Troll (1986)

Director:

John Carl Buechler

Writers:

John Carl Buechler (story)
Ed Naha (writer)

Release Date:

17 January 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror

Tagline:

Come closer...

Plot:

A wicked troll king in search of a mystical ring that will return him to his human form invades a San Francisco apartment complex where a powerful witch lives.

Plot Keywords:

Tiki Mug | Blonde | Tiki | Possession | Vine

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Noah Hathaway	...	Harry Potter Jr.
Michael Moriarty	...	Harry Potter Sr.
Shelley Hack	...	Anne Potter
Jenny Beck	...	Wendy Anne Potter
Sonny Bono	...	Peter Dickinson
Phil Fondacaro	...	Malcolm Mallory / Torok the Troll
Brad Hall	...	William Daniels
Anne Lockhart	...	Young Eunice St. Clair
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	...	Jeanette Cooper
Gary Sandy	...	Barry Tabor
June Lockhart	...	Eunice St. Clair
Robert Hathaway	...	First Policeman
James Beck	...	Policeman #2
Dale Wyatt	...	Dickinson's girlfriend
Barbara Sciorilli	...	Fairy

Runtime:

82 min | USA:30 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

Danish | English

Color:

Color | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M (DVD rating) | Australia:PG | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2004) | UK:15 (original rating) | USA:PG-13 | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Italy

Company:

Altar Productions

Trivia:

The picture of Galwyn in his human form (before being turned into a mushroom) that Eunice St. Clair shows to Harry Potter Jr. is in reality a caricature of the film's director, John Carl Buechler.

Goofs:

Continuity: A small Tiki statue which is knocked over as Barry and the Troll fight over the baseball bat rights itself.

Quotes:

Harry Potter Sr.: Honey? Did you do a lot of drugs before we were married?

Movie Connections:

References Parasite (1982)

Soundtrack:

Summertime Blues

more corny than scary

I don't like scary movies, so when I saw they Shelley Hack was going to be in this one, I figured it was going to be a good choice. I was right. She looked good, and that was about all.

On the Witches' Sabbath, Harry and Anne Potter and their children Wendy and Harry Jr. move into an apartment building where a number of quirky people live. Wendy goes into the laundry room and meets Torok, an evil-looking creature. Harry Jr. goes into the same laundry room but doesn't see Torok because, using a green ring, he has the ability to change his appearance.

The experience of running into Torok is apparently very traumatic for Wendy. While not exactly Linda Blair in 'The Exorcist' (I've only seen clips from that one, and that's all I want to see), she does worry her parents quite a bit. Meanwhile, residents of the building start disappearing mysteriously.

Jenny Beck was wonderful as Wendy, and she appeared to be having a good time acting in a way kids can only fantasize about behaving. Phil Fondacaro also gave a very good performance as Malcolm, an English professor who was shorter than young Wendy and became her friend. The movie's most memorable scene is one between the two of them that seemed out of place in a movie like this but made sense later. Fondacaro also appeared in the credits as the troll, who was more adorable than scary, a quality you could see in his eyes (which must have been Fondacaro's). Anne Lockhart also did well as the mysterious Eunice, who lived upstairs and became Harry Jr.'s friend. As for Sonny Bono's performance as a not-so-suave ladies man, I think he made the right choice going into politics, because his talents in government are well-documented (though I liked him a lot when he performed with Cher and in many other TV appearances).

This movie may be a little too scary for young children, but the various monsters still had a cartoonish quality about them. Overall, the movie was more comedy than horror, though toward the end horror would describe it better.

It's not a bad movie, really.