Originally, I was going to post about Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Since, however, I was going to use the subject of this documentary as a contrast, perhaps I should explain for those of you unfamiliar with it.
The student owes me 95 minutes of my life back. Or he can watch Bloody Mallory and we'll be even. In 2007, he talked me into watching Troll 2. If he does watch Bloody Mallory, I'm not sure which of us will be getting the better deal. On the one hand Troll 2 has a 2.3 star rating, and Bloody Mallory has a 4.4, on the other hand, typing in "Troll" on the search bar will get you Troll 2 as the second suggestion, whereas you can type in the entire "Bloody Mallory" and it still won't suggest it.
What can you say about the movie Rotten Tomatoes gave a 0 rating? The title of the documentary (directed by the star of the film, Michael Stephenson) says it all. It is in fact, the best worst movie.
I've seen a lot of trash in my time as a movie fan. Most is so bad that I only watch it on the general principle that I always watch movies I start to the end (Although I will admit that I have given up on three). This is a movie, however, that is so bad that apparently some people like it. A lot. During the documentary, they had several screenings that sold out. There are Troll 2 parties (including one in the Green Zone, Iraq). At one point, someone referred to it as The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the Myspace generation.
Spoiler alert
The basic premise is that vegetarian (the writer was mad at her friends turning vegetarian) goblins (yes, the title says "troll," but they are actually goblins) are turning people into plants so they can eat them. A family on vacation, being trailed by the daughter's boyfriend and a couple fellow students, go out for a visit to the country in a town called Nilbog, apparently because the writer was channeling Stephen King ("Ahh! 'Nilbog' is 'Goblin' spelled backward!").
Anyway, with help from his dead grandfather's ghost, the preteen son fights them off with a Molotov cocktail and a double-decker bologna sandwich. Don't ask about the sandwich: it's never explained.
Of course, once they get home, the boy's mother gets eaten.
End spoilers
The best part is that the director actually thought he was making a hit movie (come to think of it, I know a director like that). Everybody on the set did. Most have since come to grips with the fact that it was atrocious, although one actress and the entire production crew are still insisting that it's a serious and, in fact, great movie. The director, who was livid for the majority of the documentary, is planning a sequel.
For those of the cast who could appreciate the true horror of the film-the total lack of production value-the filming of the documentary seemed to be enjoyable. They got into it, although by the end, the number of screenings had taken their toll. While I cannot give the original film any stars, the documentary is well worth watching.
