Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead | |
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Directed by |
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Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Brendan C. Flynt |
Edited by | Gabriel Friedman |
Music by | Duggie Banas |
Distributed by | Troma Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $500,000[1] |
Box office | $22,623[2] |
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead is a 2006
Plot
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (January 2023) |
High school sweethearts Arbie (
One college semester later, when Arbie returns to the spot of his one and only sexual encounter, he is shocked to discover two unsettling realities: not only has the burial ground been bulldozed and replaced by an American
While grinding meat, Paco is pushed into the meat grinder by an uncooked chicken. General Lee Roy decides to let Paco get turned into a
The customers, workers, and protesters then all turn into zombie chickens. The mascot (Lloyd Kaufman) shoots all of them with an M-16 machine gun. The General Lee Roy zombie returns, but is shot down by the mascot. As the old man approaches the General, he gets his nose ripped off by a now zombie chicken Denny. Arbie then shoots and kills Denny. Wendy turns the open/closed sign to "closed", which keeps the chicken zombies at bay to ensure an epidemic be for naught. The mascot, who is still alive, tells Arbie that he is his future self. He then turns into a chicken zombie. Mickie, who attempts to escape, is turned into a zombie chicken. She and the Mascot chicken zombie chase after Arbie and Wendy. Hummus drinks meat steroid in an attempt to save them and accidentally kills herself in the process. Arbie and Wendy realize that beer kills the chicken zombies and then kill the Mickie and mascot zombie. They run out of beer and are saved by Hummus (who is still alive, despite having exploded a few minutes earlier). They find a child hiding in the storage room and are attacked once again by the General Lee Roy chicken. It is then killed by the Paco sandwich. Hummus is then shown to have explosives strapped to her body and tells them that she will sacrifice herself. Wendy, Arbie, and the little girl escape as the building explodes. While being driven home in a car, the child experiences stomach cramps after drinking a can of beer and begins to cluck like a chicken before laying an egg, frightening her, Arbie, and Wendy. Arbie loses control of the car and crashes, resulting in the car back-flipping before landing on the ground and exploding, thus killing all inside.
During the credits, various chicken zombies dance to a reprise of the movie's theme.
Cast and characters
- Jason Yachanin as Arbie, the film's dimwitted protagonist who joins the American Chicken Bunker in an act of spite against his ex-girlfriend, though he is still deeply in love with her.
- Kate Graham as Wendy, Arbie's bisexual ex-girlfriend reluctantly participating in a protest rally against the ACB.
- Allyson Sereboff as Micki, Wendy's girlfriend who leads the protest. She is actually one of Gen. Lee Roy's accomplices who is not only faking her vegetarianism but also her lesbianism.
- Robin Watkins as Gen. Lee Roy, the antagonistic villainous founder of the American Chicken Bunker, modeled after Colonel Sanders. He apparently has a diaper fetish.
- Joshua Olatunde as Denny, the paranoid manager of American Chicken Bunker.
- Rose Ghavami as Muslimline cook.
- Caleb Emerson as sexual fetishfor uncooked chicken carcasses.
- Lloyd Kaufman as Old Arbie, Arbie's future self.
- Khalid Rivera as Paco Bell, a gay Mexican ACB employee.
- Joe Fleishaker as Jared (credited as "Mega Herz"), a beloved national spokesman for a submarine sandwich diet.
- Gregory Paul Smith as Citizen of Tromaville turned Chicken Zombie
- Brian Cheverie as Father O'Houlihan, an Irish priest patron of the ACB who helps fight against the zombies.
- Crazy Ralph from Friday the 13th.
- Debbie Rochon as Famous Actress Hit by Beer
- Keith White as Citizen of Tromaville
- Red Lobster[4]
Production
Taking six years from script to screen, Poultrygeist was officially released on DVD in 2008 following a limited theatrical run.[5]
Poultrygeist first began as a spec script of the same title submitted to Troma Entertainment by Daniel Bova around 2002. After a number of re-writes at the hands of several Troma employees, the script reached a final draft in 2004, completed by long-time Troma editor Gabriel Friedman. Then given the title Poultrygeist: Attack of the Chicken Zombies, Troma heavily promoted the film in the mid-2000s in an attempt to gain funding, though ultimately failed to secure adequate financing.
The budget for Poultrygeist was roughly around $500,000, a typical budget for a Troma film. A large part of the film's financing came out-of-pocket from Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, while Kaufman and his wife, Patricia Swinney Kaufman, dipped into their personal retirement savings to help fund the film.[1]
Much of Poultrygeist's crew was made up entirely of volunteers who had answered advertisements posted by producer Andy Deemer and Troma on such websites as Craigslist and horror-based message boards looking for available crew members. According to Fangoria, hundreds of people applied, and volunteers traveled from as far as Sweden, Germany, Australia and numerous parts of the United States to work on the film, serving in various crew positions or as production assistants.[6] Duggie Banas, who composed the movie's musical numbers, became attached to the film after answering an online ad looking for composers who'd be willing to work on a film for free.[7] Many of the props and masks featured in the film were donations from special effects studios from around the world.[6]
Shot on
As chronicled in Poultrygeist's
Release and reception
Promotion
Press coverage of Poultrygeist began even in the earliest stages of the film's production. British publication
Theatrical release
Poultrygeist grossed $22,623.
Poultrygeist played in New York through July 3, followed by two-week long run at the Laemmle Sunset in Los Angeles on June 14.
The film continued to make sporadic theatrical engagements throughout the United States up to and even after its official DVD release. On April 17, 2009, Poultrygeist had a wide release in the Midwest, opening simultaneously in 11 theaters in eight states, including two screens each in Wisconsin and Indiana.[10]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 64% based on reviews from 25 critics. The site's general consensus states that it "may be relentlessly tasteless and juvenile, but it's also a lively slice of schlocky fun".[11]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly awarded the film a B+ rating, calling it "an exploitation movie with soul" and noting "it's genuine sick fun, and there isn't a boring moment in it".[12] Nathan Lee of The New York Times spoke of the film as being "as perfect as a film predicated on the joys of projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea can be", describing it as "liberating" in a "lowbrow way".[13]
On the negative end of the critical spectrum, Roger Moore of the
Connections with previous Troma films
In contrast to Kaufman's previous films, Terror Firmer and Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV, which heavily referenced and relied on the audience's familiarity of Troma films, Poultrygeist is only loosely connected with the "Tromaverse" yet makes numerous background references to their previous films. Arbie can be seen wearing an "I Love the Monster Hero" shirt from The Toxic Avenger in an early scene, posters of Tromeo and Juliet and When Nature Calls adorn the walls of Wendy's bedroom, and DVD copies of Tales from the Crapper can be seen stuffed in a dumpster. Most notably, Poultrygeist features the infamous car flip stunt that was originally filmed in 1991 for Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. and has been recycled for comic effect in every Kaufman-directed film since.
Soundtrack
The
. All copies of the soundtrack came with a bonus DVD featuring numerous special features including trailers and the first five minutes of the movie.Home media
Poultrygeist was released on DVD on October 28, 2008, in an "Eggs-clusive 3-Disc Collector's Edition", which included a feature-length behind-the-scenes documentary on the film's production, directed by producer Andy Deemer and line producer Jason Foulke, deleted scenes, including an alternate ending with Ron Jeremy, an audio commentary from Kaufman and Friedman, footage of the NYC premiere, and seven behind-the-scenes featurettes.
The third disc was a "Kara-Yolk-E" supplement, featuring all of the musical numbers with an optional karaoke track added on.
On March 31, 2009, a two-disc "Special Egg-Dition" was released, omitting the karaoke disc. On February 23, 2010, the film was issued on Blu-ray.
DVD switch controversy
Poultrygeist made national news on January 7, 2011, when Sidney Klawitter from Orland, California, purchased a DVD cleaning kit from a local retailer, only to later discover the cleaner disc was a disguised copy of Poultrygeist. Klawitter was deeply offended by the film's content, noting "it was horrifying", calling it "a Triple-X rated movie". According to the owner of the store the cleaner kit was purchased from, the item had come pre-packaged from a warehouse distributor in Oakland, California. No charges were filed.[17]
References
- ^ Bloody-Disgusting.com. Archived from the originalon March 2, 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
- ^ a b "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
- ^ "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead". Entertainment Weekly. May 22, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-05-24. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
- ^ IMDB.com
- ^ Making-of documentary film). Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead DVD: Troma Entertainment.
- ^ a b c d Colby, Christine (May 2007). "Murder Most Fowl". Fangoria. No. 283.
- ^ Lloyd Kaufman & Gabriel Friedman. Poultrygeist DVD audio commentary.
- ^ Watch Troma's Poultrygeist Online Now for Free!
- Hotdog Magazine.
- ^ "Poultrygeist Clucks Into Theaters All Over The Midwest Starting April 17th". www.poultrygeistmovie.com. April 16, 2009.
- ^ "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
- ^ Gleiberman, Owen (May 22, 2008). "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead review". Entertainment Weekly.
- ^ Lee, Nathan (May 9, 2008). "Movie Review – Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead". The New York Times.
- ^ Moore, Roger (February 22, 2008). "Movie Review: Poultrygeist". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2012-10-02.
- Time Out New York.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Humanick, Rob (May 6, 2008). "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead review". Slant Magazine.
- ^ Saam, Kelli (January 7, 2011). "Customer Shocked To Discover X-Rated Movie On His DVD Cleaning Disc". KRCR-TV. Archived from the original on January 11, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
External links
- Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead at IMDb
- Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead at AllMovie
- Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead – at the Troma Entertainment movie database