- Directed by John Carl Buechler
- Written by John Carl Buechler, Ed Naha
- Stars Michael Moriarty, Shelley Hack, Noah Hathaway, Sonny Bono, Phil Fondacaro
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JrmQl3E9zk
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is a silly and fun horror movie with good prosthetics and practical effects. It’s even got a little musical number of chanting and grunting creatures. It gets a lot of hate, but don’t take it seriously, and you’ll probably have a good time watching it. We enjoyed it.
Synopsis
The Potters are moving into a new apartment. Harry Sr. has over 3,000 music albums, and his wife, Anne, complains about them. Son Harry Jr. doesn’t like playing with his little sister, Wendy Anne, so she plays alone in the creepy basement. A troll quickly grabs her.
When Harry comes looking for Wendy Anne, the troll uses his magic ring to impersonate her. She immediately starts acting like…_a little monster_. She sets off the fire alarm, which annoys Peter Dickinson, the swinger upstairs. Barry Tabor is an ex-marine and an exercise nut. Bill and Jeanette live upstairs. Mrs. Sinclair is a grouchy old woman. The kids don’t make a good impression on any of them.
We see that Peter’s not the ladies’ man he pretends to be. Wendy Anne pays him a visit in the morning. She reveals herself as a troll, and she turns Peter into a pile of gooey mucus that evolves into a big seed pod. The pod quickly sprouts and turns Peter’s apartment into a big green jungle. The Troll smiles as little creatures come out from within the trees.
Harry Jr. goes to visit Mrs. St. Clair, and we see that she is hiding a sentient mushroom. She’s rude, but when he tells her about Wendy Anne, she lightens up a bit.
Wendy Anne runs into a little person outside, and she wonders if he’s an elf. He’s Malcolm, and he lives in the building too. We cut to the super-nerdy Harry Sr, who does a whole ridiculous lip-sync dance, which amuses Anne.
Wendy Anne pays a visit to the tough-guy Barry upstairs. She asks him what Death looks like. She releases her inner troll, and it throws him around the room before he shoots it. The troll is bulletproof. The troll eventually uses his magic ring on Barry and Harry Jr. Barry turns into more fantasy fauna, but Harry Jr. passes out.
Wendy Anne says she wants to invite her “little friend” over for dinner, but she doesn’t mention that he’s just a very small man. It’s awkward, but they also think it’s kind of funny. Malcolm recites a long story about a fairy queen; meanwhile, his many new minions start chanting in the other apartments. Mrs. St. Clair’s mushroom also takes notice. They all sing like they’re on a twisted episode of “The Muppet Show.”
Mrs. St. Clair pulls a big horn off the wall and blows it, disrupting the minions’ chanting. Not long after, Harry Jr. asks if she’s a witch, and she admits that she is, and that she used to be a princess. She was betrothed to a man named Torok. Harry tells her that Wendy Anne isn’t really his sister; he thinks she’s an alien. He spots Galwin, her magic mushroom.
Meanwhile, Wendy Anne visits Jeanette upstairs, and the troll does his usual thing with her, turning her into a nymph. William comes looking for her, and everything looks normal when he goes into her apartment. Things are not normal, and the troll soon gets him too.
Wendy Anne goes to see Malcolm, and she knows he’s getting sick. He’s got some serious medical issues, and he’s going to die. “I was getting tired of this old body,” he says, and she perks up. She asks, “Did you ever want to be a real elf?” The troll changes Malcolm into a tiny elf-version of himself.
Mrs. St. Clair goes from apartment to apartment, but she’s too late to save any of the Potters’ neighbors. Harry Jr. tells his father about Wendy Anne not being human anymore.
The whole building is on the verge of being overrun with vines and greenery, so he goes to Mrs. St. Clair again. She tells him about Torok the troll, a sort of mean, evil fairy. Torok used to look human, and he was once her fiancé. She tells him a whole story about olden times. She knew he would return, and it’s her task to stop him. He is trying to recreate a fairy world inside the apartment building. She explains that Wendy Anne is probably still alive, and she’ll become the next queen of the fairies. There are only two apartments left; hers and Harry’s. If Torok takes them all, he can take the world next.
As soon as Harry leaves, Mrs. St. Clair lets her hair down, and we see that she looks much younger now. She zaps open a door and goes into one of the fairy-apartments. The troll sends his minions after her and turns her into a talking tree.
Now it’s all up to young Harry. He goes into the fairy woods and soon finds Wendy, who is asleep. A giant creature attacks Harry, and we see big leafy tentacles on the outside roof of the building. When the monster goes after Wendy, the troll kills it himself.
Everything reverts to normal, and the family immediately moves out. One of the policemen goes into the basement to check things out and is sucked into the magic forest. The troll gets him…
Commentary
Harry Sr’s full-time job is writing movie reviews. How do I get a job like that?
Insert all kinds of “Harry Potter” jokes here since there are two characters with that name here. There are a lot of familiar faces, some of whom would become big stars, and some others who probably never should have worked again.
The troll character looks really good; the makeup and prosthetics are very well done and expressive for a character who doesn’t talk much. His little minions are very similar to the “Ghoulies.”
This one is on many people’s lists of worst horror films of all time, but I disagree. It’s not in the least bit serious, and it’s just a silly, fun movie.