Friend of the pod Katy joins Julia and Geoffrey to discuss a movie that scarred her as a child: Troll 2. This movie is epic. Notably, it is neither a sequel, nor about trolls.
Here’s the hazy summary Katy sent us:
“A whitebread family moves to a new and ominous town in what is probably the South, possibly for Dad's New Job. There's a witch, and a brunch of Gringotts goblin types, and the townspeople are maybe secretly the goblins? Only they're called trolls in this, and they want to eat the new family, but only once the family is made of green goo. Also there's a siege, for whatever reason, and a "sexy" corn on the cob seduction scene. Probably the family has to kill the witch and trolls and boot scootin' boogie out of town to win the movie."
Katy got a lot of things right, but not everything. The goblins are just goblins (no trolls appear in this movie!), Dad doesn’t have a new job, and Katy completely forgot about the ghost of Grandpa Seth…
Wait, what ghost? Yes. This movie is whack.
And yes, the corn on the cob thing… it’s all too real. None of us were truly prepared.
Image Description: Two people make out with an ear of corn in Troll 2.
Geoffrey brought up that the book Grandpa Seth is reading to Josh in the beginning is a real book called Davy and the Goblinfrom 1884, though it has nothing to do with the story we see dramatized on screen, nor with The Princess and the Goblin (save that they were possibly part of the same wave of kids’ books back in the late 19th century).
Julia made special Nilbog cookies in a show of great hospitality…
Image description: a floral ceramic platter full of cookies decorated with green icing. Some are plain, some have one green line, one has a clover, and four have words: Yum, Enjoy, Niblog, and Eat Up!
The documentary about the making of Troll 2 is called Best Worst Movie, and you can watch it on Tubi and learn all about how important this film really is. Don’t take it from us! The director says so himself!
Image description: Two stills from Best Worst Movie, the documentary about the making of Troll 2. The top one is labeled “Claudio Fragasso, Director, Troll 2” and has a subtitle reading, “All of the critics say your movie is terrible.” The bottom still has a subtitle reading, “Troll 2 is a film that examines many serious and important issues.”
And here’s the clip of Holly’s dance scene.
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Troll 2 with Katy