Last night I saw the epitome of bad movies. Brought to you by the fine folks at Troma Entertainment, and featuring a lead role by the same person who directed this movie, this little cinematic gas grenade to the cranium was titled Poultrygeist-Night of the Chicken Dead. Filmed in glorious 35mm, and looking like it was produced on a shoestring budget, the acting is horrendous, the plot incomprehensible, and the humor the most crude of the crude. In-jokes about fast food and horror movies abound, and yes, there are indeed musical numbers. Well golly gee, pass me the Thunderbird and popcorn and let's get down to it!
I'm curious to know when this was actually produced, as it contains some pretty current pop-culture references. There's a Jared-from-Subway parody, a talking gay Hispanic chicken sandwich (yep), a brief cameo by Ron Jeremy, as well as material offensive to pretty much anyone and everyone. The basic idea is that there's a chicken restaurant (or chicken-flavored foodstuffs, as is pointed out) built on the ancient and apparently zombie-filled Tromahawk tribe burial ground. However, the zombies are pretty darn lazy, they only stick an arm up out of the ground on occasion. Either that or the film didn't have that much money for too many zombies. At any rate, gore abounds as the questionable sanitation, safety standards and contents of the food, as well as the personal habits of the employees result in yards of gross-out humor and general weirdness. The story more or less centers around Arby, a dim-witted cashier (or something) who inexplicably wears a skirt (his job title is counter girl) in the course of his duties at the American Chicken Bunker, owned by The General, former charter member of the Georgia KKK. (Guys, I couldn't make this up if I tried). So at any rate, the ghosts, zombies or whatever the hell they are are a little pissed about the chicken shack going on top of their eternal resting place, so begin to posess the chicken, (it gets a little vague here) and by extension, the people who eat said chicken, including the redneck cook, Carl Jr. (anyone else notice a trend here?) So at any rate, Arby's older self (again, unexplained) shows up, apparently from 25 years in the future, still wearing a skirt and sporting a "Go Yankees" tattoo on his hindquarters, sings a couple songs, and saves the day with a stash of firearms. And then it gets weird. The net result of all this is that chicken-zombies (no, I'm serious) overtake the city of Tromaville, resulting in some pretty spectacular and mind-bendingly bloody special effects. Definitely not recommended for the faint of heart, this movie redefines disgusting. It seems like some people sat down, came up with a bunch of fast-food jokes, and decided to make a movie. The result is too bizarre for words- any longtime fan of grindhouse films (you jaded twisted bastards, you know who we are) w0uld find a lot to laugh about in this movie. The three-disc DVD set I rented has extensive introduction from the director, Lloyd Kauffman, who comes across as quite a bit like Ed Wood on LSD, and generally makes fun of himself. It also contains Truth is Stranger Than Chicken, a making-of documentary, which reads like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
All in all, if you are in the least bit capable of being grossed out, look elsewhere. If you're sick and twisted, and have no sensibilities left at all, well, take a look. I've seen a lot of gory, bloody, disgusting films in my day, but this one beats out even Street Trash, with its fantastic wino-disintegrating scenes. So guys, stay away from the Tenafly Viper, don't eat anything likely to produce zombifying effects, and go play outside in the sun instead of staying inside and warping your mind with too many bad movies.
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