Hooray, It Stinks!

Troll 2 was a quickie, no-budget horror movie starring a group of unblooded American actors, directed and crewed by a group of Italians, and featuring no actual trolls. It was terrible, but such a pungent and intoxicating variety of terrible that a cult following sprang up around it. How does something like Troll 2, infamous for its vegetarian goblins, lackluster special effects and bizarre scene of a young man urinating on the family dinner table, come to be? Michael Stephenson set out with camera in hand to uncover the truth. Perhaps he had to — he was the young man who stood upon that table twenty years ago and whizzed all over dinner in the name of cinema. Best Worst Movie is Stephenson's documentary about the strange love people have for something unintentionally terrible. Featuring interviews with most of the cast, as well as with director Claudio Fragasso (who neither accepts nor appreciates claims that Troll 2 is the worst film ever made), Best Worst Movie stars George Hardy, Troll 2's leading-man-turned-dentist, as defacto tour guide. Best Worst Movie screens at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday, July 16, at the Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-995-6270 or www.bestworstmovie.com), with members of the cast and crew in attendance. Tickets are $7 to $9, and Troll 2 screens at midnight on Friday and Saturday (July 16 and 17) at the Tivoli Theatre if you'd like to relive the film after reliving the memories. Best Worst Movie screens with the benefit of cast and crew daily through Thursday, July 22.
July 16-22, 2010