Episode 20

Troll 2 (1990)

Published on: 10th December, 2021

A story about green goo, bad stage makeup, goblins, and PISSING ON HOSPITALITY!

Listen in as me and my returning guest, Dan, talk through this infamous accidental comedy.

Written and directed by auteur Claudio Fragasso—tower of talent who as gone by the names Drake Floyd, Clyde Anderson, Werner Knox, and Claudio Sansevero—(Rats: Night of Terror, Scalps, Night Killer, Karate Man), The Chicago Reader said "the script is stupid, the acting is wooden, [and] the special effects are laughable," and Cinema Crazed called it "a piss poor awful movie and nothing more." Goddamn, critics! Back off this celebrated piece of American Italian (?) cinema!

It tells the story of the Waits family who does a house swap with a strange family from a town Nilbog, where they can take the world's worst-sounding vacation living as farmers. Yippie. Only, once they arrive in the rural hamlet things get weird. The locals behave oddly, are obsessed with milk, and hate meat. All the while each of the family has their own hangups. Joshua, the young son, still sees visions of dead Grandpa Seth who warns him of impending doom. Holly, the teenage daughter, is hot and cold for her "boyfriend" and gets pissed when he drags along his buddies to her vacation. Mother, Diana, is always surprised. Father, Michael, just wants to have a good time with his family living off the land...and HOSPITALITY! Toss in some goblins and shit just gets golden.

The film is currently available on Pluto TV, Tubi, Blu-ray, and DVD.

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About the Podcast

Subversive Cinema
The show about the weird, whacky, and downright wrong entries in cinema history.
There are a lot of films out there, so it's only natural that a decent amount of strange content exists. These are the films we examine.

Each week, I sit down with a guest and we take a look a one of these weird, whacky, or downright wrong cinematic entries. Each of them has something about it that makes it special — I call it the "Subversive Sauce" — and that is recipe we try to break down.

Is it scientific? Absolutely not. Will you learn things you didn't know? Maybe. Might you hear about films worth checking out? Most definitely.

Tune in and see what the subversion is all about!
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About your host

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Art Hall

Art started in the podcasting ecosphere back in 2007 with the outrageous, yet short lived, scripted variety show "WBKR: Buckwilde Radio," which claimed listeners from over 20 different countries. After hanging up his headphones and heading west to move to Los Angeles, he kept podcasting in his heart but only made appearances rather than producing or hosting. It only took a global pandemic, boredom, and the pleading from his buddy, Joe, to get back into the mic booth.