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Lunch » Tags » Movies » Reviews » Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead » User review

A pretty funny satire of the American fast-food industry.

  • Aug 1, 2011
Exclusive to the Lunch Network
Rating:
+3
*** out of ****

I was waiting for a movie like this to come along. "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead" is a miracle, if miracles come in the form of sleazy, violent exploitation horror-musicals. It is a satire of so many things; but the film's main focus and target is the fast-food industry. The satire is tasteless, potentially offensive, disgusting, violent, and yes, also quite funny. I tried to enjoy the film as much as I could; and with myself not being the biggest fan of exploitation films (or films directed by Troma's leading man, Lloyd Kaufman), it's perhaps more brave than I thought to like a movie like this one.

But it's good at what it does; and it will deliver to anyone looking for a wild, shamelessly funny ride. I guess the film needs a certain audience to appreciate it, and Kaufman is essentially playing with fire when he crafts his film with that specific kind of appeal, but I admire his efforts. And I also admire "Poultrygeist", for some odd, unexplainable reason. It's the kind of movie that you're almost embarrassed to say you enjoyed, but it's not possible for a guy like me to lie.

"Poultrygeist" is a tale of love, passion, and mutant chicken-eggs that create poultry-zombies out of the living human beings of this earth. When a fast-food restraint specializing in fried chicken opens up to much protesters (who pretty much stand outside of the building for more than the first half of the film), things go wrong almost immediately. Apparently, and I'm spoiling a major twist here, the Native Americans are striking back against the, well, Americans; and all because of a sinister past-plot involving some hilarious Nazi/Holocaust symbolism and...chickens.

So there are characters; two high school sweethearts, an elderly and wiser version of the male partner, and the staff of the joint. The male gets a job there because his girl is outside with all the other protesters (against the slaughter of poultry). However, it all goes to waste when the chicken turns out to be the infected result of the "revenge", and it turns out that all who eat it start dying in ridiculously violent ways.

I didn't care about the plot of "Poultrygeist". I didn't care about the characters either. What I cared about was what Kaufman was trying to do with his movie, and I eventually accepted the flick for what it was. "Poultrygeist" is pure exploitation. It is filthy, rotten, vile, sometimes offensively unfunny, but for the most part, it's tasteless fun. But that's all dependent on what you think is "fun".

The death scenes are hilarious and well-staged. There is one scene where a dangerously obese man eats one of the infected chicken eggs, has to run to the nearest restroom, and takes an absurdly obnoxious and loud dump. He dies, and then a thinner version of himself comes out of his prison-like-belly. If you're ready for content like this, then you're ready for "Poultrygeist".

Another thing I liked was the many song-and-dance sequences throughout the film. It creates a half-musical out of the movie, which is always nice, especially when the songs are campy and, best of all, fun. It takes craft to make a movie as stupid as this good; but Kaufman did it. I don't recommend "Poultrygeist" to those who can't find humor in violence or the exploitation of ANYTHING; but sometimes we all need juvenile, immature, childish fun. And for me, "Poultrygeist" fit the bill just right.

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August 06, 2011
fun fun flick! a clASSIC!!
 
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About the reviewer
Ryan J. Marshall ()
Ranked #13
It's very likely that the only kind of reviews I'll ever post here are movie reviews. I'm very passionate about film; and at this point, it pretty much controls my life. Film gives us a purpose; … more
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Details

Director: Lloyd Kaufman
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Release Date: December 29, 2006
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Screen Writer: Lloyd Kaufman
Runtime: 1hr 39min
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"A pretty funny satire of the American fast-food industry."
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