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Troll takes place in San Francisco, preying on the residents of an apartment block, which is actually the enchanted gateway to the ancient world of Troll… not that they know it yet.
This is also the first time Harry Potter appeared onscreen… No, not Daniel Radcliffe, but the father and son (Noah Hathaway and Michael Moriarty) in this movie are both called Harry Potter. Harry Potter Sr also reviews books! I do hope this is not a coincidence with JK Rowling’s wizard world.
For another clear influence, Sonny Bono is a single man about town, who’s into swinging and has an apparent that *must* have been the inspiration for Glenn Quagmire in Family Guy!
As the whole family move into the block, the troll infects Wendy (Jenny Beck – yes, the annoying Elizabeth Maxwell from V), who then throws brother Harry Jr against a wall, and this does actually look rather painful. I’m quite sure that wouldn’t be allowed in these days of health and safety.
There’s such abysmal acting, but that’s half the fun with these schlock horor movies from the ’80s. It’s also the time when filmmakers had to make proper models and outfits, since Jurassic Park was 7 years away. When one person turns into a sort-of forest (it’ll make sense when you watch it), I’m sure the people responsible for part of that also made Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and Big Time videos! There’s certainly that feel, even if it wasn’t them. It’s done in a quite wonderful way, too.
The creature effects are absolutely brilliant and a must-see, and when the trolls even start singing, it’s bloody hilarious!
As an aside, it does feel a bit strange – such is the modern world – that 12-year-old Wendy spends so much time in the apartments of men. These days, you’d have the pitchfork mentality mob banging the door down in five minutes!
Finally, you just know the film is going to set up a sequel, which did happen in 1990, but which took place in a different city, that there’s a whole heap more to say about that, and you can read my Troll 2 review here.
The film is presented in the original theatrical widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 and, the picture is the image isn’t the greatest, but then such films won’t have been shot with the greatest equipment, either.
The audio is a 2.0 soundtrack, which would suggest stereo, but given that this is a low-budget film from 1986, I didn’t expect anything stand-out that would make use of it.
While I’ve put Troll 2 as a separate review, I’ll list all the extras in the boxset here, and they are fantastic. Note that the first three are on disc one alongside the two main movies, with all the others on disc 2:
- Troll Empire: The Making of Troll (50:07): Executive producer Charles Band takes the lead for talking about this movie, followed by screenwriter Ed Naha, director/creature designer John Carl Buechler, and then many others also weigh-in with their memories and opinons on the movie.
This is a lengthy ‘making of’ but, oddly, it isn’t chaptered.
- Troll Theatrical Trailer (2:46): In the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio, as is the next one.
- Troll 2 Theatrical Trailer (2:20): It does feel rather like a random bunch of scenes pasted together, rather than a typical trailer with a coherent narrative.
- Best Worst Movie (93:26): On set with the cast of Troll 2 in this ‘making of’ which is just two minutes shorter than the movie itself and, at 7.3/10 on IMDB as I type, this actually has a higher score than either of the two films!
Shot nine years after the movie, it begins with George Hardy (who plays the father of the movie, Michael Waits), who’s now a dentist, but who really should be old enough to know that drinking a mug of coffee, while driving a car, is not really a good idea. After that, it moves on to Connie Young, Michael Stephenson, then back to a lot of George as they have plenty of one-off screenings around the US, with a number of them completely packed out, but then there’s conventions where absolutely zero is happening.
Overall, this documentary was a great watch so if I was giving this a mark out of 10 on its own, it’d be a 7.
Also, with 11 chapters, this is actually better chaptered than either film, themselves!
- Deleted Scenes (63:05): Want a few extra interviews? Well, on this occasion, 13 is LUCKY for all!
I liked “Death by Convention” with one guy says he doesn’t like them because he tried to talk to “the guy who played Jason Vorhees in Friday The 13th Part 3” and how he looked like a bum asking for a quarter. I felt the same thing when I saw Chris Barrie at a convention and when someone came up to him to ask for a photo (which would’ve cost about £20!), he stood up, hitched up his trousers, sniffed the snot up his nose and sighed. He looked bored as hell! This is why I don’t pay money for things like that.
- Interview with Goblin Queen Deborah Reed (13:01): Ms Reed has such a sweet and soft voice, and doesn’t look like she’s aged at all!
- “Monsterous” music video (4:11): Clips and quotes from the film set to a rap beat with added lyrics, and it’s awesome!
- Trailer (2:11): For Best Worst Movie.
The menus on both discs static and silent, with pictures relating to the movies. Subtitles are in English for both films, and while Troll has 8 chapters, Troll 2 has 9. Both are lacklustre in that respect, though.
, but again, Eureka’s chaptering is so random and lacklustre. This time, the film is almost 2 hours long and there’s just 10 chapters. WHY?!! Oh, the number of times I talk about wanting one for every five minutes.
Troll and Troll 2: The Complete Collection is out now on Blu-ray.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
6 6 7 10 |
| OVERALL | BUY IT! |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 83 / 95 minutes
Year: 1986 / 1990
Cat no.: EKA70314
Distributor: Eureka
Released: October 8th 2018
Chapters: 8 / 9
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: 2.0 DTS HD Master Audio (Troll), LPCM Mono (Troll 2)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Widescreen: 1.85:1 (35mm)
Disc Format: 2*BD50
Director: John Carl Buechler
Producer: Albert Band
Screenplay: John Carl Buechler and Ed Naha
Music: Richard Band
Cast:
Harry Potter Jr: Noah Hathaway
Harry Potter Sr: Michael Moriarty
Anne Potter: Shelley Hack
Wendy Anne Potter: Jenny Beck
Peter Dickinson: Sonny Bono
Malcolm Mallory / Torok the Troll: Phil Fondacaro
William Daniels: Brad Hall
Young Eunice St. Clair: Anne Lockhart
Jeanette Cooper: Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Barry Tabor: Gary Sandy
Eunice St. Clair: June Lockhart
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.