Best Worst Movie (2009)

The lifeblood of any movie’s legacy is its audience.  They are the reason that the movie exists.  For a movie to be able to say anything, it needs an audience for that message to go anywhere.  The audience can make a movie live on long after its theatrical run has ended.  This audience can turn into a fandom, as people begin to obsess over a movie.  A cult following can be born of people who love a specific movie and will excitedly discuss, watch, and participate in screenings.

Troll 2 has this kind of following.  Devoted audiences get together to share their love of this terrible film.  Screenings happen all around the world.  People make shirts referencing the movie.  They eat green coloured food based off of the movie.  They recite lines as they watch the movie.  There are people out there who will devote large chunks of their lives to appreciating this capsule of bad filmmaking.

Best Worst Movie was a 2009 documentary about the fandom surrounding Troll 2.  It was filmed nearly twenty years after the release of the 1990 horror film.  The director, Michael Paul Stephenson, was actually the star of that movie.  Best Worst Movie showed Stephenson getting back together with George Hardy, who played his dad, and travelling to conventions and screenings on behalf of Troll 2.  Other people involved in the movie would sometimes tag along.  Sprinkled throughout were small tidbits about the ineptness and struggles involved in the making of Troll 2.

The star of Best Worst Movie was George Hardy, the man who played Michael Waits.  He is a charismatic dentist from Alabama who always wanted to be an actor.  Troll 2 was his big break.  He was the patriarch of the family; the man who kept them together in a time of chaos.  It was the perfect role to start him out in the movie business.  Except for the fact that he was starring in a terrible movie.  Best Worst Movie followed him as he experienced a newfound popularity in the movie he once participated in.

There were four main interwoven sides to Best Worst Movie.  There were the conventions in which the movie participated.  There were the screenings of Troll 2.  There was the cast getting back together after years apart.  Finally, there was a look back at the movie they had made twenty years prior.  These four storylines combined to give an all-encompassing look at the legacy of Troll 2.

Fans of Troll 2 were the reason that Best Worst Movie was made.  With the digital age came a wider availability for forgotten movies.  People were able to seek out Troll 2, watch it, and share it with friends.  This availability led to a cult fandom that would lead to bigger screenings.  Troll 2 came into movie culture in a way that it hadn’t before.  Instead of being an unattainable mythical bad movie, there are ways to find it so that curious people can watch it.  That helped give it a foothold in the movie world.

The growing popularity led to the people involved in Troll 2 going to conventions to meet fans.  This part of the movie was bittersweet.  George Hardy adored the fact that he was part of this movie.  He took any chance he could get to share that fact with the people walking around the convention floor.  But few people took more than a passing notice of him.  Few people at the conventions knew or cared about the Troll 2 cast.  They moved to the next booth as quickly as they approached the Troll 2 one.  Best Worst Movie highlighted this in a straightforward fashion, allowing Hardy’s upbeat personality to guide the audience through these tough times.

His upbeat personality also helped guide the audience on a journey to bring the cast and crew together to reflect on the unique work they did.  From the friendly relationship he had with his onscreen son to his attempts at bringing Margo Prey back into the group, his “always look on the bright side” personality made for a delightful watch.  George Hardy kept the documentary nostalgic and light when it could have been negative look at the legacy of a bad movie.  Through Hardy’s appreciation his work, regardless of the quality, it was easy to appreciate how Troll 2 brought people together.  It felt like sitting at a campfire with the people who made the movie, hearing their stories of what happened years ago.  They recreated scenes like people describing anecdotes from their life.  They hung out like friends.  It was all enjoyable.

Best Worst Movie isn’t the greatest documentary.  Nor does it need to be.  It’s a nostalgic trip down memory lane for the people involved in the making of Troll 2.  The friendship and strange stories they experienced while making it connected to the present as it helped create friendship and stories for the people who watched the movie.  It is a worthwhile document on the power of movies.  Movies don’t need to be good to capture people’s imaginations.  They don’t need to be good to be entertaining.  All a movie needs to do is allow audiences to have a good time.  Troll 2 did that.  Best Worst Movie does that.

Please check out my post about Troll 2, if you haven’t already.