Judging by the far-out premise, one would think this kind of movie would have a bunch of unknown actors, but actually there are quite a few familiar faces in "Troll". Sonny Bono, for instance, turns into a giant plant pod when the troll zaps him, but then as the pod opens, shrubs are sprawling everywhere while little monsters are jumping out of the woodwork (um, okay...) Julia Lewis-Dreyfuss, in her pre-Seinfeld days, ends up with a similar fate. Michael Moriarty is in it too, though his appearance is not quite as surprising considering that he has starred in other oddball horror movies like "Q" and "It's Alive III".

How does the movie measure up? Well, aside from the grotesque transformations, there is hardly any gore, and it feels more like a fantasy movie than a horror flick. Up until the very end, it seems to be made competently enough (I'll withhold the details, but the ending lamely signals a sequel). Sure, some of the monsters look like puppets which seem a bit out of sync when they sing, and the plot gets a bit unruly once the troll's motives are revealed. However, the acting and directing are fine for the most part, especially considering the low budget. Overall, "Troll" ranks about average, but it certainly isn't typical.

** NOTE: The more dots on the domino, the higher the rating. 11 or 12 dots points to an essential item in a horror video collection. Even the dung beetles would be repelled by a movie rated with one or no dots. **