BEST WORST MOVIE

title: BEST WORST MOVIE
year: 2010
cast: George Hardy, Michael Stephenson, Margo Prey, Connie Young, Darren Ewing, Jason Steadman, Claudio Fragasso, Rosella Drudi, James M. Tate
director: Michael Stephenson
rating: ***1/2

A film in which I appear, as one of many fan/fanatics of the 1990 so-bad-it's-good horror flick TROLL2 (having written an unofficial sequel script), this documentary glosses over yesteryear's making of this amazingly terrible but hilariously engrossing gem while centering primarily on today's George Hardy, who played the patriarch of the "Waits" family who, swapping homes with a local "Nilbog" clan, battles the town's residents: a horde of goblins, not trolls. Hardy, a successful dentist in Alabama, got the role while practicing in Utah - the rest is history. The documentary, helmed by a mostly camera-obscured Michael Stephenson... who played "Joshua", the child actor who starred in the film... follows George at home: then as he greets fans at screenings across America, including an unsuccessful attempt at an autograph show overseas. While it's fun seeing (most of the) fellow cast members laughing about their past, it's Italian director Claudio Fragasso who steals the show as the essential antagonist... he's not sure why his movie's considered so bad, while Hardy and Stephenson embrace this phenomenon, using this documentary as an outlet: with captivating results.