YMMV / Troll 2

• Aluminum Christmas Trees:
  • Milk that can be kept unrefrigerated until opened really does exist, though it's more popular in countries outside America. However, Troll 2 takes place in the US. The director and crew were Italian, further complicating matters.
  • The movie the guys watch in the camper with a monkey touching an egg and shooting into the air like a rocket was assumed to be a fictional film, however James Rolfe discovered that it was an actual film from 1982 called Grunt
  • Another example of an Italian cultural element that gets clumsily shoehorned into an American setting is the Waits family doing a house swap with a family from Nilbog. House swaps are fairly common in Europe but almost unheard of in America.
• Ass Pull: The Presents family somehow managing to survive after the extinction of the rest of the goblins.
• Audience-Alienating Era: Part of one for Fragasso, whose previous films were at least seen as generally competent if not necessarily good. Troll 2 wound up being the last of his long line of bad B-movies, and in the following years he transitioned into classier, better-received fare.
• Awesome Music: The main theme on its own is actually pretty good for what it is, like something out of the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon. In fact, most of the score, composed by Carlo Maria Cordio, is actually pretty good out of context, the main issue in this particular film usually being that it either doesn't match the on-screen action or gets repeated unnecessarily.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • The popcorn scene. Just... why?
  • The scenes where the Grandpa pulls some new power out of his ass, never to be used again. Particularly the time stopping scene.
• Bile Fascination: Most watch the movie for its So Bad, It's Good status among people.
• Cult Classic: Many people love it for its So Bad, It's Good quality.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • The fly that's on Arnold's forehead during the (in)famous "Oh My God" line, as if it's drawn by the bad acting. Many people view it as the greatest actor in the film.
  • Arnold himself gets a lot of love, too, mostly for being such a dweeb and for the Big "OMG!" scene.
  • Don Packard's legitimately creepy performance as the shop owner made him stand out as well.
  • Mike Hamill is so caricatured and obviously portrays a hidden villain, that it's hard not to notice and fall in love with him.
• Fountain of Memes: There are dozens, if not hundreds, of bizarre, quotable lines in the film, not just the ones everybody knows.
• Genius Bonus: Probably unintentional, but there are quite a few echoes of Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market" present, particularly in how the goblins try to corrupt people by feeding them plant matter, and how homoerotic expressions of family values are the solution to defeating them. In both works, the goblins seem to represent an outsider threat to the status quo.
• Ham and Cheese: Deborah Reed, aka Creedence, later claimed she didn't feel she was given adequate direction during the filming. Regardless, she's clearly enjoying herself.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The reverend of Nilbog's cult-like church bears an uncanny resemblance to David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidian cult that was assaulted during the Waco Siege, which the film preceded by three years. Even more harsh is the fact that he ends up being killed by being set on fire by the family.
  • After watching the documentary about the film (Best Worst Movie) and learning some of the fates of the cast, poking fun at some of the actors loses some of its enjoyment. It's somewhat balanced out by others in the cast having stable, productive lives... somewhat.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Meat-eating "vegetarians," you say?
  • A film called Troll 2 that isn't a sequel to Troll and doesn't even have any trolls in it fits the modern definition of Troll perfectly.
  • Arnold wearing blue, glasses, and being the token geek in his group of friends brings to mind Billy Cranston of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers which debuted only three years after this film came out. His performance (at some points) and voice even resemble David Yost's somewhat. Not to mention, the main villain of this film is a witch. Anyone else thinking Rita Repulsa?
• Hollywood Homely: Creedence is probably supposed to be an ugly old woman in her first form. She's not.^note Deborah Reed was 39 when the film was made, but even in full Creedence makeup, she didn't look that old.
• Ho Yay:
  • Drew sees Elliot and Brent sleeping in the same bed, with their shirts off.
  • The film also seems to believe that "homosexuality" and "castration" are synonymous.
    Elliot (after Holly hits him in the groin): Are you trying to turn me into a homo?
    Holly: It wouldn't be too hard!
  • Elliot and his friends' relationship seems to consist entirely of Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?, which is sort of negated by them running around in their underwear, huddling up in a camper together, sharing beds, and not being able to be without each other for almost any length of time. As a result, Holly and Elliot's subplot comes off a hell of a lot differently than intended.
  • The entire plot thread regarding Drew's quest for milk (it would be milk, wouldn't it?) is laced with a disturbing, pseudo-rapacious homoerotica.
• Les Yay:
  • Creedence tells the mom that she finds Holly to be "appetizing" and "provocative." Strangely, the mom expresses only slight bafflement.
  • Holly's reaction also seems a bit odd under the circumstances.
    Creedence: Hello, beautiful.
    Holly: Hi. (Leaves without another word)
• Memetic Molester: Joshua's grandfather is inexplicably frightening, especially in the scenes where he incites him to commit a variety of tricks.
• Memetic Mutation: Oh dear God, it's everywhere!
  • They're eating her! And then they're going to eat me! OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!
  • You can't piss on hospitality! I WON'T ALLOW IT!
  • They were trying to feed me ice cream so they could eat me later.
  • Nilbog! It's goblin spelled backwards!
  • A double example can be found during the sermon at the Church. It's funny enough hearing the Preacher hammily ranting about "smelly bladders", but look carefully at the General Store Owner when hemorrhoids are mentioned. He puts his hands between his legs and squeezes them together.
  • Let's be honest; most of Arnold's dialogue in general.
  • During the infamous "Oh My God!" line, a fly can be seen on Arnold's forehead. Quite a few people have jokingly(?) claimed it's the best actor in the movie.
• Narm: As you can undoubtedly tell from a lot of the dialogue, the movie is filled with this, not just because of the actions of the characters but also because of a great deal of the dialogue was written in Italian and poorly translated, making it sound very archaic at times (such as a character saying that she'd been "fasting" for two days when she said she hadn't eaten, and another saying "veritable" in what's basically ordinary conversation). To name specific examples:
  • The preacher's bizarre sermon about how meat is evil is impossible to take seriously.
  • The opening scene features a guy running away from goblins to rockin' party music. He comes across a girl with the fakest acne imaginable (someone clearly took an eyeliner pencil and just dotted her face), who feeds him green slime. Which, the Grandfather explains, was "delicious."
  • Most of the performances alone are enough to qualify. George Hardy gives it his all as Michael Waits, but is clearly way out of his depth, pushing the character into Bumbling Dad territory. Darren Ewing as Arnold tries to convey the horror of his predicament but it comes out as Dull Surprise.
  • The grandfather suddenly stopping time (except for Joshua) to reveal that all the food the family is covered in green slime. Not only is this the one time he does this, but the kid decides to piss all over the food (thankfully off-screen) to ensure the family does not eat it, instead of say, throwing it out. Bonus points for some of the food being right up to the family's mouths. Extra bonus: note that the actors are very, very obviously having a hard time keeping still.
  • Really, any of the grandpa's ass pulls get this.
  • Creedence's reaction to Joshua eating a triple-decker bologna sandwich as dramatically as possible. Not helping is the Fridge Logic surrounding why they can't still turn him into a plant anyway (or at least restrain him from killing them all).
  • "Nilbog... IT'S GOBLIN SPELLED BACKWARDS!"
  • The popcorn scene. Creedence (transformed to look younger and sexier) comes up to Elliot's camper, shoves a piece of corn in her robe pocket(?), and seduces Brent. Then they, uh... well, they eat corn together. And... look, words can't do this scene justice. Just see it for yourself.
  • Certain lines are oddly off...
    Who wants to eat you, little brother?
    They're eating her! And then they're gonna eat me! Oh my GOOOOOOD!
    You can't piss on hospitality! I WON'T ALLOW IT!
    • The girl who melts into the vegetable matter and is then eaten by goblins (the aforementioned "her" from the "OH MY GOOOOOOOOD" scene). Her fate WOULD have been creepy....if not for the huge Special Effects Failure, the ridiculous 80s music in the background, and the fact that she sounds like she's having a MASSIVE orgasm instead of dying.
  • Holly's dance scene is one of the most awkward attempts at dancing ever put to film.
  • The crying sound they dubbed over the goblin preacher dying. It's so whiny it's comical.
  • The way it feels a lot like a feature-length Goosebumps (1995) episode, from the focus on Cassandra Truth, to the low budget, to the acting and the hokey story.
• Narm Charm: Basically goes hand-in-hand with the Narm listed above. Everything is so campy and goofy that it's impossible to take seriously, but you can also tell the actors are trying their absolute damndest to get any type of entertaining material out of the hilarious dialogue they've been handed that you have to admire the effort.
• Nightmare Fuel: Yes, 99% of the movie is So Bad, It's Good personified, but the ending sequence in which the (somehow) surviving goblins devour Joshua's mother is to at least some degree effectively creepy.
• Nightmare Retardant: See, the notion of people turning into plants could have been A-Grade Body Horror. But the effects are pretty bad and the dialogue is even worse, so it's hard to care.
• One-Scene Wonder: A few, most notably the shop owner.
• Padding: The sequence where Creedence begs for more power, turns into a Hot Witch, then completely wastes her new powers seducing minor secondary character Brent with a corncob. She uses up her powers, doesn't even kill the guy, and none of this has any relevance to the rest of the movie whatsoever.
• Rooting for the Empire: Creedence Leonore Gielgud. It's mostly because Deborah Reed's performance is delicious ham from start to finish, but many fans of this movie adore Creedence.
• Sequel Displacement: Despite not actually being a sequel to the original Troll, it is much more well known. If Troll is ever referenced outside of its "relationship" to Troll 2, it is either because its protagonist is named Harry Potter over a decade before the Harry Potter, or because a pre-Seinfeld Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a secondary role, and even then the So Okay, It's Average film would likely be completely forgotten today without its No Budget Dolled-Up Installment Cult Classic of a "sequel."
• Signature Line:
  • "They're eating her! And then they're going to eat me! OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!"
  • Best Worst Movie shows that "You can't piss on hospitality! I won't allow it!" was George Hardy's signature line during his screening tour.
• So Bad, It's Good: One of the most well-known examples. The cheesy effects, the back-and-forth between stilted and over-the-top acting, the Too Dumb to Live actions of the characters, and the overall plot makes for some fine cheese.
• Special Effects Failure: It's a B Movie made on a small budget, so this was bound to happen. Many of the effects just don't sell.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: According to composer Carlo Maria Cordio, the music in the popcorn scene was intended as an homage to Joe Cocker's cover of "You Can Leave Your Hat On".
• Took the Bad Film Seriously:
  • Best Worst Movie reveals the director Claudio Fragasso, screenwriter Rossella Drudi and actress Margo Prey (who played the mom) all continue to take the film seriously. Fragasso bristles at the ironic cult following the film has achieved, while Prey compares the film to Casablanca. A horror critic in the same documentary claims that this is exactly why the movie is So Bad, It's Good; just like Ed Wood, there is a very palpable artistic sincerity from the filmmakers. If it had been cynically done as a cash-grab, it would have failed.
  • Robert Ormsby as Grandpa Seth gives the film's only performance that isn't hammy, stilted, or hammy and stilted.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Hoo boy. Between the hairdos, the gaudy neon & pastel wardrobes, the digital Synth-Pop soundtrack (some of which is just stock demo tracks on a loop), and the wide array of analog technology, Troll 2 becomes a vivid time capsule of middle-class American life at the end of the 80s and the very start of the 90s.
• Watch It for the Meme: The film's cult largely happened because of Memetic Mutation. People were naturally curious to watch the whole film to see what exactly the context was for things like "they're eating her!"

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