Clucking Genius!!!by Ton

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November 01, 2008: Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead is Lloyd Kaufman's best movie to date. Which is true for almost all of his previous movies as the legend only gets better and better. This film can be read on so many levels that finally being able to revisit it over and over again now that it is out on DVD is something many fans have been waiting for. Of course the careless viewer can watch it as a wonderful splattering gory and amazingly entertaining, wildly funny horror musical with a great story and one of the best casts Troma has ever had the pleasure of
working with, and even then you are in for a treat because no nanosecond is wasted. There is so much going on in the background, the tiniest props have the most insightful jokes and messages on them. Check what is on the headstones in the opening scenes, read the titles on DVD covers appearing in the film, T-shirts people are wearing - there are many opportunities to freeze-frame your DVD and see what is easily missed when you saw the film in a theater. Every detail has been given much care, down to the names of all the characters. But there are also load of political statements, that can be read painfully wrong if you are not aware of the background of the director, and are all the more powerful if you are. Other than that, it is one of those rare zombie-themed films that are provokingly intelligent. There are so many zombies in hundreds of movies that are there only for gores sake, here they serve a purpose, here they present a striking metaphor of what modern society has come to, filled with unthinking trend-following food-stuffing individuals who seem to have no control over themselves
and much less a mind of their own. Most striking is the idea the movie is built upon: a fast food restaurant built on a sacred native American burial ground magnificently represents how the new Americans have treated the land they took and the original cultures that lived on it: destroyed it, killed it, buried it and built a literally and
metaphorically totally tasteless new meaningless culture on top of it.

The dialog is fast, witty and powerful and the film leaves the viewer with a whole lot to chew upon This again is a movie that demonstrates how ridiculous the popular notion is that Troma makes trivial and tasteless movies. Lloyd Kaufman may make movies the about tastelessness of todays world, but that doesn't make his movies tasteless. Quite the contrary ? there are very few directors in the movie industry who are able to show what is wrong with humanity in such a painfully accurate way,

The 3-disc DVD set is not to be missed by anyone who is remotely interested in horror, Troma, movies in general and fans of Lloyd Kaufman's work. It is a total encyclopedia on what is Poultrygeist with not only a beautifully presented widescreen version of the film, but loads of insightful extra's on all three discs. There is a feature length documentary on the making of the film, shots of the NYC premiere, deleted scenes, film-making lessons, an alternate ending, music video's, karaoke versions of the songs from the film and many more Tromatic goodies.

A great film by a legendary genius director with a very talented cast. And all that in this kind of loaded package for such a price. Get it, before they're gone. It's the best buy for your money.

This review was written about the DVD edition.

I Also Recommend: Complete Toxic Avenger, Demons Among Us, Make Your Own Damn Movie!: Secrets of a Renegade Director, Toxic Avenger, Lloyd Kaufman Presents: The Toxic Avenger and Other Tromatic Tales.