Best Worst Movie

If you are currently alive then you know the world is an absolutely absurd place. The internet age has made the world into one giant freak show for our amusement. Everyday I see something more ridiculous than the day before. We live in a time soaked in irony. As far as movies go, the first time I realized a bad movie could be better than a good movie was watching MST3K as a little kid. The idea isn’t new, for decades people had enjoyed “Plan 9 from Outer Space” with a passion good movies only dream of. But as a result of the internet, this kind of thing has blown up. People don’t need to see the robot silhouettes at the bottom of the screen anymore to find these treasures; they can discover and make fun of bad movies themselves. With Youtube you can cut and re-cut the most ridiculous scenes and spread it around the world in minutes. A bad movie can have more publicity than “Avatar,” and it’s free because people willingly spread the word. Such is the case with the film “Troll 2.” If you never heard the title, or seen a clip on the internet, then frankly you don’t belong on the internet because you aren’t using it properly. It’s almost passé by now; it’s an internet joke that’s already been played out. And every time I see a bad movie like that I always wonder, “What the fuck were they thinking?” Well wonder no more you lucky ducks.

“Best Worst Movie,” is a documentary about the people who made “Troll 2,” and the people who love “Troll 2.” It’s incredible to see what has become of the real life people involved in making what IMDB at one point named as the worst movie ever made. But “Troll 2,” has a fan devotion that rivals that of any “Star Wars” nerd. One thing I liked about this film is that you don’t have to have seen “Troll 2” to appreciate the documentary; it stands on its own as an interesting look at a phenomenon of the early internet age, as well as an examination of the film business in the ‘80s. But that’s pretty glib because it’s about a lot of things really, more than I care to list. It’s fascinating as a commentary on our times, and also purely as an ode to this experience all the people involved in “Troll 2” had. I thought this documentary was great, but the best thing in it was George Hardy, one of the main actors in “Troll 2.” That man is an amazing real life character. Without him this documentary wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining. It’s remarkable to see how a film that was made 20 years ago, that no one involved with it wanted anything to do with, was dusted off and made glorious by a generation appreciating it in a way the filmmakers never imagined or intended.

It is my sincere hope that this film gets rolled out across the country, maybe even along side screenings of “Troll 2.” It has actually made me want to see “Troll 2” more. And I even liked this documentary so much I would see it again, which is incredible and rare for a documentary. Surely, the internet has more horrible failures of humanity to share with us. The best thing about a bad movie is how earnestly the filmmakers tried to make a good movie. It’s the sincerity behind it that makes it absurd. And if I have learned anything it’s that there is no shortage of people who sincerely want to make a movie, and many of them will fail. This combined with how easy it is to make a movie these days is a windfall for a generation who grew up laughing at bad movies. I just wish that every time one gets made, there’s someone there to make a documentary about it.