Ironic consumption of terrible films is not a particularly new phenomenon, though in a post-Mystery Science Theater world, said consumption has largely taken place at independent movie houses with a selection of bizarre and inept castoffs that keep making the rounds month after month. One such castoff is Troll 2, a movie labeled “the worst movie ever made,” by a variety of sources. I'm not so sure that distinction really means anything anymore, but Troll 2 certainly gives it a run for its money. A functionally broken non-sequel to a horror movie hardly anyone had ever heard of to begin with, Troll 2, with its half-crazy Italian director and crew, and a cast of Utah-based actor wannabes, more or less humiliated everyone involved when the project finally saw the light of day on American television. That is, at least, until the irony seekers got a hold of it.
Enter Michael Stephenson, the freckle-faced child star of Troll 2, and aspiring documentary filmmaker. In his first film, Best Worst Movie, Stephenson attempts to document not only the growing ironic fandom around this terrible, terrible movie of which he himself was a part, but also the reactions of those who shared in his tragic early-life foray into the world of haphazard filmmaking.
Chief among them is George Hardy, an Alabama dentist who played Stephenson's manic and hospitality-obsessed father in Troll 2. According to just about everyone in the movie, Hardy is the nicest man alive, and a naturally charismatic personality. Clearly that charisma didn't translate into acting ability, but when Hardy finds himself the subject of not derision, but adoration for his past cinematic shame, he practically puts his entire life on hold to bask in the burgeoning fandom.
The movie follows Hardy, as well as a handful of other cast members, as they fly around the country attending various midnight screenings. Hardy, practically giddy from the attention he's suddenly receiving, seems all too eager to show up anywhere anyone will have him, and recite his famous line, “You can't piss on hospitality! I won't allow it!” to anyone who asks.
This goes on and on for a significant chunk of the film, to the point where you start to wonder if Stephenson has anything to offer beyond an endless half-sincere love-fest for this god awful movie. A real, honest-to-god story arc never really evolves out of what Stephenson films, but as the movie progresses, we do get some more insight into the lives of other cast members who haven't fared as well as Hardy ( Margo Prey, who played Hardy's wife in the movie, is something close to a delusional shut-in, and Don Packard, who played the lunatic drug store owner, was actually a mental patient at the time the movie was being filmed).
Additionally, the wrinkle of director Claudio Fragasso, an Italian filmmaker who is apparently bereft of any sense of irony, shows up midway through the picture. Fragasso seems to believe his film has developed a legitimate audience, and appears befuddled and irritated when people laugh at his movie when they aren't actually supposed to be. At one point he gets so flustered that he actually heckles his former actors as they relay tales of problems on the set to a crowd of fans as unsure of who Fragasso even is as they are uncomfortable with his taunts.
And then there's Hardy, ever the friendly, happy-go-lucky soul throughout. Even he begins to show a bit of weariness with the whole project after a few less-than-crowded conventions and an experience at a horror movie con that seems to make him realize that he wants nothing to do with conventional horror crowds. But as things roll to a close, Hardy still seems determined, no matter what, to keep the dream of Troll 2 alive, still showing up to every screening he can (he even showed up, slightly drunk, to the screening I attended of Best Worst Movie), and even saying he'd jump on the opportunity to be in Troll 3, should such a travesty ever come to fruition.
At this point, you realize that Best Worst Movie has been less about Troll 2, and more an entertaining character study into the lives and regrets of the people involved, with Hardy, affable crazy man that he is, at the center of it all. The shades of American Movie, another (better made) documentary about the indomitable spirit to make movies despite a lack of talent, budget, and sanity, are palpable to be sure. But in its own right, Best Worst Movie does a fine job of letting us share in the joy, pain, and sheer lunacy of this group of unique people, bound together forever by one cinematic mistake that the ever-growing cult of terrible film appreciation refuses to let them forget.
Enter Michael Stephenson, the freckle-faced child star of Troll 2, and aspiring documentary filmmaker. In his first film, Best Worst Movie, Stephenson attempts to document not only the growing ironic fandom around this terrible, terrible movie of which he himself was a part, but also the reactions of those who shared in his tragic early-life foray into the world of haphazard filmmaking.
Chief among them is George Hardy, an Alabama dentist who played Stephenson's manic and hospitality-obsessed father in Troll 2. According to just about everyone in the movie, Hardy is the nicest man alive, and a naturally charismatic personality. Clearly that charisma didn't translate into acting ability, but when Hardy finds himself the subject of not derision, but adoration for his past cinematic shame, he practically puts his entire life on hold to bask in the burgeoning fandom.
This goes on and on for a significant chunk of the film, to the point where you start to wonder if Stephenson has anything to offer beyond an endless half-sincere love-fest for this god awful movie. A real, honest-to-god story arc never really evolves out of what Stephenson films, but as the movie progresses, we do get some more insight into the lives of other cast members who haven't fared as well as Hardy ( Margo Prey, who played Hardy's wife in the movie, is something close to a delusional shut-in, and Don Packard, who played the lunatic drug store owner, was actually a mental patient at the time the movie was being filmed).
Additionally, the wrinkle of director Claudio Fragasso, an Italian filmmaker who is apparently bereft of any sense of irony, shows up midway through the picture. Fragasso seems to believe his film has developed a legitimate audience, and appears befuddled and irritated when people laugh at his movie when they aren't actually supposed to be. At one point he gets so flustered that he actually heckles his former actors as they relay tales of problems on the set to a crowd of fans as unsure of who Fragasso even is as they are uncomfortable with his taunts.
At this point, you realize that Best Worst Movie has been less about Troll 2, and more an entertaining character study into the lives and regrets of the people involved, with Hardy, affable crazy man that he is, at the center of it all. The shades of American Movie, another (better made) documentary about the indomitable spirit to make movies despite a lack of talent, budget, and sanity, are palpable to be sure. But in its own right, Best Worst Movie does a fine job of letting us share in the joy, pain, and sheer lunacy of this group of unique people, bound together forever by one cinematic mistake that the ever-growing cult of terrible film appreciation refuses to let them forget.
