Troll (1986): C-

Where to begin with a film like Troll? With Michael Moriarty spastically shaking his thang to New Wave music? With the sight of a virtually nude Julia Louis-Dreyfus dancing around a foliage-infested apartment like a giggling pixie? Or with the fact that the story’s protagonist is named Harry Potter (Noah Hathaway), and he’s charged with learning magic from a wise elder in order to defeat the forces of evil? This last coincidence is certainly bizarre, but one need not jump to conclusions about J.K. Rowling being a plagiarist given Troll’s otherwise idiosyncratic brand of idiocy, which centers around an apartment complex that’s troubled by the appearance of an evil troll. The creature’s apparent purpose in life is to transform the world into a forest-y place filled with sub-Ghoulies monster puppets, a goal he attempts to achieve by using his magic-powered emerald ring to shape-shift into humans and turn unwitting residents – including Sonny Bono as an over-the-hill ladies’ man – into plants, which is a troll’s preferred choice of food. It goes without saying that the film is pretty awful. But that doesn’t mean it’s not pretty funny too, from no one paying heed to Potter girl Wendy (Jenny Beck) growling, biting, and tossing her brother about like a rag doll, to young Harry’s visits to kooky upstairs witch Eunice St. Clair (June Lockhart), whose husband is now a talking mushroom that squeals like a demented baby.