MOVIE REVIEW : ‘TROLL’: OUT FROM UNDER MONSTER PILE

There are so many horror films rattling around these days that you have to wonder whether Hollywood is running out of good villains.

Most of the regular suspects--robots, monsters, ghouls, vampires, aliens and wild-eyed slashers--have all been destroyed, incinerated or put on ice, perhaps being preserved for a sequel. Of course, the creep show must go on, which brings us to “Troll” (citywide), a clunky, poorly executed shocker about Torok, an evil troll bent on transforming a placid apartment building into a demonic fairy kingdom.

In olden days, trolls lurked under bridges or in caves. As an urban dweller, Torok makes his headquarters in a laundry room. When a new family moves into his building, he quickly abducts their daughter, Wendy (Jenny Beck), assuming her identity as a cover for his fiendish plan. Using the guise of an innocent little girl, Torok invades the neighboring apartments, transforming their occupants into fellow trolls and their living rooms into the kind of landscape that you’d expect to see deep in the recesses of Griffith Park.

Even when Wendy begins to growl at the dinner table and shovel food in her mouth, her parents (Michael Moriarty and Shelley Hack) are so absorbed in fixing up their new apartment that they barely notice anything is wrong. The only suspicious party is Wendy’s brother, Harry (Noah Hathaway), who has read enough science-fiction comics to know an invader when he sees one.

Alarmed, Harry joins forces with the apartment’s mysterious dowager (June Lockhart), who spends her days dabbing at oil paintings and chatting with cheery little mushroom elves who inhabit her flowerpots. Aided by this kooky sorceress’ supernatural powers, Harry goes off to do battle with the rulers of the troll kingdom.

It’s an intriguing premise, but one that is hard to take very seriously, especially after being subjected to an excruciating assortment of bad dialogue and preposterous plot twists. The film makers also botch the story by keeping the troll attached to members of Wendy’s family, who seem to be immune to its powers, robbing the film of much of its suspense. Anyway, Torok is the film’s real scene-stealer. A furry little meanie with a hooked nose, gray hair, a mass of wrinkles and a gold medallion around his neck, he looks more like a wizened old retiree in Miami Beach than a grouchy troll.

In making the transition from special-effects wiz to film director, John Buechler may have lavished more attention on his mechanical creations than his cast, who seem at a loss whether to aim for chills or for laughs. The only standout is Moriarty, who has a bravura scene displaying some yuppie soul as he awkwardly gyrates around the living room to Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues,” mimicking guitar solos and drum rolls, totally oblivious to the goings-on in the rest of his household. It’s the kind of goofy rave-up that gives the film a blast of delirious energy sorely missing from the rest of this lunk-headed fantasy.

‘TROLL’ An Empire Pictures release. Producer Albert Band. Director John Buechler. Writer Ed Naha. Camera Romano Albani. Music Richard Band. Editor Patrizia Ceresani. Set Decoration Gayle Simon. Costume Design Jill Ohanneson. Special Effects by John Buechler & Mechanical and Makeup Imageries Inc. With Noah Hathaway, Michael Moriarty, Shelley Hack, Jenny Beck, Sonny Bono, Brad Hall, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, June Lockhart and Anne Lockhart.

Running time: 1 hour, 26 minutes.

MPAA rating: PG-13 (parents are strongly cautioned; some material may be inappropriate for children under 13).