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Director Michael Paul Stephenson has sewn a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
As a preteen, Stephenson was cast in the starring role of Troll 2 (1990). The straight-to-video film is so heinous that IMDB proclaimed it the worst movie ever made. The combination of amateur scenery, horrible makeup, embarrassing effects, and absurdly translated dialogue from Italian director Claudio Fragasso (“I have to release my lowest instincts with a woman”) sealed Troll 2‘s fate as eventual cult fodder for jaded film geeks.
Troll 2 became Stephenson’s choice for his first feature-length documentary, Best Worst Movie (2009). And while he may have had a few personal demons to exorcise, he focuses on the wonderfully gleeful cast mate George Hardy, now an Alabama dentist pondering the film’s popularity and the crazed fans trolling along for the ride.
Thu., Aug. 19, 6 & 8 p.m.; Fri., Aug. 20, 4, 6, 8 & 10 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 21, 4, 6, 8 & 10 p.m., 2010
