Troll (1986)

A wicked troll king in search of a mystical ring that will transform him to human form invades a San Francisco apartment complex where a powerful witch lives.

Director:

John Carl Buechler

Writer:

Ed Naha

Stars:

Michael Moriarty, Shelley Hack, Noah Hathaway

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Noah Hathaway	...	Harry Potter Jr.
Michael Moriarty	...	Harry Potter Sr.
Shelley Hack	...	Anne Potter
Jenny Beck	...	Wendy Anne Potter
Sonny Bono	...	Peter Dickinson
Phil Fondacaro	...	Malcolm Mallory / Torok the Troll
Brad Hall	...	William Daniels
Anne Lockhart	...	Young Eunice St. Clair
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	...	Jeanette Cooper
Gary Sandy	...	Barry Tabor
June Lockhart	...	Eunice St. Clair
Robert Hathaway	...	First Policeman
James Beck	...	Second Policeman
Dale Wyatt	...	Dickinson's Girlfriend
Barbara Sciorilli	...	Fairy

Storyline

The Potter family has just moved to a rented apartment in San Francisco. Harry Potter Sr. and his wife Anne are bringing the packages to the apartment and their son Harry Jr. and their little daughter Wendy Anne stays on the sidewalk. Wendy goes to the laundry room, she meets the wicked troll Torok 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 that lives in the building.

---

Plot Keywords:

girl in a notably short outfit | knee socks | apartment | troll | ring | 

---

Taglines:

Worlds of Magic, Mystery and Menace.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror

---

Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 January 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Troll

Filming Locations:

Stabilimenti Cinematografici Pontini, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$1,100,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,595,054, 19 January 1986, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$5,450,815

Company Credits

Production Co:

Empire Pictures, Altar Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

John Carl Buechler first pitched the film to producer Roger Corman while they were working on Android (1983), but Corman passed on it.

---

Goofs

When Harry Jr. notices his sister walking out of Barry's apartment, he backs into the corner twice.

---

Quotes

Barry Tabor: What can I do for you?
Wendy Potter: I need some advice
Barry Tabor: You have come to the right guy, uncle Duke has seen just about everything there is to see little missy, I've been around the world dozens of times staring death right in the face
[swings a baseball bat]
Wendy Potter: What does it look like?
Barry Tabor: What?
Wendy Potter: What does death look like?
Barry Tabor: Well I don't know, it's hard to explain, you're too young to understand anyway
Wendy Potter: I understand
Barry Tabor: Oh you do now?
[...]

---

Connections

Referenced in Hard Time, the Making of Prison (2013)

---

Soundtracks

Summertime Blues
Words and Music by Eddie Cochran and Jerry Capehart
© 1958 Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., Hill & Range Songs, Inc., Elvis Presley Music & Gladys Music
Performed by Blue Cheer
Courtesy of Polygram Special Projects, a Division of Polygram Records, Inc.

User Reviews

more corny than scary

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.