Best Worst Movie is a documentary about the phenomenon surrounding the movie Troll 2, which has nothing do to with Troll 1, and has been voted the worst movie of all time on imdb.com. The movie itself is made by the youngest member of the original cast of Troll 2, Michael Stephenson, who played Joshua Waits and it chronicles both the phenomenon of the cult status of the movie, but also the “where are they now” of the cast members. It is endlessly entertaining on a number of levels, is most certainly not what you expect and is, bar none, my favorite movie of Hot Docs this year so far.
The film follows George Hardy, a dentist in Salt Lake City, Utah, who is the nicest man anyone who’s ever met him has ever met. Even his ex-wife likes him. He loves his daughter and has a great relationship with her. He has a thriving practice, in which he has done a great deal of charity work for local under-privileged children. Basically, he’s a great person… who just happened to star in the worst movie ever made. When George was young he auditioned for a movie being directed by an Italian named Claudio Fragasso. His wife had penned the script and, at the time, it seemed like a pretty good idea. All of them thought they were making a great movie. When it wrapped the cast waited for news, but none came. Eventually, either on HBO or VHS, they all saw the movie… and it was horrible. The people who were not actors and had little invested in the movie felt embarrassed, but they moved on. For the career actors in the movie it was humiliating, costing many of them roles, in some cases, their careers. Fast forward 17 years and the movie has become the worst reviewed movie of all time, living in the “Holy Fucking Shit” section of at least one video store. Troll 2 parties sprung up everywhere. The level of cult status that this movie achieved was compared to a religion, with little “missionary” groups everywhere holding parties and spreading the word. A large scale Troll 2 event was planned and a cast reunion of sorts was organized. 300 adoring fans showed up and George declared, “I don’t get that kind of thrill when I’m drilling a cavity.” From that point on, the movie chronicles George’s experiences while he discovers the world of cult films, with all its ups and downs – including a director that thought they were making a thought-provoking “parable”.
I had not seen Troll 2 and I think that was an asset to viewing, since I didn’t get all the ‘in jokes’ and references that I’m certain are there. I will absolutely see it at my first opportunity, but I think that it helped me to take this movie for what it was, which was an awesome, hilarious documentary. Troll 2 is described by one critic in this movie as what would happen if aliens watched a whole bunch of our movies and then tried to make a movie that humans would like. At one point it is said to have ‘failed gloriously’ at what it was attempting to achieve, something that this documentary does not. Showing the glee and the fervor with which fans can attach themselves to something, but also how fickle and selective it can be, it shows beautifully both sides of fame.
For all of George’s success with the re-invention of Troll 2 as a cult classic, there are some very sobering moments in Best Worst Movie. While laughing hysterically one moment at a man who filmed this movie while out on a day pass from his psychiatric facility, you’re then struck by the man who sits quietly in his cluttered home speaking about how he feels that he’s wasted his life. I admire that Stephenson didn’t shy from this side of the topic. None of the actors in Troll 2 went on to be superstars and George’s brief renaissance into a new kind of fame is the definite exception, and showing the ‘where are they nows’ of the cast was such an important element of the movie. At no time does he make fun of, nor pander or condescend, to his subjects, instead leaving their own words to be the deciding factor in how you see them.
In the end, I walked away from Best Worst Movie very happy. It’s a side-splittingly funny look at a microcosm of fandom, but it also has a heart. Both George and Michael came for the Q & A and George is every bit as enthusiastic about life as he is in the movie, which was very nice to see. The director of Troll 2 said so aptly of his movie, best movie, worst movie, at least he’d made an impression. Apparently, Troll 2: Part 2 is in the works and I look very much forward to the associated ‘Best Worst Movie 2′.
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