Troll (1986)

How is it that I've never seen Troll?  What a crazy mishmash of 80s craziness.  Julia Louis Dreyfuss's film debut, a guy named Harry Potter, Sonny Bono in a pink robe, and a creepy little girl growling like The Exorcist.  I'm not sure what sort of audience this was intended for, but since it's a Charles Band production, I guess all rules are out the window anyway.  All of the gooey 80s cheesiness you could ever imagine is wedged into a glorious 82 minutes for your viewing pleasure.

The basic plot?  A family moves into an old apartment building that is inhabited by a creepy growling troll.  The little girl of the family, Wendy, comes in contact with the troll and is attacked.  The troll uses it's green ring to capture Wendy's form.  Wendy obviously starts acting possessed and crazy, but her oblivious family attributes her behavior to the stress of their recent move.  However, her brother (Harry Potter, Jr. LoL) realizes something is up, and seeks solace in the friendship of the building's elder resident, Eunice St. Clair.

Meanwhile, the troll, posing as Wendy, enters the apartments of the other residents.  She then transforms into the troll and attacks, changing their apartments into a lair for various little creatures.  HP Jr. steers clear of his newly possessed sister, and learns that his new friend Eunice is a witch.  She explains that she was once in love with a wizard name Torok, which is why she became a witch.  A war erupted, and the humans won.  Torok was then transformed into a troll as punishment.  Eunice has been standing watch for all these years, waiting for Torok to challenge the balance of things once again.

Of course, the "challenge" is happening now, with the residents of the apartment building being changed into creatures one by one.  It seems that Torok plans on creating a paradise full of his otherworld friends, taking over the apartment building from the human residents.  This leaves Eunice and HP Jr. to battle the new regime that is threatening to take over.  Will they be successful?

This flick was more fantasy than horror, but I figured I had to watch Troll before the more horror-centric (and hysterical) Troll 2.  This was definitely good for what it was meant to be, a fun fantasy romp from the decade that brought us terrible acting, corny synthesizer music, and dozens of creatures to give us nightmares in elementary school.  Man, I miss the "creatures" of the 80s movies.  Sure the effects were pretty subpar, but they just don't make 'em like the Gremlins anymore.