Troll

The Potter family has just moved to a rented apartment in San Francisco. Harry Potter Sr. (Michael Moriarty) and his wife Anne (Shelley Hack) are bringing the packages to the apartment and their son Harry Jr. (Noah Hathaway) and their little daughter Wendy Anne (Jenny Beck) stays on the sidewalk. Wendy goes to the laundry room, she meets the wicked troll Torok (Phil Fondacaro) that uses his magic ring to possess Wendy and to use her form to transform the dwellers and their apartment into other trolls and his kingdom. Harry Jr. feels that something is wrong with his sister and seeks out help with the good witch Eunice St. Clair (June Lockhart) that lives in the building.

"Troll" is another lame movie of creatures in the 80's but also a cult- movie. Michael Moriarty in the role of Harry Potter Sr. is so ridiculous that becomes funny. The symphony of the creatures singing in troll language is one of the best moments of this movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Troll"

This is a ridiculous fantasy/horror hybrid from Empire Pictures. Michael Moriarty stars as Harry Potter (!) who moves into an old apartment building with his wife (Shelley Hack) and two kids (Noah Hathaway and Jenny Beck). The young daughter finds a magical ring in the basement that unleashes the evil troll Torok, who begins to wreak magical mayhem among the various tenants. The bizarre supporting cast includes Sonny Bono, June Lockhart, Gary Sandy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brad Hall, Anne Lockhart, and Phil Fondacaro in two roles.

This is really silly stuff, and the attempts at menace and suspense fall flat. The movie does hold a strange fascination though, as you don't know what's coming next. There are a lot of special effects, but most of them aren't very special. The scene of Julia Louis-Dreyfus dancing around nearly naked, wrapped in ivy like a wood nymph, is one she must be proud of. I watched in amazement as Michael Moriarty danced badly while listening to Blue Cheer's cover of "Summertime Blues". I also think it's interesting that this film involves a young boy named Harry Potter (Jr.) who learns of a secret world of magic. Did Troll inspire J.K. Rowling? Only the gods know for sure.

And finally some thoughts on Michael Moriarty's ponderous career decisions - He plays the leads in films like this and the equally campy "Island of the Alive", then lands a lead spot on a popular and critically acclaimed show - Law and Order - and then walks away (or was fired depending on who you talk to) after four seasons because of some paranoid delusions concerning Janet Reno? His loss was Sam Waterston's gain.

I'd watch this only to see actors not normally associated with this kind of modern B film.

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.

They play TROLL on TV every once and awhile and like a train wreck, its hard to look away. Its so bad its almost good. Almost. But not quite. What can you really say about an '80s film that boasts both Sonny Bono and Julia "Elaine from Seinfeld" Louis Dreyfuss??? The casting here is so strange that it reels the mind. Noah "NeverEnding Story" Hathaway?? Shelly Hack?? In short, a boy finds a mysterious land o' TROLLs in the basement of his new apartment building. The TROLLS are cheesy to be sure and the whole thing is silly,I guess. But there is something endearing about watching a little boy rescue his cute little sister who suddenly growls and bites people, something weird about watching June Lockhart play with her pet singing mushroom right before she morphs into a total blonde, buxom she-babe. I even love the friendly little dwarf man! TROLL is cheesy but in an inoffensive fun way, unlike it's sequel TROLL 2 which is a terrible cult classic that is painful to watch.

I rather liked this one a bit, though I can see from its score that I am in the minority in my opinion. Though at least most can agree this one is a lot better than the sequel. This movie has a family moving into a new apartment complex. Very quickly the little girl is taken by the title character and he takes her place. Throughout the movie the troll disguised as the little girl moves from one apartment to the next turning each room into a seemingly new dimension or something. The girl's brother has his suspicious and teams with this old woman to figure things out. The old woman seems to know a lot and she looks a lot better with her hair down. Soon the entire apartment becomes part of this world the troll is creating and the boy must finish it off because the old lady just is not in the position to help at the end. Rather fanciful and interesting...nothing to take to seriously, but I thought it was a rather good story and movie.