Troll 2

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Yes. Yes, it was.
"They're eating her. And then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD."
—Arnold

Troll 2 is a 1990 In Name Only sequel to the 1986 B-movie, Troll. Note that throughout the movie, not a single troll appears in the film, nor is the word "troll" spoken once. There are two different films called Troll 3, and neither have anything to do with either Troll or Troll 2. (Except maybe the mask in Quest For The Mighty Sword.)

Here's the movie in a nutshell:

The Waits family (no relation) goes to a village called Nilbog, who are unaware that the townsfolk are actually trolls goblins; specifically, 'vegetarians', who would try to get their vic... guests, to eat their all-vegetable food, which would turn their victims into a "half man, half plant" troll goblin food. It is up to the Waits' son, Joshua, who can communicate with his dead grandpa, Seth, to save his family from the trolls goblins before his family becomes troll Goblin Chow.

Troll 2 has been dubbed the "Best Worst Movie Ever Made" by its fans and has gained a cult following over the years. Little Joshua grew up and made a documentary about the movie and its fan base.

A planned sequel titled Troll 2, Part 2 is currently in Development Hell due to lack of funding.

Tropes used in Troll 2 include:

"That's the point. Goblins don't need to justify their cruel acts. They're evil creatures."

  • And I Must Scream: Arnold is unable to move or speak when he is turned into a plant.
  • Artifact Title
  • Aside Glance: Credence does a very slooooow and overdramatic one of these.
  • As You Know: When Mrs. Waits is talking to Joshua at the beginning, she feels to need to mention that Grandpa Seth was her father.
  • Awesome McCoolname: Credence Leonore Gielgud (of ancient Druid origins!).
    • Her ancestors came from Stonehenge!
    • Sheriff Gene Freak.
  • Badass Grandpa: Being dead doesn't stop Grandpa from stopping time, throwing lightning bolts, chopping Goblins up with an axe or making molotov cocktails.
  • Baleful Polymorph: Arnold becomes a plant.
    • Well, half-plant, really. He still maintains most of his human properties, even if his abilities as a human becomes limited, like bark growing over his mouth and his legs grown stuck into a plant pot, but he definitely still has enough human traits to be able to be aware of his surroundings, and once the bark covering his mouth is removed, speak. It's pretty hilarious to see him being pulled out from the house stiff as a stick by the pot.
  • Big OMG: And watch for a fly that appears on Arnold's forehead.
  • Body Horror
  • Camp: Oh, god, the camp. There are two things people use as the best example for camp: Silver Age Batman and this.
  • Comically Missing the Point: The trolls goblins themselves, who claim to be vegetarians despite the fact that they apparently feed by killing and eating animals - the human animal, specifically.
    • Apparently the reason why they don't eat meat is because they're incapable of digesting it (which suggests a more appropriate term would be "herbivore"), rather than any ethical concerns. Of course, since the film was designed to be a Take That against vegetarians, it does undermine that intention quite severely, since only a tiny minority of vegetarians stay off of meat because of health reasons rather than ethical ones.
      • The sermon their minister gives seems to imply they find carnivory somewhat abhorrent, which seems to be indicative of an extreme case of Blue and Orange Morality.
  • Can Only Move the Eyes: Arnold, when he's paralyzed by Creedence, and later gets turned into a plant.
  • Cassandra Truth: Joshua telling his dad about how the people were really Goblins who wanted to turn him into a plant so they could eat him.
  • Corrupt Hick: They appear, with the added kicker that the evil townsfolk are also goblins in disguise.
  • Cruel Twist Ending: The ending seems to have been an attempt at this. It was a bit too nonsensical to really be effective.
  • Dead Person Conversation: the very first scene.
  • Depraved Bisexual: Creedence.
  • Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off: Spoofed. The dad initially seems like he's going to beat Joshua, but instead tightens his belt.
    • Some viewers initially thought that he was going to pee on Joshua. Squick.
  • Double Aesop:
    • Family-Unfriendly Aesop: Vegetarians are evil.
    • The woman who wrote the script (Director Claudio Fergasso's wife) apparently got the idea by being annoyed at how many of her friends had recently become vocally vegetarian. Take that as you will.
      • If you want to have sex get rid of your friends.
    • Fantastic Aesop: Only the power of goodness can defeat the trolls goblins.
      • Of course, a double decker baloney sandwich always helps.
  • Downer Ending
  • Dull Surprise: Arnold's reaction to being turned into a plant.
  • Enter Stage Window
  • Satiating Sandwich: "A double-decker bologna sandwich!"
  • Hollywood Darkness: When the family first arrives in Nilbog, Michael comments that the stores are closed because everyone's gone to bed for the night; the scene looks like it takes place at noon.
  • Human Resources: It's easy to miss it because the sound-mixing is poorly done, but Arnold gets turned into a milkshake and fed to Drew.
  • Incoming Ham: "This is myyyyyyyyyyyy house!"
  • Ironic Echo: "Do you want some, Joshua?"
  • It Makes Sense in Context: The ghost of the grandfather stops time to allow the protagonist to urinate on his family's dinner.
  • It May Help You on Your Quest: Grandpa Seth hands Joshua a double-decker baloney sandwich in the last 5 minutes of the film, saying "take this, and only use it when you really need it".
  • Landmark of Lore: Stonehenge
  • Large Ham: They may be vegetarians, but Creedence, the General Store Owner, and the Preacher are pretty hammy.
    • Hamminess in Joshua's family seems to come from the father's side.

You can't piss on hospitality. I WON'T ALLOW IT!

  • Magic Countdown: 30 seconds of frozen time last for close to a minute of screen time.
  • Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: Whoa boy. Just to start with, the scene where the grandfather stops time was never set up, and this ability was never spoken of again; it'd be a Non Sequitur Scene, except that it's crucial to the plot.
  • Names to Run Away From Very Fast: "I'm Sheriff Gene Freak."
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Grandpa Seth can come back from the dead, freeze time, and summon the power of lightning, whenever it is convenient to do so.
  • Non-Indicative Name
  • Not Using the T Word: They're goblins, not trolls.
  • Obviously Evil: None of the goblins disguised as humans make any attempt to act non-suspicious.
  • Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: The upcoming Troll 2: Part 2.
  • Our Goblins Are Wickeder
  • Planimal: The goblins turn people into edible plantmen, because they are vegetarians.
  • Plot Hole: Unsurprisingly there are several, mostly in regards to characters having information they shouldn't have or going places they should have no reason to go to. For instance, why did Joshua wander into the Barn where the sermon was being held?
  • Posthumous Character: Grampa
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: Don Packard's performance as the demented, creepy, slightly schizophrenic store owner? Yeah... at the time of this "performance", Don Packard was living at an insane asylum, being treated for schizophrenia. He was on a day pass when he was found by the producers, cast in the part, and filmed all his lines all in one afternoon... and then he returned to the asylum to continue his treatment. Packard himself says of his performance, "That's not me acting... I was really that crazy." (He has since been able to control his schizophrenia through medication.)
  • Sacred Hospitality: You can't piss on it. I WON'T ALLOW IT!
  • Sdrawkcab Name: "Nilbog! It's goblin spelled backwards! This is their kingdom!" It's the picture on that page for a reason.
  • Sinister Minister: Yeah, so it turns out that goblins are evangelical Protestants.
  • Stuffed Into the Fridge: The goblins eat the mom and then offer some to Joshua. That's cold.
  • There's No B in Movie: The guys are all sitting around watching a movie about a crystal-stealing gorilla with rocket powers.
  • Time Stands Still: Grandpa Seth can freeze time.
  • To Serve Man: The goblins act nice to the Waits, but plan to turn them into green vegetable jelly and eat them.
  • Veganopia: Subverted in that this probably the first ever depiction of an outright evil vegan society.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Brent and Drew both disappear abruptly from the film without explanation. It's implied that the goblins ate Drew, after he ate a sandwich from Sheriff Gene Freak (yes, that's his name), drank a bit of Nilbog milk ("High in vitamin content!") and then was presumably forcefed a milkshake made of Arnold. Brent was supposed to be transformed into popcorn, but it was so badly executed it just looked like he had some very weird sex.
  • You Can Leave Your Hat On: The very song is used in the infamous Corn Scene.
  • You Keep Using That Word: The goblins are supposedly 'vegetarians'...who, rather than, say, growing plants and eating them, turn people into plant-things and then eat them. How this is different from just eating meat is never really explained. Presumably, they're vegetarians for health reasons, not ethical ones. Once a person is turned enough toward being a plant, they can be healthily consumed, apparently. Must be less cholesterol.
    • Or they're oathbound against consuming flesh. But for magical, possibly-fey creatures, health concerns and oathbinding might not be so different.
  • You Make Me Sic:

Seth: These evil creatures can transform themselves into flesh-and-blood people whenever and however they want.
Joshua: You're making a mistake, Grandpa. You said they can. You should have said they could or what kind of fairy tale is it?
Seth: They can! They can! Goblins still exist! Your Grandpa Seth is telling you!

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