Best Worst Movie: Michael Stephenson

I have fond memories of watching Troll 2 (1990) with my friends at Ursinus College as part of our Riff Club where we would watch episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and other terrible movies. Widely regarded as one of the worst films ever made, Claudio Fragasso's Troll 2 is a stunning train wreck of a movie that reaches a kind of nirvana of wretchedness. The film follows a family who travels for vacation to a town named Nilbog ("It's 'goblin' spelled backwards!") where they discover that all of the townsfolk are goblins who want to turn humans into plants for them to eat. And, yes, there are absolutely no trolls in this film. One of the most beloved scenes of the film involves the young boy (played by Michael Stephenson) of the family urinating all over a table of suspicious looking food to save them from eating it. The father angrily takes him to his room, throws him on the bed, and screeches one of the most famous lines in bad movie history: "You can't piss on hospitality! I won't allow it!". Well, nineteen years later, Stephenson has grown up and made a documentary called Best Worst Film. His documentary focuses on how the film has become a bona fide cult phenomenon, being resurrected by bad movie enthusiasts at theaters and conventions. Stephenson frames his documentary by focusing on George Hardy, the man who played the father. It turns out that Hardy is a kind, loving dentist who does medical work for underprivileged children for free. Hardy had completely forgotten about the film and was genuinely shocked that it had become popular and had transformed him into a celebrity. Hardy gradually comes to accept his status as a celebrity and enthusiastically attends showings of the film so he can meet fans. This all happens in the first 20-30 minutes. Then the film takes a different tone. Hardy goes to a convention abroad where nobody shows up. Fragasso is brought to America to attend one of the showings. He seems thrilled that his film has become so well-received, but is authentically shocked and offended that people like it because of how bad it is. And then it dons upon us: Fragasso is completely insane. He really believes that Troll 2 was a great work of art and that people should take it seriously. By the end of the film, Hardy returns back to his life as a dentist and Fragasso returns to Italy to begin production on, and I'm not kidding here, Troll 2: Part 2. This is a fun film that is nevertheless occasionally hard to watch, particularly during the scenes where Hardy and Fragasso are reunited. Fans of bad movies and Troll 2 will adore Best Worst Movie. Everybody else will be stunned by one of the strangest, and most unusual, stories concerning the movies.

7/10