Line #41 Film/Troll1986


1	[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/troll_1986_poster.jpeg]]
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3	''Troll'' is a 1986 American BMovie about [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Torok]] the [[AntagonistTitle Troll]] (no relation to {{ComicBook/Turok}} or [[Literature/TheBelgariad Torak]]). Directed by John Carl Buechler, this was marketed as a HorrorComedy, but shares far more aspects with the UrbanFantasy genre, and in fact works better when regarded as such. The cast includes Noah Hathaway (of ''Film/TheNeverEndingStory'' fame), Creator/MichaelMoriarty, Creator/ShelleyHack, Music/SonnyBono, Creator/PhilFondacaro, Creator/JuliaLouisDreyfus, Creator/BradHall, and Creator/JuneLockhart.
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5	The movie focuses on the Potter family. In case you're wondering, yes, there is a Literature/HarryPotter – two of them, in fact (father and son) – and this was ''long'' [[HilariousInHindsight before J.K. Rowling wrote the books]]. Wendy Potter, the obnoxious little girl of the family, is abducted by the troll, who then takes her form and infiltrates into the family. For the remainder of the movie, Torok (voiced by Creator/FrankWelker) takes advantage of the weakening of magical barriers on Walpurgisnacht to turn the Potters' neighbors into plant pods to generate more trolls to take over the world with. Anyway, Harry Potter Junior (Hathaway) realizes that his sister has been replaced... only after watching two sci-fi movies. And even then, he assumes she's an alien. It takes a meeting with local witch Eunice St. Clair (Lockhart) for Harry Jr. to understand what is really happening, and then he solves everything.
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7	It's worth noting that this movie '''has no official sequels'''. The SoBadItsGood ''Film/{{Troll 2}}'' is actually an Italian movie with no relation whatsoever to it, and [[NeverTrustATitle has goblins instead of trolls]]. The two ''Troll 3'' movies (original names being ''Creepers'' and ''Film/QuestForTheMightySword'', respectively) are even less related; the first has no humanoid creatures or magic whatsoever, instead featuring radioactive plants, while the latter does feature a few trolls/goblins/whatever but it was meant to be part of the ''[[Film/TheBladeMaster Ator]]'' series.
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9	Not to be confused with Creator/DreamworksAnimation's ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'', or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_doll the dolls]] that inspired that film, or [[Film/Troll2022 the 2022 film of the same title]]. Or, you know, the other kind of {{Troll}}.
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12	!!Tropes present in Troll:
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14	* AntiquatedLinguistics: Torok (in disguise as Wendy) refers to Jeanette Cooper's boyfriend as a "suitor".
15	* ApartmentComplexOfHorrors: The movie takes place in an apartment where the Potter family had moved in. The apartment has a troll and a gateway to a dimension full of monsters.
16	* AssholeVictim: Peter is an [[{{jerkass}} unpleasant sort]] who [[ChildHater openly hates children]] and [[CasanovaWannabe treats women like objects.]] He's the first of Torok's victims and his demise is quite gruesome.
17	* BaitAndSwitch: Peter Dickinson asks the woman he spends the last night of his life with how she would feel about breakfast. Assuming he's offering to provide her some she agrees, but then he clarifies: He expects ''her'' to make breakfast. She isn't amused.
18	-->'''Peter Dickinson:''' Feel like breakfast?
19	-->'''Dickinson's Girlfriend:''' Sure!
20	-->'''Peter Dickinson:''' There's some pancake mix in the kitchen. Why don't you cook us up some?
21	* BigBad: Torok, the troll trying to summon the fae upon the Earth.
22	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: The troll's male victims all become (or give rise to) rather ugly, wrinkled or brutish fairy creatures. Ms. Cooper, however, the only female tenant to be permanently transformed, becomes a bunch of scantly clad nymphs and glittering wood sprites.
23	* BiggerOnTheInside: The apartments achieve this as a result of the RealityWarping going on.
24	* BookDumb: Duke considers this a mark of pride: he thinks reading books is unmanly.
25	* BrownNote: The horn Eunice blows to shut the singing faeries up.
26	-->'''Eunice:''' That oughta give those little ''suckers'' something to think about!
27	* BumblingDad: Harry Potter Sr. He means well but he's in over his head.
28	* CasanovaWannabe: Peter Dickinson is a man well into middle age who's biggest interest in life is seducing and bedding women. "Duke" Tabor even refers to him as "the creep upstairs".
29	* ChildHater: Peter Dickinson does not like children. He considers them loud and annoying.
30	* CoolOldLady: Eunice, once she and Harry Jr. start getting to know each other.
31	* CreepyBasement: Torok's lair is located in the apartment building's laundry room, which is in the basement.
32	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: When Torok turns people into plants, it's a slow and very painful process.
33	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Eunice %%(Zero-Context Example)%%
34	* DolledUpInstallment: The so called "sequels" were all original movies renamed in order to look like sequels to this movie.
35	* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler:The cornerstone to Torok's world is destroyed and the world collapses around him. Then, as the cops are investigating, Torok grabs one, presumably to take his form.]]
36	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: ''Troll'' features '''one''' troll. The rest are TheFairFolk.
37	* {{Fanservice}}: It really just depends if you're either into girls running around wearing nothing but leaves covering naughty bits or into teenager boys showing their naked torsos, but either way you will be satisfied. An in-universe case for Torok, who stares at [[spoiler:the body of the girl he turned into a fairy/elf/whatever]].
38	* TheFairFolk: Torok began his evil ways when he was still an elf (he was turned into a troll for punishment), and after mistaking a midget for an elf [[spoiler: he turns him into an actual elf]]. He also [[spoiler: turns a woman into some sort of fairy that lures her boyfriend]], and it is slightly implied Eunice may be a fairy.
39	* FemmeFatale: After Jeanette is turned into a nymph, she lures her boyfriend into the forest that used to be her apartment and takes him straight to Torok.
40	* ForcedTransformation:
41	** Torok turns his victims into giant plant pods. These pods are essentially incubators that produce fairytale-like creatures (goblins, bugbears, wood nymphs, etc). When the pods burst open they release these creatures while transforming the surroundings into a fairytale forest.
42	** Torok turns Eunice into a talking tree stump.
43	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Harry Potter Sr.'s crack that the "apartment fairies" helped put things away
44	* GreenThumb: One of the few times not only a villain has it, it also doesn't fall into GoodPowersBadPeople because of the way it is used.
45	* GunNut: Barry Tabor owns several firearms. He attempts to use one on Torok when the troll attacks him in his apartment, but with no success.
46	* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: Walpurgisnacht.
47	* JerkAss: Peter Dickinson, who hates kids, is rude to Harry Potter Sr. (admittedly because his first interaction with him is after having been trampled by the latter's children running around the building while the fire alarm is going off) and who thinks he's a lot smoother with the ladies than he actually is. Duke is a lot nicer, except for the fact that [[BookDumb he thinks reading is for pansies and liberals]]
48	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Eunice is a bit abrasive at first, but soon warms up to Harry Potter Jr.
49	* KidHero
50	* LittlePeopleAreSurreal: Averted somewhat with Malcolm, who seems like a fairly regular guy for an English professor... he just happens to be about three feet tall. All of the other little people in the movie are actual supernatural creatures.
51	* LousyLoversAreLosers: Peter's ladyfriend did not enjoy spending the night with him.
52	--> '''Peter Dickinson:''' Well, babe, was it what you expected?
53	--> '''Dickinson's Girlfriend:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Unfortunately.]]
54	* ManlyMenCanHunt: The very masculine "Duke" Tabor has hunting trophies, archery equipment, and hunting rifles in his apartment.
55	* MeaningfulName: Aside from the presumably coincidental "Harry Potter" thing, Sonny Bono's character is named Peter Dickinson, the name of a fairly prominent fantasy writer
56	* NiceGuy: Malcolm Malory. He's helpful and friendly towards the other residents and he doesn't get offended when Wendy asks him if he is an elf.
57	* TheNicknamer: At one point Eunice facetiously refers to Tabor as "Jungle Jim", presumably due to his [[SemperFi military]] [[RetiredBadass background]] and his [[ManlyMenCanHunt love of hunting.]]
58	* OhCrap:
59	** Eunice wears a good one when her own mushroom faerie joins in on the ''Cantos Profanae''.
60	** Peter when he looks behind a couch in his apartment and comes face to face with Torok.
61	* OneWordTitle
62	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Barry Tabor prefers to be called by his nickname, "Duke".
63	* OurDemonsAreDifferent / OurGargoylesRock: A gargoyle/demon thing attacks our protagonists in the end.
64	* PainfulTransformation: Peter's transformation into a pod is the only transformation shown and it isn't pleasant. A tar-like substance oozes out of his mouth as his skin turns green and hardens while his facial features gradually recede. Throughout the experience Peter is conscious, frightened, and in great pain.
65	* PetTheDog Torok [[spoiler: turns Malcolm, who was suffering from cancer, into an elf]].
66	* PornStache: Peter Dickinson, the resident CasanovaWannabe, sports one.
67	* Really700YearsOld: Eunice. Notably, she can look younger than she is (and does do so once she goes hunting for Torok) but she chooses to look like an old woman (although significantly younger than the centuries she must be)
68	* RealityWarping: Seems to be a side effect of the ring's transformation process although from the transformed perspective it's RealityWarpingIsNotAToy.
69	** It isn't a side-effect, it's part of what Torok is plotting. He's trying to recreate a faerie kingdom in the apartment building, so that he can have another go at what got him turned into a troll in the first place.
70	* RetiredBadass: Barry "Duke" Tabor presents himself as this. He introduces himself as a retired United States Marine Corps officer who now "fights the battles of insurance."
71	* SemperFi: Lt. Barry Tabor, USMC, Retired. He's a former officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and he's very patriotic, obsessed with physical fitness, and has an assertive personality. He's also the only (mortal) tenant who tries to fight Torok.
72	* ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing: As Peter transforms into a pod the pajama shirt he's wearing tears apart and his bathrobe pops open and falls away, revealing that his body is now a large, green plant pod.
73	* ShirtlessScene: Harry Potter Jr. while in bed.
74	* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Tabor pulls a shotgun off his living room wall and fires on Torok with it.
75	* ShoutOut:
76	** One of the faeries is [[Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon the Gill Man]].
77	** Harry Potter Jr. is a fan of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.
78	* SpawnBroodling: Although the plant pods seem to be the same people that are killed, with a different body, it otherwise fits since they become rather mookish.
79	* {{Transflormation}}: The troll turns the apartment building's residents into plant pods in order to create more trolls.
80	* TroubledFetalPosition: As Torok approaches Peter with the intention of turning him into a pod, the terrified man curls into a ball and covers his face with his hands.
81	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Turok-as-Wendy will often do and say things that are very bizarre for a young girl to say and do (generally when around Malcolm), but no one aside from Harry Jr. seems to notice
82	* UncertainDoom: The nymph that used to be Jeanette lures William into the fairytale forest that used to be her apartment and straight to Torok. What happens next isn't shown, but William isn't seen again.
83	* VillainousCrush: Torok finds Jeanette beautiful and turns her into a wood nymph in order to preserve her youthful beauty.
84	* VillainsOutShopping: When Peter begins the process of transforming into a pod, Torok sits down with a Magazine/{{Playboy}} Magazine and begins flipping through it, occasionally looking up to check on Peter's progress.
85	* WaitingForABreak: Jeanette Cooper is an aspiring actress who works as a waitress between auditions.
86	* WallOfWeapons:
87	** Tabor has several firearms mounted on his living room wall. He tries to use one on Torok, with no success.
88	** Eunice has various medieval weaponry hanging on the wall in her entryway.
89	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: At the end of the film Eunice has turned back into a human. Does this mean Torok's other victims also turned back?
90	* WhenDimensionsCollide: Torok's intended plan. First turn all the apartments into pocket dimensions that once complete would expand and absorb the outside universe.
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Context Film / Troll1986