Troll 2 (or Goblins) is a 1990 independentdark fantasyhorror film written and directed by Claudio Fragasso[2] under the pseudonym Drake Floyd. It stars Michael Stephenson, George Hardy, Connie McFarland, and Jason Wright. The plot follows Joshua Waits as he tries to save his family after the spirit of his deceased grandfather warns him that the town of Nilbog, where the family are spending their vacation, is inhabited by goblins who turn people into plant matter to eat them.
Although produced under the original title Goblins,[3] American distributors marketed it as a sequel to the 1986 horror film Troll.[4] However, the two are unrelated and Troll 2 features goblins rather than trolls. The film was produced by Filmirage; development was rife with difficulties, largely due to the language barrier between the Italian-speaking crew and English-speaking cast, and producer Joe D'Amato's approach to low-budget filmmaking. It was released on October 12, 1990 by Epic Productions, and some considered it to be one of the worst movies ever made. In subsequent years, the film has gained a cult following. Though it was generally viewed as a poorly made horror film, the filmmakers stated that it was "always intended to be a comic film."[3] Stephenson later directed the critically acclaimed 2009 documentary Best Worst Movie about the production and subsequent popularity of Troll 2.[5]
Michael Waits, who dreams of being a farmer, arranges a home exchange vacation in which he and his family will move into a house in the rural farming community of Nilbog ("goblin" spelled backwards) for a month. The night before the family is scheduled to leave, Michael's son Joshua is contacted by the ghost of his dead grandfather, Seth, who warns him that vegetariangoblins want to transform him and his family into plants by feeding them poisoned food or drink in order to eat them.
Meanwhile, Joshua's sister Holly is visited by her boyfriend Elliot Cooper. Holly tells Elliot her family thinks he is "good for nothing and he spends too much time with his friends", as his friends interrupting them in the window. Elliot promises to show his devotion by accompanying the family on vacation.
The next morning, Elliot fails to arrive and the family leaves without him; they encounter him en route to Nilbog, riding in an RV with his friends Arnold, Drew, and Brent. Outside of Nilbog, Seth appears as a hitchhiker, who warns Joshua that Nilbog is the kingdom of the goblins and that if his family eats anything while there, they will be transformed into plants. The family does not believe Joshua's warnings and continues on to Nilbog, where they meet their strange and aloof exchange family, the Presents. There, Joshua sets about destroying all of the food the family finds or acquires with help from Seth's ghost.
Arnold goes for a walk outside Nilbog and witnesses goblins pursuing a girl. When Arnold approaches and insults them, they respond by throwing a spear into his chest. They flee to a chapel in the woods, where they encounter the goblins' queen, druidwitch Creedence Leonore Gielgud, who uses the "Stonehenge Magic Stone" to give the goblins power. Creedence tricks them into drinking a magic potion that dissolves the girl into vegetable matter, which the goblins eat; Arnold witnesses this, exclaiming "Oh my God!", before being transformed into a tree.
The following morning, Michael and Joshua venture into town to buy food, as there is none in their holiday home, only to find the general store closed. Joshua enters the local church and eavesdrops on a goblin church sermon, which bewails the "evils" of eating meat. The parishioners capture him after seeing his skateboard roll into the church and attempt to force-feed him poisonous ice cream. Michael witnesses this and takes Joshua home after becoming suspicious of the townspeople.
Later, Drew goes to the town because there is no food or drinks in the RV. The sheriff Gene Freak takes him in his car and gives him a green hamburger. When he arrives in the town, Drew goes to the store and the owner offers him poisonous Nilbog milk, which causes him to feel dizzy. He goes to a chapel and finds Arnold, who has since been transformed into a tree. Drew drags him out, but Creedence appears and uses a chainsaw to cut Arnold into pieces; Drew is then killed off-screen.
At the house, the family discovers the townspeople prepared them a surprise party as an apology for the events at the church. Joshua attempts to make contact with Seth, only for Creedence to appear in goblin form through the mirror and attack Joshua. Seth's ghost appears and chops her hand off with an axe; Creedence returns to her chapel, where she transforms herself into a beautiful woman in revealing clothes. She then travels to Elliot's RV, where she seduces Brent and drowns him in popcorn.
During the party, Seth and Joshua try to cause a distraction using a molotov cocktail, but the Priest captures them, takes the cocktail, and recites a spell that banishes Seth's soul to hell. However, before he vanishes, Seth summons a bolt of lightning from the sky, which ignites the cocktail and kills the Priest in an explosion. When Michael extinguishes his burning corpse, his true goblin form is revealed, and the villagers turn on the Waits, revealing themselves to be goblins. The Waits and Elliot retreat to the house, where the villagers surround them and hold them hostage.
Joshua, Elliot, Holly, Michael, and Diana hold a séance to communicate with Seth, who returns from the dead and informs them he can retain a physical form for ten minutes before he must return to the afterlife. Seth gives Joshua a paper bag containing a "secret weapon" to use against the goblins. The goblins break into the house and transport Joshua to Creedence's chapel, where Joshua opens the bag, revealing a "double-decker bologna sandwich." He eats the sandwich, making his body poisonous to the goblins; he then touches the Stonehenge Stone, along with his family and Elliot, which destroys Creedence and all of the goblins present.
The family returns home, where Joshua's mother eats food from the refrigerator. Unbeknownst to the family, the food was poisoned by the family of goblins, which is implied to be the Presents family, who took over their home during their exchange in the country. Joshua walks in on a group of goblins eating the body of his now-dead mother, who offer him a bite as he screams in horror.
The script was originally titled Goblins[6] and began as a way for director Claudio Fragasso's wife, Rosella Drudi, to express her frustration with several of her friends becoming vegetarians, which she claimed "pissed [her] off".[7] The film was produced by Eduard Sarlui and Joe D'Amato, an Italian exploitation film director notorious for his stated view that the profitability of films was more important than their entertainment value. D'Amato worked under the pseudonym "David Hills". In keeping with D'Amato's production philosophy, many components of the film were created for little to no money, such as the costumes that were designed by D'Amato's longtime friend and frequent collaborator Laura Gemser.[8]
The film was shot on location in Morgan and Porterville, Utah in the summer of 1989; a large "M" erected in the mountains outlying Morgan is visible in some shots. The production crew was made up almost entirely of non-English-speaking Italians brought to America by Fragasso; the only fluent English speaker on set was Gemser. Fragasso and his crew largely relied on a broken pidgin English to communicate with the cast, who recalled not being able to understand much of what went on.[6]
The cast had few experienced actors and was primarily assembled from residents of nearby towns who responded to an open casting call, hoping to win roles as extras. George Hardy was a dentist with no acting experience who showed up for fun, only to be given one of the film's largest speaking roles. Don Packard, who played the store owner, was actually a patient at a nearby mental hospital, and was cast for—and subsequently filmed—his role while on a day trip. He later recalled that he had smoked an enormous amount of marijuana prior to filming, had no idea what was happening around him, and that his disturbed "performance" in the film was not acting.[7]
Drudi and Fragasso have stated that their intentions have been misunderstood, as the strongly criticized aspects of the film are intentionally comic and exaggerated, such as Creedence's theatrical acting or the preacher's monologue on eating meat.[9]
As neither Fragasso nor Drudi spoke fluent English, the shooting script was written in the same broken dialect in which they both spoke; the cast would later recall that the script was only given to them scene-by-scene and that they had difficulty understanding their dialogue as written. Some of the cast members offered to correct their lines to sound more grammatically and syntactically correct but said that Fragasso demanded they deliver their lines verbatim.[7] Despite the majority of the cast attesting to the same story, Fragasso has vehemently denied their version of events, and once reacted angrily to a panel discussion being conducted by the cast, calling the actors "dogs" (Italian for "bad actors"[10]) and accusing them of lying about their experiences.[7]
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was composed by Carlo Maria Cordio and was played entirely on Roland D-50 and Korg M1synthesizers, consisting of a few brief themes repeated over and over, including a sped-up M1 demo track.[citation needed] In 2017, the complete score was released on CD, LP and cassette by Lunaris Records.[citation needed]
CD track listing
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Like an Emerald Green"
2:21
2.
"Goblins Are Coming"
1:16
3.
"Wrapped in Dreams"
1:26
4.
"Through the Mirror"
2:41
5.
"Green Nightmare"
2:51
6.
"Black Sense of the Fear"
2:21
7.
"Desperate Sprint in the Forest"
2:06
8.
"The Witch of Popcorn"
3:56
9.
"Na-Na Song"
4:06
10.
"Shadow in the House"
2:06
11.
"A Green Pottage"
1:06
12.
"They Are Not Farmers"
3:06
13.
"Wail of Terror"
1:11
14.
"Can I Help You"
1:11
15.
"Eaten Like Green Sauce"
2:21
16.
"Green Jam Sandwich"
1:01
17.
"Tennessee Roads"
3:51
18.
"The Welcome Cake of Prudence"
2:56
19.
"Grandpa Fairytales"
3:16
20.
"Carousel of Vegetables"
1:11
21.
"Do You Want Some, Joshua"
2:26
22.
"Don't Eat Green Food"
2:46
23.
"Tomorrow Nightmare"
3:01
24.
"The Horror of It All"
3:36
25.
"Goblin's World"
3:16
Release
Home media
In 2003, the film was released on DVD by MGM in a Dual Layer version, packaged with the first 1986 Troll film, under the title Troll/Troll².[11] MGM rereleased Troll 2 on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on October 5, 2010, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the film's release.[12]Scream Factory released a double feature Blu-ray of Troll and Troll 2 on November 17, 2015. The first 5,000 copies included a DVD of Best Worst Movie, the documentary about the production and legacy of Troll 2.[13]
Reception
Troll 2 received largely negative critical reception and has come to be regarded by the public as one of the worst films ever made. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 5% based on 21 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 2.40/10. The critical consensus simply reads "Oh my God" in reference to the film's most infamous scene.[14] The acting and dialogue have become notorious for their camp value. The scene in which the character Arnold (portrayed by Darren Ewing) yells that he will be eaten next has become an Internet meme,[15] often appearing in videos alongside the "Garbage Day" meme from Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2. In terms of audience participation, Troll 2 has been compared to the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the two films have been screened together.[1]
J.R. Jones, a reviewer on Chicago Reader, gave the film a negative review and said "The script is stupid, the acting is wooden, the special effects are laughable, the vintage-80s synthesizer score is cheesy. The movie's paranoid premise is boiled down from two superior sci-fi movies, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Day of the Triffids (1962). And there are no trolls."[16] A staff member on TV Guide also gave the film a negative review, stating that "Any attempt to obscure the names of those involved in the making of this fiasco can only be construed as an act of mercy. Troll 2 is really as bad as they come."[17]
In 2007, a Troll 2-themed event named the "Nilbog Invasion" took place in Morgan, Utah, where part of the film had been shot.[18]
The child star of Troll 2, Michael Stephenson, directed Best Worst Movie, a documentary about the film and its cult status.[5] The film debuted on March 14, 2009, at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Texas, as part of the South by Southwest film festival. Several cast members from Troll 2 attended the premiere. The screening was followed by a showing of Troll 2.[19] The documentary also screened at major film festivals across the world including the AFI Fest and Sheffield Doc/Fest. A screening at the Tower Theater in Salt Lake City included appearances from much of the cast.[20][21]
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 2009.[22] It was released in spring 2010[23] and distributed by Area 23 A.[24]
ABC's Nightline ran a segment on Troll 2 and Best Worst Movie in May 2010, including interviews with Hardy and Stephenson.[25]
Sequel
After Troll 2 was released on home video, some regional distributors continued to build on the success of the previous Troll, distributing two films as sequels: Quest for the Mighty Sword and The Crawlers (also known as Troll 3 or Contamination .7). The former film, featuring a hobgoblin using the same goblin suit from Troll 2, was also known as Troll 3 (in Germany, it was released as Troll – Das Schwert der Macht and Troll – Teil 3).
At the Nilbog Invasion, Fragasso and writer Drudi announced plans for a sequel to Troll 2, and the audience was polled for their opinion on what the film should be called. The winning title was Troll 2: Part 2. Fragasso later asked Stephenson to appear in the sequel.[26] However, in 2009, Fragasso said he was no longer interested in directing the film.[1]
The official Troll 2 sequel Under ConTroll premiered October 11, 2019, in Dallas,[27] with a subsequent home media release on October 6, 2020. This film sees George Hardy reprise his role as Michael Waits and stars Eva Habermann as Vanessa Majer, a woman who is possessed by a troll.[28][29] The film was directed by Eric Dean Hordes, who co-wrote the screenplay with Alexander König and Simon Hauschild.
1 2 3 Fragasso was credited under the pseudonym Drake Floyd.
Related Research Articles
Laurette Marcia Gemser is an Indonesian-Dutch retired actress, model and costume designer. She is primarily known for her work in Italian erotic cinema, most notably the Emanuelle series. Many of her films were collaborations with directors Joe D'Amato and Bruno Mattei.
The Hobbit is a 1977 American animated musical television special created by Rankin/Bass and animated by Topcraft. The film is an adaptation of the 1937 book of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien; it was first broadcast on NBC in the United States on Sunday, November 27, 1977. The teleplay won a Peabody Award; the film received a Christopher Award.
Troll is a 1986 American dark fantasy comedy film directed by John Carl Buechler and produced by Charles Band of Empire Pictures, starring Noah Hathaway, Michael Moriarty, Shelley Hack, Jenny Beck, and Sonny Bono. It is the first installment of the Troll film series.
The Spiderwick Chronicles is a 2008 American fantasy film directed by Mark Waters from a screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum, and John Sayles, based on the book series The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. It stars Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker and Sarah Bolger, with Nick Nolte, Seth Rogen, and Martin Short in voice roles. The film, set in the Spiderwick Estate in New England, follows three children who discover a field guide to fairies while encountering various magical creatures such as goblins, ogres, brownies, boggarts, hobgoblins, trolls and many others.
Claudio Fragasso is a film director and screenwriter. Fragasso first attempted to make art films in the early 1970s, then became a screenwriter in the Italian film industry in the mid-1970s. Fragasso met director Bruno Mattei, which led to a ten-year partnership from 1980 to 1990 during which the two worked together closely on films, with Fragasso's contributions often going uncredited. Fragasso's wife Rossella Drudi was also a screenwriter and collaborated with him on a number of projects. Fragasso would later go on to write and direct his own films in the 1980s, including Monster Dog with rock musician Alice Cooper and After Death. Fragasso directed Troll 2 in 1989, which was later the topic of Best Worst Movie, a documentary film that discussed Troll 2's fandom.
Hell of the Living Dead is a 1980 horror film directed by Bruno Mattei. The film is set in a laboratory in Papua New Guinea that releases a dangerous chemical, turning the technicians and locals into zombies. A French news reporter and her crew land on the island to investigate.
After Death is an Italian zombie film directed by Claudio Fragasso. The film is set on a remote island where a voodoo curse raises the dead from their graves to feast on the flesh of the living. When a boat of explorers—including a young girl who experienced the zombie uprising years earlier—makes an emergency docking on the island, the crew find that their only hope for survival is a protective idol given to the young girl by her mother years ago.
Michael Stephenson, known professionally as Michael Paul Stephenson, is an American filmmaker and actor. He is known for directing the critically acclaimed documentaries Best Worst Movie and The American Scream. Stephenson made his narrative feature debut with Girlfriend’s Day, starring Bob Odenkirk. Stephenson's latest film, Attack of the Murder Hornets, is an original documentary that he directed and produced for Discovery+. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America.
Zombi 3 is a 1988 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci and Bruno Mattei and starring Deran Sarafian, Beatrice Ring, and Ottaviano Dell'acqua. The film is an in-name-only sequel to Fulci's Zombi 2. The film is about a group of scientists at a top-secret research facility who are working on a biological weapon called Death One, which mutates and kills the living creatures and reanimates the dead. The weapon is leaked out of the facility, which leads to a spread of infection among soldiers and touring people in the area.
The Crawlers is a 1991 Italian horror film directed by Fabrizio Laurenti under the pseudonym Martin Newlin. Some parts of the film were also directed by producer Joe D'Amato, uncredited. It is the fourth installment of the Troll film series.
Exit to Eden is a 1994 American comedy thriller film directed by Garry Marshall and adapted to the screen by Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner from Anne Rice's novel of the same name. The original music score was composed by Patrick Doyle.
Monster Dog is a 1986 Spanish horror film directed by Claudio Fragasso and starring Alice Cooper and Victoria Vera. Cooper plays a rock star who returns to his hometown, which has been plagued by wild dog attacks.
Killing Birds is a 1988 Italian horror film starring Lara Wendel and Robert Vaughn. The film is set in Louisiana where Fred Brown returns from the Vietnam War to find his wife in bed with her lover and slaughters the whole family sparing the newborn son. After the massacre, he is attacked and blinded by a falcon. Twenty years later a group of students led by Steve and Anne meet Brown, and begin their search for a nearly extinct breed of woodpecker and come across grisly occurrences including boys being killed by vengeful zombies.
Best Worst Movie is a 2009 American documentary film about the making of the infamous 1990 horror film Troll 2 and its subsequent resurgence as a cult film. Directed by Michael Stephenson, the child star of Troll 2, the film was distributed by Magic Stone Productions and New Video Group. It was also included in the first 5,000 copies of Scream Factory's Blu-ray double feature of Troll and Troll 2, released on November 17, 2015.
Quest for the Mighty Sword is a 1990 Italian fantasy adventure film directed by Joe D'Amato. It is the fourth and final film in the Ator film series.
She's Funny That Way is a 2014 screwball comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and co-written with Louise Stratten. It stars Owen Wilson, Imogen Poots, Kathryn Hahn, Will Forte, Rhys Ifans, and Jennifer Aniston. It marked the first feature film Bogdanovich directed in 13 years since The Cat's Meow. In addition, the film marked Bogdanovich's final non-documentary feature he directed and Richard Lewis' final theatrical film before their deaths in 2022 and 2024 respectively.
Magic Stone is a film and television production company directed by husband-and-wife team Michael Stephenson and Lindsay Stephenson.
George Hardy is an American dentist and actor who played the leading role in the cult horror film Troll 2 (1990), which is regarded as one of the worst films ever made. In 2021 he was in the horror movie CYST.
The Once and Future Smash is a 2022 mockumentary film directed by Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. The film tells the story of Mikey Smash and William Mouth, who both played the same football cannibal slasher character, Smash-Mouth, in the 1970 film, End Zone 2.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
