Best Worst Movie (2009)

Director:

Michael Stephenson

Writers:

(more)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

The Story Behind The Worst Movie Ever Made - "Troll 2"

Plot:

A look at the making of the film Troll 2 (1990) and its journey from being crowned the "worst film of all time" to a cherished cult classic.

Plot Keywords:

Making Of | Italian | Filmmaker | Travel | Movie Fan

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

George Hardy	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor
Lily Hardy	...	Herself / Interviewee
Pita Ray	...	Herself / Interviewee
Micki Knox	...	Herself / Interviewee
Tommy Bice	...	Himself / Interviewee - Superintendent, Alexander City Schools
Lila Graves	...	Herself / Interviewee - George's Friend
Laura Gulledge	...	Herself / Interviewee - George's Friend
Merry Hardy	...	Herself / Interviewee - George's Ex-Wife
Barbara H. Young	...	Herself / Interviewee - Mayor of Alexander City
Mary Ann Hardy	...	Herself / Interviewee - George's Mother
Wade Jones	...	Himself / Interviewee - Convenience Store Owner
Bill Hardy	...	Himself / Interviewee - George's Father
Mollie Barrett	...	Herself / Interviewee - George's Sister
Michael Stephenson	...	Himself - Actor, Director (as Michael Paul Stephenson)
Jason Steadman	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor
Connie Young	...	Herself / Interviewee - Actress
Chris Pudlo	...	Himself / Interviewee
Jason Powell	...	Himself / Interviewee
Yen H. Lam	...	Herself
Dennis Ronk	...	Himself / Interviewee
Caitlin Crowley	...	Herself / Interviewee - Associate Director, Brattle Film Foundation
Curtis Gwinn	...	Himself / Interviewee - Comedian, Upright Citizens Brigade
John Gemberling	...	Himself / Interviewee - Comedian, Upright Citizens Brigade
Randall Colburn	...	Himself / Interviewee - B-Rated Movie Reviews
Timothy Marklevitz	...	Himself / Interviewee - B-Rated Movie Reviews
Scott Weinberg	...	Himself / Interviewee - Film Critic, Cinematical & Fearnet.com
Darren Ewing	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor
Jason Wright	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor
Zack Carlson	...	Himself / Interviewee - Programmer, Alamo Drafthouse
Tim League	...	Himself / Interviewee - Founder, Alamo Drafthouse
Jesse Hawthorne Ficks	...	Himself / Interviewee - Curator, Midnites for Maniacs
Peter Kuplowsky	...	Himself / Interviewee
Don Packard	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor
Kacper Radecki	...	Himself / Interviewee
Kris Lozanovski	...	Herself / Interviewee
Kelly Sepulveda	...	Herself / Interviewee
Katie Durant	...	Herself / Interviewee
Adam Kourelis	...	Himself / Interviewee
Rocky Jalil	...	Himself / Interviewee
Joe Kowalski	...	Himself.Interviewee
Helen McWilliams	...	Herself / Interviewee
Sean Baptiste	...	Himself / Interviewee
James M. Tate	...	Himself / Interviewee
M.J. Simpson	...	Himself / Interviewee - Horror Movie Journalist
Claudio Fragasso	...	Himself / Interviewee - Director
Carlo Maria Cordio	...	Himself / Interviewee - Composer (as Carlo Cordio)
Rossella Drudi	...	Herself / Interviewee - Writer
Vanio Amici	...	Himself / Interviewee - Editor
Blair Sterrett	...	Himself / Interviewee- Founder, Lost Media Archive
Robert Ormsby	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor
Christina Reynolds	...	Herself / Interviewee - Actress
Paul Gibbs	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor
Patrick Gibbs	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor
Steve Hatch	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor
Margo Prey	...	Herself / Interviewee - Actress
Rachael Jackson	...	Herself / Interviewee
Gwen Bishop	...	Herself / Interviewee
John Schneider	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor
Erika Anderson	...	Herself / Interviewee- Actress
Andras Jones	...	Himself / Interviewee
Toy Newkirk	...	Herself / Interviewee
Lance C. Williams	...	Himself / Interviewee - Actor (as Lance Williams)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Adam Deyoe	...	Himself (uncredited)
Eric Gosselin	...	Himself (uncredited)
Michale Graves	...	Himself (uncredited)
Bryn Hammond	...	Himself (uncredited)
Margot Leitman	...	Herself (uncredited)
Ryan Martin	...	Himself (uncredited)
Kelly Jo Minter	...	Herself (uncredited)
Scott Pearlman	...	Himself (uncredited)
Michael Perez	...	Himself (uncredited)
Deborah Reed	...	Herself (uncredited)
Simon Robb	...	Himself (uncredited)
Christian Sellers	...	Troll at Birmingham NEC (uncredited)
Shandi Sullivan	...	Herself (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Stephenson		(as Michael Paul Stephenson)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Michael Stephenson		writer (uncredited)

Produced by
Dana Ferniany	....	executive producer
Will Ferniany	....	executive producer
Ace Goerig	....	executive producer
Mary Francis Groom	....	executive producer
Bill Hardy	....	executive producer
Mary Ann Hardy	....	executive producer (as Mary Hardy)
Alan Hunter	....	executive producer
Hugh Hunter	....	executive producer
Jim Kennemer	....	executive producer
Brad Klopman	....	producer
Jim Klopman	....	producer
Jim McKeon	....	executive producer
Robin Mobley	....	executive producer
Lindsay Rowles Stephenson	....	producer (as Lindsay Stephenson)
Gary Rowles	....	executive producer
Michael Stephenson	....	producer (as Michael Paul Stephenson)
Tommy Williams	....	executive producer
Ben Willis	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Bobby Tahouri

Cinematography by
Katie Graham		(director of photography)
Carl Indriago

Film Editing by
Katie Graham
Andrew Matthews

Art Department
Scott Cohn	....	art and graphic designer
Andrew Matthews	....	art and graphic designer
Kevin Perry	....	art and graphic designer
Tyler Stout	....	art and graphic designer
Drew Taylor	....	art and graphic designer

Sound Department
Jackie Johnson	....	dialogue editor
Heather MacFarlane	....	assistant sound editor
Jesse Rosenman	....	assistant sound editor
Woody Woodhall	....	sound re-recording mixer
Woody Woodhall	....	supervising sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Ian Barkley	....	still photographer
Tom Bluet	....	additional camera
Kyle Bronson	....	additional camera
Timur Civan	....	additional camera
Matt Coats	....	still photographer
Joel Conrad	....	additional camera
Rick Curtis	....	additional camera
Adam Deyoe	....	additional camera
Darren Ewing	....	additional camera
Ellie Ann Fenton	....	additional camera
Thomas Fernandes	....	additional camera
Ryan Gass	....	additional camera
John Guarino	....	additional camera
Shemg-Lee Huang	....	additional camera (as Shemg Lee Huang)
Thomas Humphries	....	additional camera
Brad Klopman	....	still photographer
Nicholas Kocan	....	additional camera
Allen Mead	....	additional camera
Samuel Nalband	....	additional camera
Gabe Rosenn	....	additional camera
Jay Smith	....	additional camera
Michael Stephenson	....	additional camera (as Michael Paul Stevenson)
Colin Stevens	....	additional camera
Phil Weiss	....	additional camera
Jason Zimmerman	....	additional camera
Ian Zlatkin	....	additional camera

Editorial Department
Marc Brown	....	colorist

Music Department
Robert Jolly	....	musician: drums
Aaron Kaplan	....	musician: guitars
Lindsay Rowles Stephenson	....	music clearance
Bobby Tahouri	....	musician: piano

Other crew
Chiara Aik	....	transcriber
Chiara Aik	....	translator
Lisa Callif	....	legal services: Donaldson & Callif
Jennifer Chikes	....	publicity: 42West
Keith Emerson	....	himself: interviewed
Brandy Fons	....	publicity: 42West
Ryan Fons	....	publicity: 42West
Patricia Gleason	....	transcriber
Patricia Gleason	....	translator
Gretchen Mathis	....	transcriber
Gretchen Mathis	....	translator
Kevin Mills	....	legal services: Kaye & Mills
Lindsay Rowles Stephenson	....	publicity: 42West
Linda Somma	....	transcriber
Linda Somma	....	translator
Jason Steadman	....	publicity: 42West
Heather Webster	....	transcriber
Heather Webster	....	translator
Monica Williams	....	transcriber
Monica Williams	....	translator
Kyle Bronson	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Lisa Callif	....	clearance counsel (uncredited)

Thanks
John Bullington	....	special thanks
Zack Carlson	....	special thanks
Adam Deyoe	....	special thanks
Mike Ensley	....	special thanks
George Hardy	....	very special thanks
Justin Ishmael	....	special thanks
Josh Jacobs	....	special thanks
Kier-La Janisse	....	special thanks
Jim Klopman	....	special thanks
Nancy Klopman	....	special thanks
Tim League	....	special thanks
Daniel Osborne	....	special thanks
Scott Pearlman	....	special thanks
Nick Robinson	....	special thanks
Jason Shulman	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Magic Stone Productions

Distributors

• Abramorama (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• Area23a (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• New Video (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Music Entertainment (2010) (Japan) (TV)

Other Companies

• 42West  publicity
• Allied Post Facility  audio post facility
• Donaldson & Callif  legal services provided by
• Kaye & Mills  legal services provided by
• NovaStar Digital  post-production sound services

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Company:

Magic Stone Productions

Quotes:

[repeated line]
George Hardy:I was in a movie called Troll 2.

Movie Connections:

References Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

Soundtrack:

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Ignore Paul Kersey Jr., he's just trolling the reviews

Perhaps it was the build up for watching this documentary, but I found it to be the most enjoyable movie I've watched all year. I was reviewing the list of movies on display at the Sacramento Film Festival and I stumbled across the synopsis for this movie. I had vague recollections of Troll, but I couldn't really remember watching Troll 2. I recruited a few friends to watch the documentary since they'd heard of Troll 2 from some documentary about the worst movies ever filmed.

Three hours before the documentary was set to start, we gathered at my house with some chips and beers and set out to watch Troll 2. One friend had to switch to hard liquor to handle the outlandishly bad scenes in the movie, but the rest of us found the movie very watchable. It's like watching a train wreck at a high school talent show. You get a gut-wrenching feeling from watching these people make asses out of themselves, but you can't help but love their performance.

Anyway, we finished Troll 2 and we all agreed that there were several parts of the movie we'd love to have explained. That's where the documentary came in. It's like having an audio commentary extra from a special edition DVD, except you have to go to the local indie theater to watch it.

I don't know what the hell that one reviewer was writing about, but out of the 25 people who were in the small theater, at least 15 of them were constantly bursting into fits of laughter. The documentary is genuinely funny and I don't think people should watch it as a serious film... since it's about the worst movie ever. It'd make no sense.

One of my friends that went to the theater with us did so without watching Troll 2. After the documentary, he insisted that we watch the Troll 2 again that night, which we did. After watching the documentary, it's hard not to like Troll 2 since you now know the people that played the characters. It's comforting to know that they're as embarrassed about some of their scenes as you were for them.