31 (or so) Days of Terror: Poultrygeist

While it could be argued that Horror films are more effective without it, Gore is inseparable from the genre at this point. Limbs ripped off, guts spilled out, blood gushing from orifices; in the tradition of the Grand Guignol people can't get enough. Gore adds a dimension of visceral violence that makes horrible elements all the more horrifying. Or the gore can be taken to such a degree that it becomes comical as in today's feature from the mavericks at Troma, 2006's Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.

Arbie and Wendy are high-school sweethearts who've made the local Indian Burial Ground their favorite spot. But a year after graduation, Arbie returns to find that the burial ground has been razed to build a new American Chicken Bunker franchise and Wendy, who left for college without Arbie, is outside protesting. And she's become a lesbian! To spite her, Arbie takes a job at the new fast food joint only for strange things to start happening. Mysterious deaths, weird mutations, and talking sandwiches. It turns out that the ghosts of the desecrated Indians have joined forces with the ghosts of the dead chickens to wreak horrible revenge on all American Chicken Bunkers. Will our heroes be able to survive the chicken zombie apocalypse?


I feel as though I should give some introduction to Troma Studios as Poultrygeist is clearly a product of that infamous institution. Troma is an independent film company that specializes in what would normally be called horror-comedies had anyone else made them. But Troma movies are almost unclassifiable as Troma does not understand limits. The key points of their aesthetic, all of which are on display in Poultrygeist, are crude toilet humor, politically incorrect stereotypes, gratuitous female nudity, and gore so over-the-top that you'd forget there was any top to begin with. What makes Troma stand out though is that despite employing humor so blue it would make the guys at South Park blush, everything is played completely straight. The humor comes from seeing just how far the filmmaker will take things. They're the studio version of the Aristocrats joke.

Lloyd Kaufman, the director,
being attacked by a chicken zombie.

Troma are also smarter than their crass veneer would lead you to believe. What makes Poultrygeist work as more than just a sideshow is that the narrative is grounded in an emotional reality, Arbie and Wendy's relationship if not exactly realistic is at least believable. Because the feelings that drive their actions are understandable all the ridiculous bullshit around them becomes more palatable. But don't misunderstand, just because the script is smarter than it has to be doesn't mean the acting isn't sub-par or the direction isn't pedestrian.

But who cares? That's not what you watch a Troma movie for. You watch it for the insane special effects and the cheap titillation. And this is where Poultrygeist excels. Walls ended up covered in blood, there are geysers of gross green fluid, people literally shit themselves to death, and bodies melt into bubbly puddles. But to the film's credit, they keep the moments of extreme effects to a minimum at first. There will be one every once and a while to whet the audience's appetite before moving focus back toward the antics of the story and characters. And being so sparse the gonzo finale becomes even more  of an eye-catching event. And what an event it is, as the restaurant falls under siege from a horde of chicken zombies and the few people who haven't mutated from eating the haunted fried chicken are dismembered in delightfully extravagant detail. What little subtlety the production had flies out the window and the camera lovingly shows every bit of caricatured violence. It goes on for almost fifteen minutes, every setup trying to outdo the last.

Chicken Zombies. Chicken. Zombies.
Need I say more?

The most surprising thing about Poultrygeist is how political it is. Yes, this movie full of titty flashes and chicken zombies is political. Specifically, it's a left-wing anti-corporate screed. The depiction of American Chicken Bunker is a condemnation of the fast food industry, showing it as corner-cutting and solely profit-driven, coating itself in a facade of patriotism and bolstering the economy. This critiques is embodied by General Leroy, a savage parody of Col. Sanders played by Robin Watkins. The General is a caricature of extreme Right-wing billionaires, a greedy racist skilled at the art of PR spin who rides around in a stretch Hummer and dismisses anyone's criticism as "attacking the American Dream". It's not subtle in the least, but it is hilarious even if you disagree with its politics. Fast Food isn't Poultrygeist's only target, as the narrative also takes potshots at the disingenuity of supposedly liberal protests of corporations and the naive complacency of those who work in Fast Food. The digs at the Fast Food industry are the loudest though, it's hard to miss the point when Fast Food customers are shown as a mindless, ravenous horde.

I'm at something of loss. Troma films by their very nature are hard to review as everything that you'd mark down another film for are part and parcel for this studio. Can you really condemn a film for being cheap and gratuitous if that's what the filmmakers are most known for? But for what it is, Poultrygeist is a hoot. Its complete lack of sublety in every way; acting, theme, comedy, makes for an entertainingly lowbrow experience. But, as always with Troma, those of a more delicate persuasion will probably be turned off by that very same gratuitousness. So let me put it thusly, if you can laugh at a drunk redneck fucking a frozen chicken only for that same frozen chicken to come to life and bite his penis off than this is a film for you. If that sort of thing turns you off, then Poultrygeist doesn't have much to offer you.

Final Score: 4/5, considering who made it.