Product Description
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In 1989, a group of unknown Utah actors starred in what would be
crowned the worst movie of all time: Troll 2. Now, after two
decades of running from this cinematic disaster, the cast can no
longer hide from the legion of followers who celebrate them for
their ineptitude.
BEST WORST MOVIE, directed by Troll 2's once-disgraced child
star, Michael Paul Stephenson, unravels the stories of these
unforgettable real-life characters and the colorful army of
devotees who continue to revel in the film's perfectly flawed
brilliance. At the center of this celebrated documentary is the
improbable story of a small-town Alabama
dentist-turned-cult-movie-icon, and an Italian filmmaker who
comes to terms (or doesn't) with his internationally revered
cinematic failure.
BEST WORST MOVIE is an affectionate and intoxicatingly fun
tribute to the single greatest bad movie ever made and the people
responsible for unleashing it on the world. The result is a
hilarious and tender offbeat journey that pays homage to lovers
of bad movies and the people who make them, while investigating a
deeper story about the strange nature of celebrity, the catharsis
of redemption and the humanity that exists in making even the
worst movie ever made.
DVD Features: Over an Hour of Exclusive Bonus Features Including:
Audio Commentary with the Filmmaker; Deleted Scenes and
Interviews
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Sometimes the past can come back to haunt you. In 1989, budding
child actor Michael Paul Stephenson got a leading role in a
movie. Unfortunately, that movie was Troll 2, an ultra-low-budget
filmed-in-three-weeks-in-Utah schlocker that went direct to
video. Nearly two decades later, thanks in part to broadcasts on
HBO, Troll 2 developed a maniacal cult following that continues
to pack theaters across the country for midnight screenings. Who
were these people? Why had they embraced this particular bad
movie? And what impact did the film's newfound cult status have
on the people who made it, some of whom do not include it on
their résumés? "This is my movie about that movie," Stephenson
states, and it is by turns an affectionate, funny, and
heartrending exploration of the Troll 2 phenomenon. Stephenson
wisely focuses on George Hardy, the film's "star" and most
prominent goodwill ambassador. The glad-handing Hardy is now a
well-liked dentist in a small Alabama town. His life is upended
when he begins to be recognized ("Stop watching right now," he
urges a friend who calls mid-broadcast, "It only gets worse") and
he hits the road to join his reunited cast members to reminisce,
re-create the film's most ludicrous scenes, and meet and greet
wildly enthusiastic fans. Best Worst Movie takes an unexpectedly
poignant turn during a visit with Margo Prey, who portrays the
mother in the film, and now lives reclusively and cannot bring
herself to take part in Troll 2-mania. More cringe-worthy is the
film's Italian director, who insists his is an important film
(his wife, who wrote it, calls it "a ferocious analysis of
today's society") and begins to resent the audiences' mocking
laughter. As one genre buff observes, his sincerity may be why
Troll 2 lives on. "Like Ed Wood," he says, "These people believed
in what they were making." --Donald Liebenson