What makes a bad movie bad? But more to the point what makes a bad movie good?
What makes the difference between something being bad bad and good bad? Surely if you like something then it's good right? Why would you say it was bad?
These questions are the crux of watching Troll 2 and it's companion piece, Best Worst Movie.Troll 2 is not the worst movie I've ever seen- by a country mile. I could tail off many films that are worse- Vanilla Sky, Pearl Harbour, Titanic.
I wouldn't even class Troll 2 as a bad movie. I think bad movies are things that fail on their promise of being good. I'm thinking of The Ladykillers by the Coens or The Matrix sequels.
Like I would never say that Katherine Heigl movie is bad cos i've never seen it and don't plan to. We don't go about watching movies we think will be bad. No, I think quote unquote 'bad movies' have been parked in the wrong pen; when people talk about these movies- they just mean silly or dumb, not actually bad. It seems strange that people find an inate charm in something like The Room and then call it bad? My favorite movie of this ilk is Showgirls.
Showgirls fills me with girly abandon,tail-wagging contentment and during my inadvertent annual viewing, I may squee several times against my own will. It is truly the silliest movie i've ever seen. From the seal-clapping sex scene to 'Ver-sace' to the bitch dancers. Not 'bitchy' but bitch. To describe them as bitchy would signify they take a break from their bitchalism.
But I digress. Troll 2 is also a very silly movie. In fact it's similar to The Room in the sense... it makes no sense. It's about a boy who discovers his family are going on holiday to a town named NILBOG, ruled by shapeshifting goblins (his grandfather's ghost told him), that are intent with dousing them with Baby Bio and feeding them chorophyl because goblins ... only... eat... plants?
Troll 2 is just a film that gets weirder and weirder. Made by Hollywood, it would be a kids adventure fantasy like a Witch Mountain movie but this is like a Disney remake of Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men by Cronenberg.
So the story's bad but the film is also populated by curdled cream of Utah's am-dram scene; the guy playing the father subscribes to the Troy McClure school of pro-ennounci-ation. The mother is reminiscence of Dirk Diggler's crazy mother. The kid himself looks like a young Powers Booth. Which is weird. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the crazy shopkeeper but I'd say the star of the piece is the queen goblin- she's half evil Sarah Brightman/half eviler Susan Sarandon while smoking pharmaceutical-grade Panto jewelry, made of meth.
So the acting's mental as well but it's the charming thing that makes Troll 2 fun and memorable; there's a real 'let's-just-put-on-a-show' vibe which makes it likible and not cynical and yeoman-like. Like a real bad movie...
I wouldn't even class Troll 2 as a bad movie. I think bad movies are things that fail on their promise of being good. I'm thinking of The Ladykillers by the Coens or The Matrix sequels.
Like I would never say that Katherine Heigl movie is bad cos i've never seen it and don't plan to. We don't go about watching movies we think will be bad. No, I think quote unquote 'bad movies' have been parked in the wrong pen; when people talk about these movies- they just mean silly or dumb, not actually bad. It seems strange that people find an inate charm in something like The Room and then call it bad? My favorite movie of this ilk is Showgirls.
Showgirls fills me with girly abandon,tail-wagging contentment and during my inadvertent annual viewing, I may squee several times against my own will. It is truly the silliest movie i've ever seen. From the seal-clapping sex scene to 'Ver-sace' to the bitch dancers. Not 'bitchy' but bitch. To describe them as bitchy would signify they take a break from their bitchalism.
But I digress. Troll 2 is also a very silly movie. In fact it's similar to The Room in the sense... it makes no sense. It's about a boy who discovers his family are going on holiday to a town named NILBOG, ruled by shapeshifting goblins (his grandfather's ghost told him), that are intent with dousing them with Baby Bio and feeding them chorophyl because goblins ... only... eat... plants?
Troll 2 is just a film that gets weirder and weirder. Made by Hollywood, it would be a kids adventure fantasy like a Witch Mountain movie but this is like a Disney remake of Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men by Cronenberg.
So the story's bad but the film is also populated by curdled cream of Utah's am-dram scene; the guy playing the father subscribes to the Troy McClure school of pro-ennounci-ation. The mother is reminiscence of Dirk Diggler's crazy mother. The kid himself looks like a young Powers Booth. Which is weird. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the crazy shopkeeper but I'd say the star of the piece is the queen goblin- she's half evil Sarah Brightman/half eviler Susan Sarandon while smoking pharmaceutical-grade Panto jewelry, made of meth.
So the acting's mental as well but it's the charming thing that makes Troll 2 fun and memorable; there's a real 'let's-just-put-on-a-show' vibe which makes it likible and not cynical and yeoman-like. Like a real bad movie...
It's a not too often a treat to get to follow the story of the people behind a film. I guess the best example of that is Eleanor Coppola's Heart Of Darkness- about the making of Apocalypse Now. But now we have Best Worst Movie- the story of wannabe actors that came together to make Troll 2 and is madeand documented by Michael Stephenson, the kid from Troll 2 (doesn't still look like Powers Booth, thank God).
The story of Best Worst Movie is a lot simpler- if your greatest creative moment is best known for it's shittiness... how do you carry that off everyday?
I'm not sure how since it would seem people share a lot of bonhomie for Troll 2 but it was voted the worst rated movie on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.
The main focus of this documentary is George Hardy, who played the dad in the film. He practices dentistry now and apparently he already did during the making of Troll 2; fitting it in on his time off and weekends. He seems a nice guy and an active part of his community but you just know he still can't get passed having this moment 17years ago where he could have been a star. I mean aren't we all just waiting for that time when we get to be as prolific and loved as we dream?...
So when George hears about the post-ironic resurgence of Troll 2 in New York, he heads out to make a personal appearance and after 2decades of derision, he's finally found his flock; fans that love him and hang on his every word- I mean again who can't identify with that?
Then we start learning about the fans of the film as George and Mike start travelling around to screenings and there's also an element of 'getting the band back together' as more of the original cast reappear or they go looking for them. We've all wondered about what happens to people when they've had their '15mins'; for a few of the participents of Troll 2, the answer is quite uncomfortable. The guy who plays the wacky shop owner isn't a major character in Troll 2 but he makes up for that in memorability. Turns out he was not such a great actor but a guy with legitimate mental problems. This is pretty hard to realise but it's nothing on the present life of the woman who played the mother. To say that she suffers with paranoid psychosis of her own, for reasons unclear, is difficult is an understatement. It was really uncomfortable to see what has happened to her.
Obviously this journey would not be complete without hearing from the director and writer of this crap-masterpiece and Claudio (director) and Rossella (writer) do not disappoint. A married couple, presumably they are the Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh of Italian b-movies. When I first saw Claudio I was just glad Oliver Reed was alive somewhere. In Best Worse Movie, for better or for worse- 20years on, the cast go back to locations to reconstruct scenes from the movie and we get to get a glimpse of Claudio's directing style or maybe the term 'Mussolini micro-management' would be more apt... I loved this guy. My favorite moment in the documentary was asking Rossella what her motivation to write the movie was? To which she basically answered, 'all my friends were going vegetarian and it just pissed me off...'
Is that a bad reason to make a good movie or a good reason to make a bad one?...
The story of Best Worst Movie is a lot simpler- if your greatest creative moment is best known for it's shittiness... how do you carry that off everyday?
I'm not sure how since it would seem people share a lot of bonhomie for Troll 2 but it was voted the worst rated movie on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.
The main focus of this documentary is George Hardy, who played the dad in the film. He practices dentistry now and apparently he already did during the making of Troll 2; fitting it in on his time off and weekends. He seems a nice guy and an active part of his community but you just know he still can't get passed having this moment 17years ago where he could have been a star. I mean aren't we all just waiting for that time when we get to be as prolific and loved as we dream?...
So when George hears about the post-ironic resurgence of Troll 2 in New York, he heads out to make a personal appearance and after 2decades of derision, he's finally found his flock; fans that love him and hang on his every word- I mean again who can't identify with that?
Then we start learning about the fans of the film as George and Mike start travelling around to screenings and there's also an element of 'getting the band back together' as more of the original cast reappear or they go looking for them. We've all wondered about what happens to people when they've had their '15mins'; for a few of the participents of Troll 2, the answer is quite uncomfortable. The guy who plays the wacky shop owner isn't a major character in Troll 2 but he makes up for that in memorability. Turns out he was not such a great actor but a guy with legitimate mental problems. This is pretty hard to realise but it's nothing on the present life of the woman who played the mother. To say that she suffers with paranoid psychosis of her own, for reasons unclear, is difficult is an understatement. It was really uncomfortable to see what has happened to her.
Obviously this journey would not be complete without hearing from the director and writer of this crap-masterpiece and Claudio (director) and Rossella (writer) do not disappoint. A married couple, presumably they are the Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh of Italian b-movies. When I first saw Claudio I was just glad Oliver Reed was alive somewhere. In Best Worse Movie, for better or for worse- 20years on, the cast go back to locations to reconstruct scenes from the movie and we get to get a glimpse of Claudio's directing style or maybe the term 'Mussolini micro-management' would be more apt... I loved this guy. My favorite moment in the documentary was asking Rossella what her motivation to write the movie was? To which she basically answered, 'all my friends were going vegetarian and it just pissed me off...'
Is that a bad reason to make a good movie or a good reason to make a bad one?...
I saw Troll 2 (1990) and Best Worst Movie (2009) at the Prince Charles Cinema, London.
My 2011 In Movies will return with Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)...
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