The Potter family; Harry (Larry Cohen regular Michael Moriarty, The Stuff) and Anne (former Charlie’s Angel Shelley Hack) along with their children Harry Jr. (Noah Hathaway, Battlestar Galactica, The Neverending Story) and Wendy Anne (Jenny Beck, the ‘80s V franchise) move into their new abode; an apartment building in San Francisco (though this was filmed in Italy… though we do get a fun matte painting of the Golden Gate bridge).
As most apartment buildings in films are, this domicile is filled with crazy characters (besides Moriarty) such as Eunice St. Clair… a feisty elderly witch (the original Lost in Space’s June Lockhart… played in younger form by her daughter Anne… who was also in Battlestar Galactica) and her pet mushroom creature, a yuppie couple (real-life married duo Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seinfeld and Saturday Night Live’s Brad Hall), a swinger (Sonny Bono of all people), a military/big game obsessed health nut (WKRP in Cincinnati’s Gary Sandy)… and an evil Troll named Torok (Phil Fondacaro, The Black Cauldron) secretly living in the basement.
Soon ol’ Torok has lured Wendy Anne into his clutches and used his magic ring to make himself look like her… after which he begins turning the apartments into forests and their denizens into fairy tale creatures and it’s up to Harry Jr. and his newfound witch pal to put an end to Torok’s storybook terraforming?!
I absolutely adore anything Charles Band’s pre-Full Moon studio Empire Pictures put out in the ‘80s… and Troll is no exception!
Directed by the late special effects maestro John Carl Buechler (Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood)… who co-wrote the picture along with Ed Naha (Dolls, C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud), Troll was originally conceived as a fright flick but what we ended up with is more bizarre fairy tale by way of a creature feature and it’s absolutely rad as fuck!
The practical effects present only enhance the enchanting atmosphere as we are treated to Ghoulies gone wild, a giant end boss of a foe, stop-motion foliage, and a titular creature that is iconic and expressive as all hell!
The reason for that is that incredible monster suit is filled by master thespian/Charles Band regular Phil Fondacaro (Disney’s The Black Cauldron, Willow) who pulls double duty here, both as the eponymous beastie, but as an English Professor who resides in the building.
Other spellbinding performances are given by both June and Anne Lockhart as the buildings resident witch with a royal, ancient past. These two are totally committed to the material at hand and they appear to be having the time of their lives… and of course you can expect another otherworldly performance from Moriarty who’s Summertime Blues dance has to be experienced to be believed!
Shedding light on Troll’s creation we are presented with a nearly hour-long “making of” featurette that goes into detail not only on the film’s creation but the behind-the-scenes action at Empire at the time!
Also included are an image gallery and the film’s theatrical trailer.
Full of horror adjacent fantasy and plenty of practical creature effects, Troll delivers for lovers of both creature features and urban fairy tales!
