“Troll” is another one of those cheesy 80s horror/fantasy films that were popular at the time. Another film that was following in the footsteps of the highly successful, Stephen Spielberg produced, “Gremlins” although on a much smaller budget. “Troll” goes heavy into the mystical fairytale elements and rather light on the actual horror.
This is the story of your average American family moving into an apartment building in San Francisco only to find some bizarre inhabitants both human and otherwise. First of all, I have to mention that the father's name is Harry Potter and he is a book reviewer, mind you this was about five years before J.K. Rowling came up with the main character for her book series. Coincidence? His son is also named Harry Potter Jr. and is played by Noah Hathaway, the kid from another classic 80s fantasy “The Never Ending Story”. Harry Jr’s little sister Wendy looks exactly like the character Carol Anne from the Poltergeist movies. She is also the first person to interact with the Troll when she loses her striped ball in the downstairs laundry room. She is taken hostage as the Troll shape shifts to look like her and rejoins the family. This sweet little girl then turns into a crazy rage monster (figuratively speaking). She also now has a big green ring on her finger that she will use to collect her future victims.
The third act of this film makes you rethink a lot of your life choices, especially why you are watching this movie. It’s full of bizarre low-budget filmmaking with bad lighting effects, hammy acting, and a heaping serving of what the hell? Obviously, this is not a great movie or even good for that matter, but for some people, it's just the kind of campy movie that you grew up with and look back at with a certain sense of nostalgia. Oh, and the sequel, well that’s a whole other kind of crazy.