Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
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| Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead | |
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| Directed by | Lloyd Kaufman |
| Produced by | Benjamin Cord Andrew Deemer Jason Foulke Gabriel Friedman Michael Herz Lloyd Kaufman |
| Written by | Lloyd Kaufman Gabriel Friedman Daniel Bova |
| Starring | Jason Yachanin Kate Graham Allyson Sereboff Robin Watkins Lloyd Kaufman Ron Jeremy |
| Music by | Duggie Banas |
| Cinematography | Brendan C. Flynt |
| Editing by | Gabriel Friedman |
| Distributed by | Troma Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | December 26, 2006 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $450,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Poultrygeist is a 2006 musical horror-comedy film from Troma Entertainment. It was directed by Troma president Lloyd Kaufman, and written by Gabriel Friedman (who is also the film's editor) with Daniel Bova and Lloyd Kaufman. It was produced by Andy Deemer and Kiel Walker.
Principal photography for the film took place during the summer of 2005 in Buffalo NY.
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[edit] Plot
Arbie and Wendy are two high school sweethearts. Shortly before Wendy's departure to college, the two decide to consummate their relationship in the arguably romantic Tromahawk Indian burial ground, promising to each other that no matter what happens, they'll always stay true to each other.
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 with one of those mega-conglomerate fast food franchises, the American Chicken Bunker, but that his dear Wendy has been transformed into a left-wing, lipstick lesbian liberal, protesting the construction of the fried chicken menace with her new activist girlfriend Micki.
Disillusioned and out for revenge, Arbie decides to get a job at the very place Wendy is protesting against. Under the supervision of paranoid manager Denny, Arbie is thrust into the monotony of minimum wage with a variety of colorful co-workers: the effeminate Mexican Paco Bell, the animal-loving redneck Carl Jr., the burqa-clad Hummus and a mysterious 60 year-old man in the restaurant's basement who has been working fast food all his life.
However, strange things are afoot at the American Chicken Bunker. After the number of employees starts decreasing in increasingly bloody fashions, Arbie begins to unravel a sinister plot involving the spirits of disfranchised Native Americans and the billions of slaughtered chickens sent to the "concentration coops" who plan on extracting their revenge in the most gruesome way possible.
Will Arbie and his friends be able to survive the wrath of the chicken-Indian zombies? Will he ever win back the heart of his beloved Wendy? Will he ever quit his dead-end job and do something worthwhile with his life? What is Carl Jr. doing to that frozen chicken? And what's with all the singing and dancing...?
[edit] Tributes to other films
Poultrygeist frequently uses lines, scenes, images, and sequences that come from other films. Some, such as The Exorcist and Night of the Living Dead are from the same genre. Some are as brief as a few words, such as the spoof of "you had me at 'hello'" from Jerry Maguire. At the other extreme, Quint's entire Indianapolis reminiscence from Jaws is parodied, almost line for line.
[edit] Release & Reception
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.
The reviews for Poultrygeist were overwhelmingly positive: New York magazine made the film a critic's pick, calling it "crass and often hilarious", The New York Times called the film "just about as perfect as a film predicated on the joys of projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea can be", Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly noted that "it's genuine sick fun, and there isn't a boring moment in it" and both G4's Attack of the Show and Ain't It Cool News called it a "masterpiece".
Poultrygeist received some media attention when Troma took revenge out on the Tribeca Film Festival by picketing in front of Manhattan's Village East Cinema, where Poultrygeist's premiere was to be held. Tribeca, who was renting out the venue for weeks, forced the theatre to stop airing Troma's trailers and take down all Poultrygeist posters. In response, a number of Troma employees, one clad in a chicken costume, stood outside the theatre in the days leading up to the premiere, brandishing posters, sandwich boards and giveaways all in promotion of the film.
[edit] Music and Soundtrack
In what director Kaufman claims is a "fromage" (his pun on the term "homage") to the film The Happiness of the Katakuris directed by Takashi Miike, the film is speckled with a series of musical numbers, composed by Duggie Banas and choreographed by Maria Gismondi:
Revenge is a Dish Best Served Fried is sung by Arbie upon his discovery of Wendy's double-crossing. In the song, Arbie declares his plan to apply for American Chicken Bunker in the hopes that his cash flow will lure Wendy back to him.
Slow Fast Food Love is a ballad sung in a fantasy sequence by Arbie and Wendy, where the two reminisce about their past love and admit that they still long for each other's touch.
Generous General is an upbeat folk song sung by General Lee Roy and the restaurant protesters. In the song, the General passively dismisses the protesters' complaints, such as fast food causing obesity and being advertised on children's television, and tries to pass himself off as a caring, charitable individual.
Longing to Live/Waiting to Die is an Irish jig performed by Arbie and Old Arbie. As Arbie sings about his pride in his occupation and how he'll reach his hopes and goals through it, Old Arbie counters with how he's wasted his life in the fast food industry and now all that's left for him is to die.
Murderous General is the final song in the film, a brief, bouncy number where Arbie and Wendy plead to an approaching chicken monster to spare their lives.
One musical number, S-U-I-C-I-D-E, was ultimately cut from the movie. Set to the tune of Hava Nagila, the song is performed by Hummus and a backing chorus of Rabbis (also cut from the film).
The CD soundtrack for Poultrygeist was released on October 3rd, 2006. In addition to the musical numbers present in the film, the album also featured tracks by Potshot, Scatterbox, Zombina and the Skeletones, Elastic No-No Band and The Dwarves.
[edit] Cast
- Jason Yachanin ... Arbie
- Kate Graham ... Wendy
- Allyson Sereboff ... Micki
- Robin Watkins ... General Lee Roy
- Joshua Olatunde ... Denny
- Rose Ghavami ... Hummus
- Caleb Emerson ... Carl Jr.
- Lloyd Kaufman ... Old Arbie
- Khalid Rivera ... Paco Bell
- Joe Fleishaker ... Jared
- Brian Cheverie ... Father O'Houlihan
- Ron Jeremy ... Crazy Ron
