Trees are an instrumental part of this movie.
In the beginning, the troll is buried under an oak sapling. Old man Worrell (Jim Varney) (not sure what the character’s actual name is) says, “This oak tree will seal his fate. Its roots will be his prison.” From this scene, we believe the troll is evil. It has taken children and, well, when are trolls good? So the tree is actually containing this evil creature.
The next reference to trees is the “tree house”. Of course, the kids and Ernest (Jim Varney) find the tree that Trantor the Troll (Jonas Moscartolo) is buried under. This tree is depicted in a dark, evil light. Crows are circling; it’s dark and foggy. “A whole world of trees and [they] had to pick this one!”
Next, Trantor actually turns the children to wood! They shrink down into little, wooden dolls which he places in his tree. All he needs is “the innocence of five”.
After placing the kids in the tree, his “children grow” out of the tree. They are little, slimy egg-like things coming out of the tree. When they hit the ground, his “evil army” rises to walk the earth.
Usually when any kind of plant is present in a movie, it means life. Therefore, we would think the tree would mean life, and I guess it does preserve the troll and hatch the pods. However, trees in this movie are associated with evil. Evil things live under them and are made from them. Also turning kids to wood is what I would consider an evil act.
Not surprising, there are few sites on the internet about this movie. Here is a page written by someone who adores this movie as much as I do.
Happy Halloween! See you next week for another deadly sin! Can you guess what it is???