Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Irreverent Horror Comedy Arrives on DVD Right in Time for Halloween

General Lee Roy (Robin Watkins), a rank and file member of the Ku Klux Klan, also happens to be the CEO of American Chicken Bunker, a leading chain of fast food restaurants. The General has decided to go forward with plans to build his next franchise atop a sacred Native American burial ground, ignoring some very vocal local opposition.
He proceeds to bulldoze the graveyard, unaware that disturbing the remains of the Tromahawk Nation will trigger freaky fallout no one could have ever anticipated. For, the spirits of the ancestors magically merge with the fowl being served at the restaurant, turning the birds into a revenge-minded horde of man-eating zombies.
This is the point of departure of Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, an alternately hilarious and shocking, gender-bending, genre-mixing, musical horror flick which defies description at every turn. Thoroughly entertaining via everything from blood-curling screams to gruesome displays of vivisection to a topless lesbian revue to bodily function humor to politically-incorrect ethnic jokes, the movie saves plenty of time to deliver some deadly serious messages about consumerism, sexism, racism and animal rights.
Directed by the legendary Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger) the picture stars Jason Yachanin as Arbie, a recent high school grad who can’t afford to go to college. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Wendy (Kate Graham), promises to remain loyal while away at school, only to fall in love with a gay, activist classmate, Micki (Allyson Sereboff).
The plot thickens after Arbie applies for a job at the cursed new restaurant, and what ensues is a jaw dropping combination of silly, sexy and sadistic skits serving up a never-ending array of imaginative ways to knock off cast members in a high attrition-rate production.
A sophisticated splatter flick as likely to enlighten as to keep you in stitches.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 99 minutes
Studio: Troma Entertainment
DVD Extras: Alternate happy ending, deleted scenes, music videos, trailers, filmmaking lessons, director’s commentary, feature-length behind-the-scenes documentary, and much more.

To see a trailer of Poultrygeist, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VQxYMHX-YE