What's in a name? Movie fans are excited to find out because Netflix has finally unveiled the trailer for the sequel to one of its biggest-ever movies, and it just so happens to share the same name with an infamous cult classic "bad movie".
The original Troll hit Netflix in December 2022, and it was quite popular. It's actually currently the streamer's #1 movie of all time in its category: Non-English Movies (there are four top-10 lists that Netflix maintains, for English and Non-English Movies and TV shows).
Set in Norway, Troll is about a giant troll that wakes up and wreaks havoc on its rampage through a city. It's basically Godzilla (complete with similar messaging) but based in Scandinavian folklore.
Not long after Troll came out it became known that a sequel was in the works: Troll 2, and we'll be able to watch it on Monday, December 1 of this year. On Monday, June 30, Netflix finally released a trailer for the movie, and you can see it below:
This is a teaser trailer, at just 81 seconds long, and we'll probably see a full trailer in the next few months. It doesn't show a whole lot, just a lot of clips that feel familiar if you've watched the first movie.
The main takeaway is that Troll 2 has... well, two trolls, as we see one of the characters (inexplicably snow-free despite being in a snow-covered valley) watching one troll approach, before another one wakes up behind her.
People who've watched the trailer have taken something very different from the teaser though, judging by comments on the above YouTube video. At least half of the commenters are quoting lines that are clearly not in the teaser, but they still come from Troll 2.
That's because this Netflix movie isn't the first Troll 2, and the first one remains a legendary piece of filmmaking for all the wrong reasons.
I'm talking about the other movie called Troll 2, which came out in 1990. It's a sequel to the 1986 movie Troll in name only, and in fact was originally meant to be released under a totally different name. It doesn't even have trolls in it.
Since its release, the 90s Troll 2 has become a cult classic in the esteemed genre of "good bad movie", films which are fun to watch and laugh at for shortcomings and issues. An oft-quoted line from it is what people are commenting under the trailer for new Troll 2: "they're eating her! And then they're going to eat me! Oh my god!" spoken by a panic-stricken boy as he sees the goblins eating his mother.
The prevalence of 90s Troll 2 comments under the Netflix Troll 2 teaser shows just how popular the cult classic is, however, Netflix is likely hoping the name is where the similarities begin and end. A critically-reviled sequel to one of its biggest hits wouldn't be a good look (not that poor reviews have ever stopped Netflix).
Thankfully, there's nothing about the trailer that suggests this could be a "so-bad-it's-good" movie. Despite the iffy CGI and distractingly-obvious green screen effects, it seems to offer more of the same that Netflix viewers enjoyed so much back in 2022.
We'll be able to tell in December when Troll 2 comes out. And if you're curious to watch the cult classic, it's on Prime Video in the US and UK.
