‘Poultrygeist’: celebrating 20 years of the world’s only chicken themed zombie comedy musical
It’s not often one can look at a movie, go “why does this exist and who is it even for?!”, and have that question answered pretty directly simply by the production company behind it. “Troma? Oh, that makes sense.”
Troma are an independent film company that formed in 1974 and has spent the following half-century following the same basic formula. With an almost sexual degree of relish, they churn out raucous, blood-soaked, horror-comedy B-Movies that treat good taste the way a lion treats a wounded gazelle on the Serengeti. Every taboo you can possibly think of is royally (and often literally) fucked with in films that are equal parts John Waters and John Carpenter and all the better for it.
Honestly? You can take your pick of any Troma classic to choose from as a good place to start with their back catalogue – what you see is very much what you get. The Toxic Avenger, Surf Nazis Must Die, Tales From the Crapper, all classics. If you want pure, uncut Troma, however, for better or worse? Your best bet is with a film celebrating its 20th anniversary this very year. The absurd grindhouse zombie musical classic Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.
It’s far from the only zombie comedy… Those are pretty easy to find. Shaun of the Dead, The Dead Don’t Die, Zombieland, all fine examples of that subgenre. Fun fact, it’s not even the only zombie comedy musical, the absolutely charming Anna and the Apocalypse got there in 2017. However, these pictures might as well be Shakespeare plays compared to the sheer puerile thrills of Poultrygeist, which doesn’t so much seek to transcend the lowest common denominator but revel in it.
This is, after all, a film that begins with accidental anal sex with a corpse and only gets worse from there.
What inspired this Troma classic?
Unlike many of Troma’s films, there was a direct inspiration for Poultrygeist. According to an interview that director and Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman gave to the Arizona Star, a branch of McDonald’s opened up next to the Troma headquarters. Suddenly, they had “rats the size of raccoons” in their basement. Which is kind of wild, for a start. Do you have any idea how much it takes to disgust the people who work at literal Troma?!
Their vendetta against the world’s most popular fast food franchise was the starting point for this tale of a fast food franchise built on an ancient Native American burial ground. If that idea sounds off-colour, then it’s probably best to get off the ride now. This is a film that involves someone’s rectum getting ripped off and thrown on a fryer, and yet its idea of “social commentary” might be the most actually cringeworthy part of it.
Still, the bad taste is the point. I won’t lie to you and say the constant boundary pushing doesn’t get old after a while, but this is not a film looking for validation from anyone outside the Troma bubble. If the antics of Poultrygeist aren’t your idea of a good time, then you aren’t a Troma fan, and there’s vanishingly little for you here.
If you are charmed by it, then good news, there’s 50 years of filmmaking waiting for you to dive into like a putrescent swimming pool filled with blood, guts and jizz.