2 star Michael Stephenson and featuring interviews with most of the cast, this has previously only been available on standard DVD as part of a now out of print 5000-piece limited edition set, so this new release provides an excellent opportunity for anyone who might have missed out last time. As well as the main feature, we’re treated to almost 90 minutes of deleted scenes and additional footage and an 80-minute cast and crew Q&A. There’s also a music video and a couple of standalone interviews, and the initial print run includes a mini booklet filled with archive material, all wrapped up in a fancy sleeve with some awesome reversible artwork.
We all know that Troll 2 is terrible, but that’s exactly why it’s become such a cult classic. If we were reviewing each part of this set individually, Troll gets a 6 or 7, Troll 2 in all honesty can’t get more than a 3 or 4 for the actual film (but it’s a high 8 bordering on a 9 for ridiculous entertainment, if you like that sort of thing), and the inclusion of so many extras in addition to the already-excellent Best Worst Movie puts that somewhere near the top end as well. The folks at Eureka have really done an outstanding job with compiling pretty much every bit of Troll-related content they could get their hands on into an immensely enjoyable package, plenty of which has never been seen on Blu-ray before. Fans of the ridiculous and the downright awful are superbly catered for here, and should look into purchasing this immediately!
Special features: Limited edition slipcase, The Making of Troll (50 mins), audio commentary on Troll 2 with actors George Hardy and Deborah Reed, 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, trailers for all three films, reversible sleeve, limited edition collector’s booklet (first print run only)
TROLL: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JOHN CARL BUECHLER, CLAUDIO FRAGASSO, MICHAEL STEPHENSON / SCREENPLAY: ED NAHA, CLAUDIO FRAGASSO / STARRING: NOAH HATHAWAY, MICHAEL MORIARTY, MICHAEL STEPHENSON, GEORGE HARDY / RELEASE DATE: 8TH OCTOBER
