31 Nights of Halloween: Bathroom Troll

Tonight's feature may well be the best short film to ever be featured during the 31 Nights of Halloween.

Bathroom Troll (2018)

Starring: Bianca Sanchez, Melissa Connell, Hannah Gold, Kara McGee, and Cassidy Sanders

Director: Aaron Immediato

Rating: Ten of Ten Stars

After Brielle (McGee) and her clique of other popular girls the popular girls bully and torment the boyish Cassie (Sanchez) one time too many, Cassie's mother (Connell) pushes her daughter into taking revenge of the most extreme kind: She allows her rage to be given shape through a demon (Gold).

"Bathroom Troll" has everything a great horror movie needs. Its through-line is a morality tale where characters have a chance to redeem themselves (if not always save themselves), bad people get what's coming to them, and there's comic relief mixed in with the tension and horror. What's more, it's delivered via a great script that's performed by fine actors. Rarely has a high-school supernatural revenge tale been delivered so perfectly. (I really don't want to go into too many more details, because I'll spoil some of the fun twists in this film... but I will mention that the reactions of the characters during the demon summoning scene are PERFECT. Watch the faces of both Sanchez and Connell as it begins and straight through to the fade-out. I think you'll agree that you've rarely seen something like that performed as well as it was here.)

I do have one complaint about this film. As much as I enjoyed Bianca Sanchez's performance, I had a very hard time getting past the fact that she must be at least 30 years old. Even allowing for the fact that having an overbearing mother and being bullied at school might cause a girl to look haggard, this was way beyond my ability to suspend disbelief. It got even harder when Sanchez and Connell were together in two-shots, since they looked to be about the same age. (Cassidy Sanders, as one of the bullies/"mean girls", likewise looked a little old for the part she was playing.)

But, despite my minor casting complaints, I still loved everything about "Bathroom Troll"... and I think you will, too. The Ten-Star Rating I'm giving it is well deserved!