Torok the Troll Crawls into the Third Class Tier

Move over Michael Myers and give the goblins some space, because Torok the Troll has officially entered the Third Class Tier of the Hall of Killers. Yes, the little guy from 1986’s Troll — the one with a love for transforming apartment buildings into fairy kingdoms and turning tenants into foliage — has finally gotten his due. It took nearly forty years, a lot of confusion with Troll 2, and several traumatic puppet memories, but our favorite grinning gremlin is now immortalized among horror royalty.

If you have somehow missed the Troll phenomenon, allow us to refresh your memory. Before Troll 2 became the world’s most infamous so bad it’s good movie, there was the original Troll, an unhinged semi-magical, semi-horror fantasy directed by John Carl Buechler. It tells the tale of Torok, a centuries old troll who moves into a San Francisco apartment complex (because even magical beings need affordable housing) and starts turning tenants into fairy tale creatures as part of his plan to revive his lost kingdom.

The film follows the Potter family — yes, Harry Potter fans, that’s their real name — who move into the same building. The son, Harry Potter Jr., played by Noah Hathaway from The NeverEnding Story, quickly realizes something is wrong when his sister Wendy starts acting a little… trollish. That’s because Torok has taken over her body and is running wild. And yes, you read that right: a movie from 1986 about a boy named Harry Potter battling an ancient magical creature. J. K. Rowling swears she never saw it, but we’re still suspicious.

Torok himself is played by Phil Fondacaro, a legend in the world of fantasy cinema who brings surprising pathos to a rubber faced monster. Unlike most slashers or supernatural villains, Torok isn’t just out for blood. He wants to create a new world, one filled with singing mushrooms, talking vines, and possibly the weirdest array of puppets ever put to film. He’s less Freddy Krueger and more angry woodland homeowner association member, and honestly, that’s why we love him.

And then there’s the cast. You’ve got Sonny Bono as a sleazy bachelor who ends up transformed into a literal plant, and Julia Louis Dreyfus in one of her earliest roles, prancing through a forest in green body paint like she’s auditioning for FernGully. It’s a film so full of surreal energy that it feels like Jim Henson took a wrong turn into a nightmare and decided to stay awhile.

Torok may not have the towering menace of Jason Voorhees or the culinary creativity of Hannibal Lecter, but what he lacks in subtlety, he makes up for in sheer enthusiasm. The man — sorry, troll — throws himself into his work. He doesn’t just curse his victims. He builds an entire ecosystem. He’s basically a horror villain and an interior decorator rolled into one.

And now, decades later, Troll has finally received the recognition it deserves. The Hall of Killers has welcomed Torok with open arms, leafy vines, and probably a few screaming tenants. It’s a fitting honor for a creature who paved the way for horror comedy hybrids everywhere. Sure, he might not have left a massive body count, but he did leave behind a trail of psychedelic greenery and audience confusion that’s lasted generations.

Of course, Torok’s legacy didn’t end with his own movie. The film’s bizarre quasi sequel, Troll 2, which features no trolls at all (only goblins), became a cult sensation for its sheer incompetence. It’s often ranked among the worst films ever made, yet its fame has ironically made Troll itself more beloved. Fans revisiting the original have rediscovered how charmingly bonkers it really is. Compared to the vegetarian goblin nonsense that followed, Torok looks like Shakespeare.

In many ways, Torok was ahead of his time. Long before fantasy horror hybrids became trendy, he was blending the grotesque with the whimsical. He made horror colorful, weird, and oddly sentimental. He just wanted to bring back magic, and if that meant turning your neighbors into talking shrubbery, so be it.

So here’s to you, Torok the Troll. You may be short, slimy, and prone to singing mushroom numbers, but you’ve earned your place among the legends. The Third Class Tier of the Hall of Killers just got a whole lot greener.