Troll

USA / Italy 1986
produced by
Albert Band, Charles Band (executive) for Empire
directed by John Carl Buechler
starring Noah Hathaway, Michael Moriarty, Shelley Hack, Jenny Beck, Sonny Bono, Phil Fondacaro, Brad Hall, Anne Lockhart, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Gary Sandy, June Lockhart, Robert Hathaway, James Beck, Dale Wyatt, Barbara Sciorilli, Viviana Giusti, Jessie Carfora, Debra Dion, Charles Band, Jacquelyn Band, Albert Band
story by John Carl Buechler, screenplay by Ed Naha, music by Richard Band, creature effects by John Carl Buechler

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)   CLICK HERE to buy from Double Feature: Troll, Troll 2   CLICK HERE to buy from Double Feature: Troll, Troll 2 Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!

The Potters have just moved into a new apartment, and littly Wendy (Jenny Beck) starts to act weird. But while the parents (Michael Moriarty, Shelley Hack) think it's just caused by the move itself, son Harry (Noah Hathaway) thinks there is something more sinister going on, thinks his sister might not even be his sister but someone or something impersonating her to the t ... and he's right of course, because little Wendy was abducted into the troll-world and replaced by a Troll (Phil Fondacaro). In the disguise of a little girl, the Troll now goes from apartment to apartment to turn their inhabitants (among others Sonny Bono and a young Julia Louis-Dreyfus) into troll-like creatures and make the apartments part of a troll-dimension which is to eventually smash our own dimension.

The Troll shows pity tough with a terminally ill midget intellectual (also played by Phil Fondacaro, ironically), whom he eventually turns into an elf to give him a second lease on life. There's one woman though who could smash the Troll's plans, Eunice St.Clair (June Lockhart), a retired lady that seems cold and strict on the outside but has a heart of gold. Fortunately, Harry manages to hook up with her - and learns she is a witch who actually was the Troll's girlfriend many moons ago, and now she holds the key for his destruction, which turns out to be a couple of magic spears. Before entering the troll-sphere, Eunice turns into a younger version of herself (played by June's daughter Anne Lockhart), but she's eventually tricked by the Troll and turned into a treestump - which leaves the responsibility with Harry ... and he messes up as well when he drops the magic spear to free his sister, and is then attacked by a monster that's also the heart of the dimension. Then though the monster attacks Wendy, and the Troll knows her death would mean the end of all his dreams of having his own dimension, so he picks up the magic spear and kills the monster - which shatters his dimension at least for now ...

Troll is above everything else a fun film: Its concept is bizarre, but in a fairy tale kind of way, it's populated by many grotesque creatures that are wonderfully outbalanced by an eccentric cast (especially Michael Moriarty, Sonny Bono and June Lockhart give beautifully weird performances), and the film's tongue-in-cheek approach to the proceedings manages to maintain the film light-footed without becoming its own parody. And while the film was obviously made on a low budget, it was high enough to bring its imaginative story to life nevertheless.

Maybe the best film Charles Band's Empire ever released, and a whole lot of fun, too.

By the way, the lead character in this is really called Harry Potter, but please note: This film was released year before the first Harry Potter-book by J.K. Rowling was ever published (or even conceived, maybe).

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned)

The links below will take you just there!!!

Find Troll at the amazons ...   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.de Looking for imports? Find Troll here ...   eThaiCD.com Your shop for all things Thai

Thanks for watching !!!