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.

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

Apartment for Rent. Inquire Within...

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 January 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Peikko

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.

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Goofs

An arm is reflected in the TV.

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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?
[...]

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Connections

Followed by The Crawlers (1993)

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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

Bizarre.

This film is not one that is remembered, yet it's much worse sequel is. Here's why. This movie has good special effects for it's time and has OK acting, but just one of the most bizarre story lines. The plot is that a family moves in to an apartment building, where the family's young daughter is stolen, and a troll takes her form. The troll goes around the building killing people and turning them in to troll pods. The reason that this one is not remembered like it's horrible sequel, is this movie is rather weird and boring, but had production values, where the sequel has no production values and horrible acting and writing. The best thing about the film is it's excellent musical score from the every wonderful Richard Band. However, I didn't like this movie very well at all, but it does have some redeeming qualities in the acting and direction...not so much the writing.

My rating: * 1/2 out of ****. 82 mins.