In this ultra-cheapo Italian knock-off a little boy tries to warn his family and friends that the evil trolls his late grandfather used to tell him about are real. Unfortunately, no one believes him and he and his sister are sent to the enigmatic town of Nilbog where nightmarish things begin to happen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
disliked it.
There are plenty of lousy horror movies out there, but few are as hypnotically awful as Troll II. Despite a basic level of technical professionalism, this is a movie that manages to fall apart on every level -- the story is nonsensical, the dialogue is tin-eared, the acting is even worse, the direction is ham-fisted, and the effects are of the joke-store-rubber-mask variety. That said, at least Troll II manages to infuse its badness with plenty of twisted personality. The story functions at a deranged dream-logic level, with a tone that frequently shifts from kid-friendly to pure nastiness. It also stops for weird moments of self-satirizing humor, like the town witch seducing a teen by getting him to munch on an ear of corn -- which makes it burst with popcorn!. The surreal nature of Troll II's ineptitude is cemented by the horrible (yet totally sincere and straight-faced) performances of its amateur cast, particularly Deborah Reed as the aforementioned town witch: she indulges in the kind of mugging that hasn't been seen since the days of silent filmmaking. In short, Troll II is likely to baffle most viewers, but brave film fanatics who enjoy bad cinema at its craziest will find it fascinating in the worst kind of way. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide