REVIEW – Best Worst Movie

Published on: 28th March, 2010

REVIEW - Best Worst Movie  | read this item

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Once upon a time there was a dentist from Alabama who dreamt of becoming an actor. His wish finally came true when he was cast in a low budget horror movie called Goblin. The film was released straight to video and those involved would try to distance themselves from it and forget that it ever happened. One day, the dentist discovered that the movie, now known as Troll 2, had become a cult classic and earned the reputation of ‘worst movie of all time.’ Unable to escape its curse he finally embraced it, and the result was Best Worst Movie.

Troll 2 was shot in Utah in 1989 by Italian filmmaker Claudio Fragasso and penned by his wife, Rosella Drudi, and would feature a cast of inexperienced actors. The story told of Michael Waits, who relocates his family to the remote village of Nilbog for vacation, only to discover that the sinister residents are really goblins and want to transform them into plants so they can eat them. The only one who can save them is his son, Joshua, who, with the guidance of his late Grandpa Seth, attempts to rescue his family from a fate worse than death.

Almost two decades after its original release, Michael Paul Stephenson, who played young Joshua in the movie, decided to revisit the world of Niblog, but this time as a filmmaker. Best Worst Movie is his exploration of both the making of Troll 2 and the phenomenon that its legacy has created. Reuniting most of the original cast and crew, Stephenson has produced a frank and honest documentation of one of the most ridiculous films ever made.

At the heart of Best Worst Movie is George Hardy; the dentist in question who would only act in one feature before returning to his chosen profession. An instantly likable and charismatic individual, it is Hardy’s journey from failed actor to cult celebrity that drives the narrative of the film. For those not familiar with the camp delight that was Troll 2, viewers are treated to an array of footage, as well as clips of Hardy and his co-stars reenacting their lines two decades later.

What could have been a simple behind-the-scenes featurette works as a film in its own right; with Stephenson showing himself as a competent storyteller. Best Worst Movie is in turn hilarious, moving and as camp as the film that spawned it. Highlights include Fragasso’s journey to the States to observe the fans himself, an uneventful trip to England where no one has heard of the movie and bizarre cameos from Troll 2 actors Robert Ormsby and Mongo Prey. A must see!

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