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Music Box to screen Troma's 'Poultrygeist'
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Chicago's late-night zombie crowd has quite a snack awaiting them next month. The Music Box on N. Southport is hosting Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead and Troma Entertainment co-founder Lloyd Kaufman for a night of madness, April 17th. This "awesomely disgusting and disgustingly awesome" super low-budget fast-food zombie musical has been widely deemed Troma's finest production since the very first Toxic Avenger film. Furthermore, after meeting Kaufman at this year's Tromadance 10th Anniversary Party, I can guarantee any local horror fiend a night they won't soon forget.
Yet, is the Troma fan base still just drunken undergrads who find the latest big-budget Hollywood schlock to be just simply disgusting and contemptible? Frankly, there are a lot of moviegoers out there who have lost all faith and interest in contemporary horror films and are turning now to the rapidly growing low-budget horror-comedy genre. The very concept of “camp” is being rebuilt around the Evil Dead or Dead Alive philosophy of pushing the envelope well beyond what would be considered “extreme.” It’s not just about who has the most zombies and theatre blood—it’s about exterminating decency, sensibility, and moderation in all elements of the film’s production and design.
When a massively controversial KFC-ripoff opens up in Tromaville, Arbie decides to fight the mainstream by applying for a job. Once the protestors learn how good their food is, floods of former-protestors—including Arbie’s hippie lesbian ex-girlfriend—line up for the suspicious chicken. In time, Arbie and the staff have a restaurant full of hilariously sick customers who begin to crave human flesh. And, well… it just gets crazier and crazier from there on out. The carnage and insanity will take very brief breaks to touch on the increasingly complicated love story of Arbie and his ex. There is also a great supporting role played by director Lloyd Kaufman, himself. The rest of the film’s characters occupy the most extreme racial stereotypes imaginable—an African-American manager who insists on being called “sergeant,” an Islamic woman in a burka who gets repeatedly blamed for everything that goes wrong, a homosexual Mexican fry cook with certain abnormal festishes, a slackjawed redneck, and so forth.
In addition to the thematic extremes of violence, gore, and racial stereotyping, there must also be room for extremely graphic sexual content. You can imagine how hysterical and unhinged this facet of the film can be when the zombie chicken eggs begin to hatch later in the film. This marks a new standard in the contemporary use of old school creature animation. Mixing this with the film’s abounding sexual content may turn a lot of people off or seem like unnecessary perversion. The idea to keep in mind is that Kaufman always aims to prove his total lack of inhibition, as can be explored in more depth by reading his book Make Your Own Damn Movie: Secrets of a Renegade Director. There is certainly something to be learned from a director with such lurid, unrestrained creativity—even if you are repelled by some of the content of his work.
Poultrygeist is essentially Troma’s answer to Fast Food Nation, compiling all of the typical fears and clichés about that industry, but with a few secret ingredients. While society is constantly force-fed the horror stories of what goes on behind the scenes at fast food restaurants, Kaufman's film creatively taunts our wildest McNightmares. Even though it fits perfectly within both the zombie exploitation genre and Lloyd Kaufman’s filmography, it is a totally unique experience. Furthermore, Poultrygeist introduces its own arsenal of cult-like characters, quotes, and visual/special effects, which help distinguish it from other zombie-comedies (zom-coms?) like Shaun of the Dead.
Unfortunately, both the Music Box and Troma Entertainment typically rely on word of mouth as their primary means of advertising. Therefore, it may have a hard time achieving any substantial crowd for this amazing event. Nevertheless, thank God for people with the motivation and courage to produce and screen these types of films. Poultrygeist is a movie you will never forget and Lloyd Kaufman hopes you'll stay up late the third Friday in April.
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006)
Featuring director Lloyd Kaufman
Midnight
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Music Box Theatre
3733 N Southport Ave
Chicago, IL 60613
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