Ernest Scared Stupid

Ernest Scared Stupid is a 1991 American comedy film directed by John R. Cherry III and starring Jim Varney. It is the fifth film to feature the character Ernest P. Worrell. The film has Ernest accidentally unleashing an army of trolls upon a small town on Halloween. It was shot in Nashville, Tennessee like its predecessors Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam, Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Saves Christmas, and Ernest Goes to Jail. It was the last Ernest film to be distributed by Touchstone Pictures.

Plot
In the 19th Century Missouri, a troll, named Trantor, is responsible for kidnapping children and turning them into wooden dolls is captured by the townsfolk led by Phineas Worrell who binds the troll under the roots of a great oak tree. But before they can complete the ritual, Trantor casts a curse on the townsfolk that he will return and once he has gathered five children, his children will be born from that very tree and overrun humanity. He also curses Phineas that each generation of Worrells would be born less and less intelligent so not to thwart his next attempt. The film then fast forwards to the 20th century, nearly one hundred years later where the legend of Trantor is being told by a girl named Elizabeth, but the story is dismissed as a folklore and fiction.

Meanwhile Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) works as a sanitation engineer for the town and is close friends with Elizabeth and her two friends Joey, and Kenny who is the son of the town sheriff. After their haunted clubhouse is ruined by the Mayor's two sons who are bullying them, Ernest promises to find them a better place to build one shortly before he is ordered to clear the land of Old Lady Hackmore (Eartha Kitt but he is frightened off by her, and when running through her lands he comes across a gigantic tree, which he and the kids decide to turn into a gigantic treehouse. Unbeknownst to them that it is the same tree under which Trantor is buried, and when Ernest accidentally incites the incantation to summon Trantor, he releases the troll. When Ernest goes to Old Lady Hackmore for help, Joey falls victim after hearing Ernest's voice and is turned into a wooden doll. Ernest is attacked by Trantor directly who runs to the sheriff's house, he doesn't believe Ernest and chides him for taking the kids out onto Hackmore's land. The next day, Joey's disappearance concerns Kenny and Elizabeth while Tom and Bobby Tulip, claiming to be the only two to believe Ernest's warnings of a troll take advantage of him by selling him fake troll-trapping devices, many of which backfire. One of them traps the Mayor's sons in a dumpster which results in his immediate firing. Meanwhile, Trantor captures a skateboarder, and early that evening Elizabeth who finds Trantor had invaded her bedroom. While trick or treating, Kenny is lured away from a friend by hearing Elizabeth's voice and his friend is taken as the fourth victim.

Ernest learns through a book that Old Lady Hackmore has that two things can destroy Trantor; "The heart of a child." and "A mother's care." an inscription of MI_K is Ernest's only clue which he thinks is "Miak" but he later learns it's Milk. And Hackmore learns that "A mother's care" is unconditional love. They arrive too late for Trantor to attack and capture the Mayor's youngest son as his final wooden doll, and out of spite transforms Rimshot as well. Kenny realizes Trantor's weakness and gathers the mayor's other son and a group of the neighborhood kids to fight Trantor with milk. They are too late to stop Trantor's pods from hitting the ground and giving birth to his children who attack the townsfolk. Kenny and the others launch a defensive and manage to destroy all of the trolls except for Trantor who becomes too powerful to be affected by milk. He turns Kenny into a wooden doll and faces Ernest down, Ernest realizes that the only weapon that will affect Trantor is the heart of a child and he showers Trantor in love and affection, dancing with him and giving him a kiss on the nose. This overload of affection causes Trantor's head to explode and disintegrate, and the people of the town celebrate and congratulate Ernest; to their joy, Trantor's spell is broken on the children he had taken, the five from that night as well as four children from the 19th century including Hackmore's sister who reunites with her now-older sister. Ernest bouts in depression, wondering if he'd get anything out of saving the town and everyone's lives when Rimshot comes running and leaping into his arms, making it a happy night for everyone.

Cast

 * Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell, Bunny Worrell, Auntie Nelda and others
 * Eartha Kitt as Francis "Old Lady" Hackmore
 * Austin Nagler as Kenny
 * Shay Astar as Elizabeth
 * John Cadenhead as Tom Tulip
 * Bill Byrge as Bobby Tulip
 * Richard Woolf as Matt
 * Nick Victory as Mike
 * Jonas Moscartolo as Trantor the Evil Troll
 * Ernie Fosselius as Voice of Trantor the Evil Troll