Big Budget Troll Remake?
BD is reporting that someone in Hollywood has decided to make a big budget remake of John Carl Buechler’s 1986 horror film TROLL. The only thing we know so far is the provided plot synopsis:
The film is about a young boy enters a parallel world of wizards and magic where he befriends a good witch. Soon the boy learns that he must save the world from an evil Troll/Wizard that has the ability to hide his essence within the bodies of others.
I’ll fess up. As a kid, the two movies that terrified me were The Gate and TROLL. It’s one of those really bad b-horror films with a little person running around in an evil troll suit. I haven’t seen the movie in many years, and I’m guessing if I did I’d more likely laugh than quiver in my seat. I see that the users on the internet movie database have given the film a 3.1 rating, which is horrible, but not bad enough to make the Bottom 100 of all time list. However, Troll is featured in the 2004 DVD documentary, The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made. Troll spawned two sequels (one of which can’t even be found on imdb). Troll 2 ranks #21 on IMDB’s list of the worst movies of all time.
Interestingly enough, the main character (and his father) in the movie were both named Harry Potter (Sr. and Jr.). He was surrounded by a fantasy world of witches, wizards and magic - more than a decade before J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels swept the publishing world. The film was also Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ film debut.
Check out Sonny Bono’s death from the original film after the jump.
Amber Benson Biography
Pretty blonde performer Amber Benson racked up numerous film and television credits before rising to fame on the popular supernatural series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Benson moved with her family to Los Angeles at age fourteen in 1991. By 1993 she had made the first of three “Jack Reed” TV-movies, “Jack Reed: Badge of Honor”, appearing as the daughter of the titular Chicago cop in this NBC entry as well as its 1994 and 1996 follow-ups. 1993 also saw the actress make her big-screen debut with featured roles in the teen thriller “The Crush” and Steven Soderbergh’s coming-of-age drama “King of the Hill”. Her relatively small but memorable parts in these very different features helped to launch the young performer’s career.
The following year she was featured in Anthony Drazan’s period drama “Imaginary Crimes” and had a pivotal supporting role in the social satire “S.F.W.”. Playing determined, pure-hearted and somewhat wise characters seemed to come easy to Benson, who brought a palpable intelligence to her powerful performances. She essayed the charmingly innocent daughter of divorced dad Randy Quaid in “Bye Bye, Love” (1995) and guest starred on an episode of the Fox series “Partners” the following year. Though her role as ‘Stoned Girl’ in the teen comedy “Can’t Hardly Wait” was drastically cut to earn a PG-13 rating, Benson soon became a familiar presence to the film’s target audience when she began appearing on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (The WB) the following year. Her 1999-2001 recurring role as the good witch who becomes more than just a friend to fellow enchantress Willow (Alyson Hannigan) saw the actress taking on controversial topics and earning the esteem of the notoriously hard-to-please “Buffy” fan base. When the series moved to UPN in 2001, Benson’s role was upgraded to that of a regular.
In connection with “Buffy”, the actress sought to broaden the scope of her talents, co-writing with novelist Christopher Golden the comic book WannaBlessedBe, based on her character on the supernatural series. Back on the big screen, Benson was featured in the festival-screened, controversy-plagued “Don’s Plum” (2001; filmed 1995-96) which was barred from domestic release as per a legal agreement mandated by the film’s stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, who allege the project was misrepresented. Taking over her own project, Benson proved a multitalented filmmaker and avid do-it-yourselfer as writer, producer, director and prime financer of “Chance” (lensed 2001), a dark comedy in which she also starred.