On Sunday night, Oct. 31, 2021, Top of Utah dwellers can watch the Utah-made cult film, "Troll 2." It's at The Monarch in Ogden, 445 25th Street. The film starts at 8 p.m. and is part of this year's 9Rails Film Festival. The Monarch opens at 7 p.m. Watching "Troll 2" is free, but it's a festival, and a lot is going on. There will be food for sale, a silent auction, a costume contest, lots of stuff to purchase, including art associated with Troll 2. After the film, one of the actors, Utah's Darren Ewing, will take questions from viewers. 9Rails had a previous festival for another Utah-helmed film, "Plan 10 From Outer Space."
"Troll 2" was filmed as "Goblin" more than 30 years ago with an Italian film crew in Morgan County with then-mostly inexperienced actors. Released quietly to video as "Troll 2," (it's not a sequel to the 1985 film "Troll," though) it slowly gained a cult following for its bizarre dialogue, outlandish plot and sheer enjoyment value. It involves a vacationing family, and a few others, discovering they have entered a town, Nilbog, full of murderous vegetarian Goblins, masquerading a humans. They want to feed the "Nilbog" milk and mostly green food to our protagonists; the better to make them plant-like and ready to consume. The film is so much fun and resulted in a well-regarded documentary, "Best Worst Movie," about the film, its characters and its steady cult following. It was directed by Michael Paul Stephenson, who played in "Troll 2," and actors George Hardy, and Ewing, were part of the documentary. You can watch "Best Worst Movie" on Tubi.
Here is our Plan9Crunch blog review. Hope readers will enjoy the film as much as we do. The three pieces of original art are from local artist Steve D. Stones.
Plan9Crunch review by Steve D. Stones
Ever see a movie so bad that it actually improves with each viewing? If you haven’t, I would highly recommend that you watch "Troll II." If your viewing experience doesn’t get better with each viewing, you may need to increase your dosage of Prozac, or just simply lighten up a little and relax.
After all, "Troll II" is just a little movie filmed in rural Morgan, Utah where the cows outnumber the local citizens 10 to one. In the case of "Troll II," the Goblins outnumbered the local citizens for several weeks of filming during the summer of 1989.
At the time of filming, a street sign was put up, changing the city to: NILBOG. What I wouldn’t give or pay to have this sign in my movie memorabilia collection! I would even trade a double-decker pastrami sandwich with all the works, hold the mayo and mustard please.
The Goblins in the film might not take too kindly to this trade, since they are vegetarians who sweat green and eat anything green. Young Michael Stephenson even saves the day in the film with a cold cut bologna sandwich, which repels the Goblins from eating him. My favorite scene in the film is when Michael Stephenson approaches a mirror to talk to the spirit of his Grandpa Seth, and ask for his protection and guidance against the Goblins that have him and his family trapped in a house.
A Goblin immediately jumps out of the mirror attacking Stephenson. Grandpa Seth appears with an ax, cutting off the left hand of the Goblin. The Goblin then jumps backwards through the broken mirror, and the scene cuts to Creedence Leonore Gielgud, the Goblin Queen, screaming in pain in her Goblin lair of a run down old church. She tries to heal her severed arm by shoving it into the crevice of a glowing magic rock.
The expression on the Goblin Queen’s face, played by Deborah Reed, is priceless, and worth the effort to watch or own the film. A later scene has Reed trying to seduce a teenage boy in a motor home with a cob of corn. She is dressed in a sexy black gown with black nylons and high heels, similar to Elvira, Mistress of The Dark. I don’t know about you, but I have a soft spot for those sexy raven-haired women dressed in black. Come to me Creedence Leonore Gielgud, sexy Goblin Queen!!
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