Review: "Best Worst Movie" - Also known as, "You Can't Piss On Hospitality, I Won't Allow It"

     About two weeks ago, I posted about my viewing of Troll 2, which was probably the most abhorrent film ever made in any genre.  Yesterday I finally got the chance to see the documentary about the making of Troll 2, called Best Worst Movie, directed by Michael Stephenson, who coincidentally played the main character in Troll 2 as a kid.  

    

     Overall, I really thought this documentary was put together well.  It was well paced, and was set up to intrigue us, not bore us.  It mostly centered around a guy in Alabama named George Hardy, who acted almost 17 years ago in Troll 2 (He played Stephenson's father).  He's a dentist that runs a successful practice today, but slowly he discovers this amazing cult following this awful movie has obtained over the years.  From dive movie theaters in Los Angeles to hipsters' houses in New York, people line up and down streets to see this movie and get a face-to-face conversation with the cast.  George Hardy speaks candidly about how ashamed he is of his performance in the movie (he was probably the worst actor of the bunch - just god-awful)l; in fact, many of the cast describes how "horrified" and "confused" they were after they saw themselves in the film for the first time on TV about a year after production wrapped up.  Most of them joke about it today.

     That's as best a segue into what I didn't really like about this film.  And actually, it was what I didn't expect more than anything.  This documentary takes a really depressing turn towards the last third of the movie.  You see how some cast members literally went crazy after making this film.  And don't even get me started on how batshit insane the Italian director who made Troll 2 is.  What a jerk-off.  I would never work with such an arrogant, bossy producer.  It's also interesting to see the change in George Hardy, as he starts to really get into the cult-like movement that his film created, and almost becomes ego-tisical and saturated in himself.

     More than anything, this documentary examines how almost two decades later, this film's endearing qualities of being the "best worst movie" has won out.  Director Michael Stephenson is clearly better at producing movies than being a 9 year old boy screaming into camera lenses.  Congrats to you Michael, looks like you made something you can be proud of.   Also, there was a hint that Troll 3 may be on the way....Dear God.