Do those actors know they’re in a bad movie? Is that director aware he’s delivered a dud?

These are questions that often pop into an audience’s collective head when encountering a major movie mishap like, say, 1990′s Troll 2 — a film IMDb once dubbed the worst movie ever made. Which leads us to Best Worst Movie, a documentary that charts Troll 2‘s ascent from infamy to cult-classic status, and how it now regularly screens for adoring, obsessed, goblin-masked fans, even though it never reached theaters when first released. Best Worst Movie‘s fitting director is Michael Stephenson, aka Troll 2‘s Joshua Waits.

By the way, Troll 2 has no relation to Troll and doesn’t have any trolls. But as the movie’s Italian director, Claudio Fragasso, growls in response to fans’ confusion about the missing trolls during a Q & A: goblins, trolls, why does it matter? His wife, Rossella Drudi, is the twisted visionary responsible for the horror-fantasy train wreck’s script. It’s the tale of a family whose vacation turns into their worst nightmare when the local troll, er … goblin folk try to turn them into vegetables — so they can eat them. The goblins are vegetarians, so to speak. Originally, Drudi’s monster leads were vampires, but then she decided vegetarians were timelier, and she’d like to stick it to her annoying vegetarian friends. (None of that was a joke.) In Fragasso and Drudi’s arguably deluded minds, Troll 2 was a “ferocious analysis” of society, a testament to family and the destructive forces that want to eat it, and the cinematic fertilizer that cultivated Harry Potter. So to answer the initial questions posed, no, Troll 2‘s director had no clue.

What about the cast? In candid interviews, they admit to their shame upon viewing Troll 2. Some confess to crossing it off their resumes, while others explain they were stoned while filming. But they all, at the time, gave it their all and thought the movie would make them famous. And it did, ultimately, but not in the way they imagined. Most of them realized they were in a bad movie, but not until it was too late. The documentary tracks down the cast from stars to goblins with Alabama dentist/unfulfilled actor Michael Hardy (Troll 2‘s papa Michael Waits) as Stephenson’s cohort. They check in on their careers, reenact car scenes in their living rooms, and coax them to attend screenings. The documentary brims with goofy reenactments, especially the “hospitality” scene. From conventions to sold-out showings across the country, they uncover why Troll 2 has become the new Rocky Horror Picture Show; it has even spawned a video game, the Trollympics, t-shirts, and more goblin cult culture.

Best Worst Movie has just enough Troll 2 footage to tantalize those who’ve never seen it and remind fans that they’ve only seen it twice today, so maybe it’s time for a third. Most engrossing, though (and often touching), is the cast and filmmaker’s wrangling with their delayed, surprise celebrity: Fragasso’s mixture of ire and confusion with actors and fans who guffaw at his masterpiece (even the parts that weren’t meant to be funny); his glee that Troll 2‘s comeback disproves (he thinks) critics who panned his movie; and the actors’ redemptive thrill at finally becoming stars of sorts. Best Worst Movie is feel-good Ed Wood-sian fun of the worst and best kind that will make you think twice before you label any film “bad” again.

Extras: The DVD is jam-packed with odd and unsettling Trollific goodies like colonoscopy Christmas cards, Fragasso’s minestrone movie theory, a Troll 2 music video tribute, a trailer for Preacher Bell’s new Air Supply-scored film Reflections, and much, much more.

Best Worst Movie is available now on DVD.

Tags: best worst movie, troll 2