Reviews: Troll (1986) Movie Review
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Subgenres: Creatures, Mutants, Sci-Fi
Our take on Troll (1986) explores its plot, scares, and horror highlights to help fans decide if it deserves a place on their watchlist.
Troll (1986) is a dark cult fantasy horror movie that is not related to Troll 2 (1990) and Troll 3 (1993). Troll was poorly directed by John Carl Buechler (Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), Bride of Re-Animator (1989), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)) who was a new director at the time. John directed 13 movies after his failed attempt at Troll, and all 13 movies did not receive a score of above a five. John is in the process of directing Hidden Valley the Awakening (2015) and Wizardream (2014) that I am not anticipating seeing. Troll is a PG-13 movie, so it is safe for all viewers.
Troll begins with a little girl named Wendy (Jenny Beck - Guns of Paradise (1988), Tightrope (1984), The Canterville Ghost (1985)) unpacking her boxes in her new bedroom in an apartment in San Francisco. A wizard that was turned into a troll a very long time ago attacked Wendy with his scary features. The wizard/troll (Phil Fondacaro - Star Wars: Episode VI - The Return of the Jedi (1983), Willow (1988), The Polar Express (2004), Land of the Dead (2005)) used a green magical ring to transform his body into Wendy’s and therefore possessing her body. Wendy’s family notices that Wendy has changed drastically since they moved. She began punching people in their private area, biting people, throwing people across the room, and other strange behaviors. Everyone blames her odd behavior on the move as being too stressful for her. Her brother Harry Potter Jr. (Noah Hathaway - The NeverEnding Story (1984), Sushi Girl (2012), Battlestar Galactica (1978)) knows that something is definitely wrong with his sister and it is not the move.
Harry Jr. became friends with an old lady Eunice St. Clair (June Lockhart - Lost in Space (1965), General Hospital (1963), Petticoat Junction (1963)), who is a witch that lives in his apartment building. Eunice told Harry Jr. a story of herself of when she was younger and in love with a wizard named Torok (Phil Fondacaro) and of a magical hidden place/world. She told Harry Jr. the real reason she is staying in the same apartment building as Torok the troll. Meanwhile, Torok the troll is now using Wendy’s body and his powers to turn the people in the building into mythical creatures, one by one.
The movie was an okay watch considering it was made in 1986, and the director had no experience whatsoever. I would advise everyone to stay clear of all of John Carl Buechler movies that he directed. He is also an actor, makeup artist, special effects person, writer, producer, and other fields in the movie industry. The movie storyline had plot holes, okay actors, terrible special effects; makeup was done not so neatly and the set was below average.
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Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Troll Rating Scores
- Our Score: 4/10
- Overall Score: 3.70/10
- IMDB: 4.6/10
- MetaCritic: 3.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 3.0/10
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