Best Worst Movie (2009) To fully enjoy this fascinating documentary, you'd certainly need to have viewed the infamous, woebegone horror film "Troll 2".....(which BQ covered in yesterday's post).
Directed by one of 'Troll 2"s principal stars Michael Paul Stephenson, "Best Worst Movie" casts an incisive, sometimes brutal eye on the lives of the fledgling amateur actors who found themselves cast in an Italian-produced and directed movie......filmed in their home state of Utah.
As odd as "Italian produced and directed movie in Utah" sounds as a phrase, the end result was even crazier.....filled with fractured, failed attempts at English dialogue delivered with painful embarrassment by its cast, "Troll 2" was an epic fail in every single element of filmmaking......(again I'd recommend you take the time to see the film or read yesterday's post.......cause I don't think I can stomach writing descriptions of this movie again. )
And then something remarkable happened......
"Troll 2" in all its maladroit, unintentionally funny glory, was adopted and embraced by horror fans who reveled in and roared with laughter at the film's clueless incompetence.
In short, a new cult hit was reborn from its own ashes and its obscure, anonymous cast members and its Italian creators found themselves swept up into a sort of cheerful infamy.......which some of them enjoyed more than others.....
Front and center in "Best Worst Movie" is George Hardy, the ebullient dentist and "Troll 2" leading man who so thoroughly enjoys his fresh 15 minutes of fame...
A joyous extrovert who loves life in the spotlight, George's good humor and good sportsmanship about the ghastly "Troll 2" energizes and delights crowds of fans at midnight screenings. Other cast members appear along side him, also joining in the roasting of the film and their own appearances in it.
But not everyone celebrates the terribleness of the film.....director and co-writer Claudio Fragasso staunchly believed in the quality of his creation. Appalled at George and the cast's jokery at the expense of his movie, he heckles them at screenings, calling them 'dog actors'.....(which I can only guess was his idea of a withering insult....)
There are three wonderful and telling sequences in the documentary I don't want to miss mentioning....
First, a visit with cast member Margo Prey, reduced to living in a small seedy apartment caring for her aging, ailing mother. Unable to attend any "Troll 2" events, she's a sad vision of life ambitions thwarted....but briefly cheered when she and George recreate one of their laughably idiotic scenes together....much to the agony of Margo's ill mom.
Second, a bittersweet visit with elderly cast member Robert Ormsby, whose dislike of big cities prevented him from ever pursing his primary love of a professional acting career. A solitary, lonely lifelong bachelor, he sits in his cluttered home musing about a life 'frittered away'....a small, but heartrending self-revelation...
And third.....the effervescent George Hardy's unfortunate visit to a horror movie convention for hardcore fans, his first encounter with such an event. By this time, George's 15 minutes hit its expiration date - the fans, many of them outlandishly outfitted as their favorite horror creations, never heard of George or his movie......
Reduced to begging the attendees to take interest in the "Troll 2" merchandise table, George's unbreakable. buoyant good spirits finally wilt.....and his basic middle class Americana morality kicks in. Quickly becoming repulsed and appalled at the horror fanbase ignoring him, dentist George carps about their rampant gingivitis and clear lack of flossing.....one of "Best Worst Movie"s most indelible sequences.
Final word: for anyone who took the "Troll 2" plunge and watched the movie, BQ recommends you immediately follow it up with "Best Worst Movie".....a 4 star (****) deep dive into arguably the 'worst movie ever'...and everyone swept up in its wake.
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