Troll / Troll 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		2.5

Troll / Troll 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 17, 2015

Those of us who make at least part of our livings via the internet have come to approach the term “troll” with a certain wariness. If the world wide web has been a “great democratizer” of sorts, allowing everyone of any given stripe and/or background to vent their “authoritative” opinion (and that of course includes us reviewers), it’s also made it clear that some people evidently live for no other reason than to disparage others, no matter what the context. There’s an obvious reason why the term troll came to be used to describe these folks who lurk around the edges of the internet, waiting to pounce upon others, for folklore has long been the home to similarly named and behaved creatures, nasty little beasts who traditionally live under bridges or in caves and who are prone to assaulting (both physically and psychologically) unprepared humans. While this particular tangential relationship to a “newly” defined word may interest at least some coming to Troll for the first time, there’s actually another referent which may pique the attention of certain inquiring minds. Troll came out in 1986 and posited a family called the Potters who encounter the titular mini-monster in a kind of gothic apartment complex in San Francisco. That surname may not provoke any major reaction, at least until it’s mentioned that both the father and son in the family are named Harry. That’s right, folks—over a decade before J.K. Rowling upended the modern book selling trade (and, later, its cinematic kin) by writing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, there were two similarly named characters, one of whom was a young boy dabbling in the magical arts and attempting to rein in the nefarious activities of a kind of Dark Lord. Rowling has stated that the idea for her Harry Potter just popped into her head one day (ostensibly circa 1990), but some associated with Troll have suggested that maybe Rowling caught the film at some point and subliminally ported over at least the character name, if not some more tangential magically related plot mechanics, to her enterprises. Whatever the “truth” behind this odd concatenation may be, there’s little doubt that Troll never attained the success that Rowling’s Harry Potter did, which indeed may be one reason why those associated with the film may be indulging in a bit of sour grapes revisionism.

For reviews of each of the films in this set, please click on the following links:

Troll Blu-ray review

Troll 2 Blu-ray review

Note: Casey Broadwater's review of Troll 2 concerns the previous MGM Blu-ray release, though obviously film content itself is unchanged.

Troll / Troll 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots 1-5 are from Troll. Screenshots 6-10 are from Troll 2, and I tried to approximate several from Casey Broadwater's Troll 2 Blu-ray review so that those interested could toggle between full sized windows to compare the two versions.

Troll is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a rather heavily grainy presentation, and that grain only increases during optical effects sequences, giving some moments a slightly swarmy appearance. That said, there are only very minor issues with grain resolution here, where (to cite one example) a slight yellowish quality can attend the grain field at various moments. The palette is rather remarkably vivid, offering a wide gamut of hues with excellent saturation. This is not a sharp looking transfer in the contemporary sense, nor should it be, but detail is often quite commendable, especially in close-ups where elements like the bristly hair of various trolls and/or goblins is almost palpable at times. While aspects like some brief telecine wobble during credits or the occasionally ungainly grain resolution may point to an older master, overall fans should be reasonably well pleased with the results on display here.

While there's no definitive data available in the press materials accompanying this release, a cursory comparison of screenshots between the MGM release of Troll 2 and this new Scream Factory outing point to extreme similarities if not to something absolutely identical. Color space, clarity and sharpness seem virtually the same, though there appears to be slightly more grain on the MGM release. I personally attribute this to the fact that the Scream release looks just incrementally brighter, something that can affect perceptibility of the grain field. In other words, this does not have the look of having been put through any DNR algorithm, as there is still a very noticeable and at times rather healthy, heavy grain field on display. As with Troll, occasionally a slight multicolored edge afflicts the grain in some of the heaviest moments.

Additional screenshots from the first film can be found in our Troll Blu- ray review.

Troll / Troll 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Troll features a rather boisterous sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, one with fairly wide stereo imaging and very good to excellent fidelity supporting the film's goofy dialogue and goofier sound effects. This is at times a rather noisy film, and prioritization is generally excellent. There is a slightly brash quality to some high frequencies, but overall this is a vivid and precise sounding track.

Troll 2 offers a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track which is probably less ambitious from a sound design perspective than Troll, but which presents no problems with age related issues. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly and is well prioritized.

Troll / Troll 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Troll

• The Making of Troll (1080p; 50:07) is a typically excellent Scream supplement, giving some in depth background on the film courtesy of several interesting interviews with various people associated with the project.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:47)


• Photo Gallery (1080p; 1:27)

Troll 2

• Trailer (1080p; 2:21)


• Audio Commentary with Actors George Hardy and Deborah Reed. This is a newly done commentary, though at least some of this material is covered in Best Worst Movie. Hardy takes the lead here, and delivers some fun if hardly earth shattering anecdotes about the filming, while also bringing everyone up to speed on what various cast members are up to these days.

Additionally, the first 5000 copies of the double feature include a Bonus DVD which offers:

Best Worst Movie (480i; 1:33:23). This is a wonderfully heartfelt piece at least tangentially about Troll 2, which is less in the deconstructionist "what went wrong?" mode of, say, Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau, and more of a loving reconnection with some of the film's stars and crew. As a born and bred Utahn, may I just say that the Beehive State would not seem to be the most natural home for a film such as this (not to mention several of its actors).

The DVD contains the following supplemental material, all of which features enjoyable interviews with various cast and crew as well as some innocent passers by:

• Minestrone, Pink Floyd and Anorexia (480p; 8:23)
• A Colonoscopy Christmas Card (480p; 6:25)
• Lord of the Goblins (480p; 5:37)
• Hand Grenades and Machine Guns (480p; 4:36)
• Death by Convention (480p; 6:08)
• Reflections from a Body Building Poet (480p; 5:07)
• Rolling Road Show and Rude Pigeons (480p; 11:22)

Troll / Troll 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Troll is certainly not some unappreciated masterpiece, but it's good, goofy fun in its own lo-fi way, while Troll 2 is generally thought of as one of the all time disasters in the annals of cinema. This is another Scream release where the films may not actually be the main attraction. Once again Scream has assembled some outstanding supplements, and the inclusion of Best Worst Movie (for at least the first 5000 customers) makes this even more attractive. Recommended.