Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead // movie review // screener!

by Kris   ⋅   July 8, 2008   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅   Subscribe RSS  RSS

dreamlogic.net's MOVIE REVIEW Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead movie review

Director: Lloyd Kaufman
Starring: Jason Yachanin, Kate Graham
Genre: Cult Cinema, Exploitation, Horror
San Francisco Premiere: July 18 at the Roxie Theater [Buy Tickets]

If Grease was gross, it’d be Poultrygeist. Of course, it’d also have topless lesbian activists, explosive diarrhea gags, racism, gore, zombies, and bestiality by a pseudo Dustin Diamond (Screech), not to mention a Ron Jeremy cameo and upskirt shots of men. And not just any men, but a lanky 60+ year-old (Lloyd Kaufman, President of the Troma empire) and his doppelgänger minus 40 years, Arbie (Jason Yachanin). And yes, all of the major characters have fast food franchise names.

Arbie is wearing a skirt because he took a job as “counter girl” at his hometown fast food joint to spite his high school sweetheart when he discovers she’s not only become a lesbian, but her lover is spearheading a protest against the said (suspiciously similar to KFC) franchise. Built on carelessly exhumed Native American graves, American Chicken Bunker (joshing the military) does its best to exploit every ethnicity and faith on the planet, although forced by affirmative action to employ a gay Mexican named Paco Bell and a Muslim doormat named Hummus whom they initially blame for bloodshed in the kitchen.

Our protagonist isn’t even a protangonist at all, rather a dim-witted broken-hearted 20-something whose dopey innocence tests your patience in the final quarter stretch, and by then he’s already sung, like, ten songs for and with his ex, Wendy (Kate Graham). The undercurrent of the couples’ rekindled affection surprisingly sets a firm foundation to thread throughout the flick, an incredible feat considering all the chaos.

Amongst the blood, guts, and excrement, shines valid (if not slightly overplayed) political and sociological statements where the intriguing comparison of White Man to White Meat surfaces. A curse is thrown by angered Native spirits because of human avarice and ignorance, tainting the fried chicken. Humans eat the cursed chicken and turn into human-eating chickens/Native American spirits. It’s like double vengeance time! I won’t even joke about “you are what you eat” here.

Amazingly, it’s tough to take offense at Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead because it’s so fun and sloppy. I was even a little miffed that it didn’t make fun of Asians enough. It’s far from life-altering (I don’t expect anyone will go vegetarian after a viewing) but has satisfying visual props. While not as artistic or sexy as the equally splatterific social commentary Doom Generation, Poultrygeist doesn’t drown in mindless “anti-PC” arrogance, and that’s refreshing. Highly accessible, Troma fans and novices alike will assuredly share giggles, categorize references, and trade taglines.

TRIVIA TIME: [via Wikipedia]
Poultrygeist made it’s New York City premiere on May 9th, 2008, gaining the second highest per-screen average ticket sales of the week, doubling the per-screen averages of competitor Speed Racer, but coming in just short of Iron Man.

In what director Kaufman claims is a “fromage” (his pun on the term “homage”) to the film The Happiness of the Katakuris directed by [one of Chris' favorite directors] Takashi Miike, the film is speckled with a series of musical numbers.

About the Author

dreamlogic.net -- KRISTINE KOBAYASHI-NELSON

Kris Kobayashi-Nelson says these directors/screenwriters rarely disappoint: Peter Greenaway, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Gus van Sant, Gregg Araki. Kris claims that Jake Gyllenhaal, Cillian Murphy, Desmond Harrington and Casey Affleck are much more than pretty faces.

Related Articles

See More: , , , , , ,
Categories: America, Comedy, Cult Cinema, Curious, Horror, MOVIES, Splatter
Subscribe: RSS

 

Post a comment