Review #295: Under ConTroll (2019)
October 2024 Horror Origins Review #12 - Under ConTroll (2019)
Under ConTroll is a very bizarre film, and I think it's important to view it both as a sequel to the phenomenon that was Troll 2, as well as just a movie on its own. Does it stand up as both? Does it stand up as either? Let's find out.
This film begins in medieval times, where an evil troll/goblin/changeling (the movie uses those terms interchangeably) is trying to perform a ritual to kill a virgin and use their blood to gain power or open up a portal or something. The local wizard defeats the troll by stealing his magic book and turning him to stone, at which point we fast forward to the present day when the statue is unearthed and the spell broken and the troll takes the form of a local woman and enacts the plan to once again kill a virgin to yadda yadda yadda. The troll almost succeeds but is eventually defeated by a modern-day stage magician and the power of believing in oneself, and all is well until a last-minute twist where a couple characters are accidentally sent back to medieval times, setting up a hook for future sequels.
One thing I should say right off the bat: the plot of this movie is very similar to Hocus Pocus (a magical being or group of beings in olden days is stopped from completing a ritual involving a virgin, only to be resurrected in the modern day where they then need to retrieve their magic book so they can complete the ritual before a tight deadline has passed) with a splash of Army of Darkness thrown in at the very end. That's not meant to be a knock against Under ConTroll- just having a similar framework doesn't mean either movie is ultimately similar to the other, as both have drastically different vibes and settings. In fact, I actually think that it makes a certain kind of sense to take a cultural phenomenon like Troll 2 and follow it up with an homage to another cultural phenomenon; but for all I know the similarities between the two movies are coincidental (and I doubt Hocus Pocus did any of the individual elements first).
But like I said at the start, this is a bizarre film. VERY bizarre. The story deviates quite a bit from anything you would have expected after the previous film (instead of small-town America, it takes place in a village in Germany) and as far as I can tell the two stories aren't linked in any way, except for George Hardy's character of Michael Waits showing up and recounting the events of the previous film. There's also a bizarre subplot involving a Power Rangers-esque villain, in that of a fish king who lives in the lake outside the village and who casts spells and grants information in exchange for child sacrifices. The characters are very bizarre, the dialogue is very bizarre, and the obviously shoehorned lines referencing Troll 2 are very bizarre every time. Every single scene had me asking, "Sorry, what?"
Also, something that NEEDS to be addressed is the fact that the entire movie is dubbed into English, despite the fact that I'm pretty sure 95% of its dialogue was already recorded in English (if you watch the actors' mouths, it almost always lines up with the same words being dubbed over, and in several cases the dubbed voice is the same actor that played the role in the first place). I don't know if this was done for technical reasons (maybe, like Dario Argento, director Eric Hordes really didn't want to have to worry about capturing audio on-set), or for localization reasons (maybe, by having all versions be dubbed, it serves to streamline the process of localizing the film for different markets), or for accessibility reasons (maybe most of the actors had incredibly heavy accents and it was decided most people would have trouble understanding them, so they went ahead and dubbed over everyone just to be safe)- but whatever the reason I would be lying if I said it wasn't INCREDIBLY DISTRACTING to have every single character mouthing words that are just slightly off from what I'm hearing. I really wish there were a version available where we could use the original spoken lines; even if the characters had heavy accents I think it would have been preferable to what we got.
As a movie on its own, I think Under ConTroll is a fun fantasy adventure movie, but ultimately feels too scattered and silly to really be considered good. I can tell everyone had fun making it, and that's a very important piece of the puzzle, but I could never see myself recommending this film to someone who wasn't watching it just because they heard it was a sequel to Troll 2. But as a sequel to Troll 2, it feels a little bit too self-aware and tongue-in-cheek to really be taken seriously; don't get me wrong, I like when a movie knows it's silly and plays into that angle, but Troll 2 grew such a following not because it was bad, but because it was bad despite clearly trying to be good. Under ConTroll feels just a bit too much like it's trying to be absurd, and trying to appeal to the people who liked the absurdity of Troll 2, but such a thing can't really be manufactured or forced. They put in a valiant effort and I appreciate the film much more as a Troll 2 sequel than as a standalone film, but I think it tried just a bit too hard and overshot its target.
Under ConTroll is definitely worth watching if you're a fan of Troll 2 and want to see what the "official sequel" is like, but for better and for worse it will certainly be clear that this was made by people who grew up during the zeitgeist of Troll 2 fandom and not by the people who made Troll 2.
Overall Rating: 6/10 Released Instincts
Nostalgic Rating: 7/10 Invisibility Hoods Made in a Teapot
The Anticipation Was Real: When I first saw the trailer for this film (which at the time was called "Goblin 2"), I was incredibly excited- not only because it was advertised as the "official sequel to Troll 2", but also because the lead actress, Eva Habermann, was the star of a very weird Sci-Fi Channel show I was obsessed with many years ago. It took about three years to finally see the film, though- apparently it had a very tumultuous distribution process, I believe with some rights disputes and other technical problems. But at some point a few years back I became Facebook friends with the director, Eric Hordes (in fact, HE added ME- a running theme with people involved with Troll 2- because we both shared the same birthday!) and he was always incredibly friendly the few times I got in touch to see when it would be coming out in the states. So although I wasn't as crazy about this one as the previous film, I'm so happy this movie exists and glad I got a chance to see it when I did!
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