Best Worst Movie is primarily about George Hardy, a dentist in Alabama that, once upon a time, played Michael Waits, the father in Troll 2. He, like many cast members, went up to Utah in 1989 to make a horror movie for three weeks and then waited for the film to come out. But it didn't. Troll 2 (which is really a sequel in name only to Troll) made its debut a year later on VHS, much to the dismay of everybody who appeared in the film. Troll 2 is a terrible, terrible movie, filled with awkward line readings, strange plot machinations, bad special effects, and one of the most incomprehensible scripts in film history. The film is almost impossible to watch seriously and has, over the past twenty years, gained a cult reputation around the country.When Stephenson reconnects with Hardy and introduces him to the sensation that is Troll 2, the actor-turned-dentist is fascinated with audience responses and quickly becomes enamored with his celebrity-like status. Hardy is eager to quote his most memorable line from the film "You don't piss on hospitality!" to anyone in earshot, and travels around the country, alternately championing the film he forgot about and basking in his new-found "star" status, happily re-enacting scenes from the film whenever asked to.
Meanwhile, Stephenson introduces viewers to the rest of the cast, most of whom seem alternately horrified and fascinated with Troll 2, as well as some of the film's die-hard fans from around the world. Whether it be home made costume makers, a guy who designed a Troll 2 videogame, or just folks who put together parties to watch the films (and Trollympics), the fans seem to really love this horrible film, mostly in a non-ironic way (more on this later).
It's not all chuckles and triumphs though; while much of Best Worst Movie is lighthearted and uplifting, it's clear that two of the major cast members of Troll 2 - Margo Prey, who played the mother Diana Waits, and Don Packard, who played the Nilbog store owner - are suffering from serious mental illness. Their interviews are more disturbing than amusing, in part because they genuinely don't seem to be on the same page that other cast members are during Q&A's or when discussing the film.
On the other hand, Troll 2 director Claudio Fragasso and co-writer Rosella Drudi are blissfully unaware that their film is considered one of the "worst" movies in history (it has the only 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and insist that the movie is a deep exploration of a family in crisis. Drudi admits that she made the goblins vegetarian because it "pissed me off" that so many of her friends were going veggie, and that she "took the standard vampire mythos - and turned it into vegetarians" for the film. Fragasso seems pleased that audiences have "embraced" the film and "taken it back" from the critics.
Fragasso and Drudi return to the U.S. to attend two screenings in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, and the director is continually frustrated that audiences are laughing at his film. He yells at viewers during Q&A's, insults his cast (who he continually refers to as "dogs"), and seems frustrated that no one takes his film seriously, which generates a number of laugh-out-loud moments in Best Worst Movie. Fragasso's insistence that his cast members not laugh while re-enacting scenes in the house where Troll 2 is set is indicative of his Italian filmmaking mindset around American actors.
Hardy, on the other hand, is having a grand old time with his unorthodox fame, until he agrees to attend conventions in England and Dallas, Texas. When almost no one turns up for a Troll 2 roundtable discussion or stops by to visit the booth, Hardy begins to walk up to British convention attendees, desperately trying to explain who he is, what Troll 2 is, why they might know him, and recite his signature line, all falling on deaf ears. Things get worse at a horror convention in Dallas, when Hardy learns just how small the audience for Troll 2 really is amidst horror fans, and finds a moment of clarity while comparing the relative obscurity of cast members from the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels to his own.
There's a touching climax to Best Worst Movie when The Alamo Drafthouse has a Troll 2 screening outdoors in Utah and fans and cast members introduced during the film interact for the first time. Fragasso also shows up, and continues to insult his cast members, accusing them of making up stories about the script and suggesting that one character's arc was deleted because "we saw you were not a very good actor," but the ultimate tone of Best Worst Movie is a hopeful one. While Hardy eventually grows tired of "pissing on hospitality" over and over, when Stephenson asks if he'd be in hypothetical Troll 3, he enthusiastically says yes. It's nice to see some good come out of something so bad.
At the screening we went to, about half of the twelve people in the audience hadn't seen Troll 2, which must make for a strange experience. It's not as though you can't find Best Worst Movie compelling or worthwhile, because there's a healthy smattering of footage from the film - all of which helps cement its reputation as one of the "worst films of all time" - but I do wonder how they reacted to Hardy, Stephenson, Fragasso, and Prey. Based on a question from the Q&A after the film, it seems like most audiences for Best Worst Movie fall one of two categories: 1) the type of fans who appear early in the film, or 2) people who heard about the film based on the growing reputation Troll 2 has been experiencing.
The former category is further split in the film and, as it turned out, in our audience. Early on, George Hardy is traveling from screening to screening with fans that seem genuinely enthused to be seeing Troll 2 in a theatre, people who actually love the movie for all its (many) faults. Later in the film, particularly during a screening in Salt Lake City that Fragasso attends, more of the "smart-aleck," derisive fans appear, including one that decides to ask the director "why the film is called Troll 2 when there are no trolls?" something the director takes umbrage at.
We had one such viewer in the audience of Best Worst Movie, a guy that howled with laughter during cringe-worthy moments involving cast members that had serious mental problems, as though their conditions were nothing more than fodder for his amusement. While I agree that the bulk of laughs in the documentary come from the clueless nature of Troll 2 participants as to why people fill up theatres to see their film, there is a point where the laughs are mixed with seat-squirming. It's not as though the unfortunately hysterical outcome of Troll 2 gives viewers license to mock people who moved on with life and are being reintroduced to their film in a way no one would have expected. There's a fine line between finding humor and assuming that everybody is open for mockery because they were in the Best Worst Movie.
Soapbox aside, I had a great time with Best Worst Movie, which is a consistently amusing, insightful, heartfelt, and occasionally disturbing documentary. George Hardy's arc from small town dentist to quasi-celebrity to something in-between anchors the film, but it's clear that Michael Stephenson has an affinity for his cast mates and wants to impart some of Troll 2's cult status on them, even if that's not always the best thing that could happen. It's refreshing to know that so many fans of the film - which again, is awful, but never unwatchable - are genuine in their enthusiasm, even if the dark underbelly of sarcastic fandom pokes its head up during the film. The film comes highly recommended from the Cap'n.
Check out the site here, and since Best Worst Movie is traveling from city to city without a theatrical distributor, it might help to mention that it arrives on DVD on November 16th.
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