Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead: Blu-Ray Review - Written by Anthony T

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
Year: 2008
Director: Lloyd Kaufman
Studio: Troma Entertainment
Stars: Jason Yachanin, Kate Graham, Lloyd Kaufman
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 103 Mins
Official Website: http://www.poultrygeistmovie.com/




Movie Synopsis:

"Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead" is the latest film, from the president of Troma Entertainment and the creator of “The Toxic Avenger”, Lloyd Kaufman. The film is about a military themed restaurant that decides to build their latest store on top of a native Indian burial ground site. Soon the spirits, from the burial ground, starts taking revenge on anyone, who steps foot, in the restaurant. The only people who can stop them are a mindless and not so bright counter-boy, his ex girlfriend, who dumped him to become a lesbian and a burqa-wearing cook. This is a zany horror film that is filled with musical numbers, comedy and extreme blood and guts gore.

Movie Review:

"Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead" is not for the weak of heart or for the easily offended. With that said, Poultrygeist is truly up there with “The Toxic Avenger”, as one of Lloyd Kaufman’s best films. Lloyd Kaufman still proves that his zany direction always works well with the material that he and the crazy writers of Troma Entertainment come up with. One of the things that I liked, about his direction was that he does a good job keeping the action moving, which is one of his trademarks. Another thing that he did well was to let the story of the film develop and not rush all the zany gore that’s always been common, in most of his films. Kaufman also does a great job directing his actors. He lets his actors make their characters totally likeable or truly hated. Another thing that I liked, about the acting was the performances by the film’s two leads Jason Yachanin and Kate Graham. Those two really had great chemistry with each other, which helps sell the love story subplot, in the film and makes everything that goes on, interesting.

The screenplay written by Kaufman, Dan Bova and Gabe Friedman was a very fun filled gorefest. The screenwriters bring a variety of issues, in a humorous way, like American’s obsession of fast food consumption, Iraq, and corporate America to name a few. Amidst all that, there's a very entertaining story. The development of the characters was very good, to the point that you’re into the film and its zany antics. Another thing, that was also done right was the timing of the musical sequences, into the film’s story. The screenwriters, time the sequences very well, by putting them, in the right places in the story and the lyrics to the songs make sense with the scene and story, of the film. They also do a very good job developing the various subplots like the love story and various issues that they address in this film. It helps adds to the zany fun that takes place in this film. The humor was also very good.. It was funny to the point, where I was laughing alot. The humor works, because the screenwriters combine the various horror and comedy aspects that are needed to make a film like this, very entertaining and fun.

Blu-Ray Extras:

For a small independent film company, this Blu-Ray is very loaded with extras. First, there are two commentary tracks. The first one is the production commentary track with Writer/Editor Gabriel Friedman and Director Lloyd Kaufman. This is a very good commentary track here, as this was very informative. They both did a great job going into the production aspects of the making of the film and the various problems that they had. It's nice to see a very informative track here, as there are tracks in the past, where its just there for entertainment value. Not here, both Friedman and Kaufman are very serious in the way that they talk about the production, as some of it can be very informative to those that are in filmmaking or looking to get into it. The second track is the cast Commentary track with actors Jason Yachanin and Kate Graham. This is one of the two Blu-ray exclusives on the disc. Yachanin and Graham do a good job going into the various stories from the set of the film. It’s fairly good track, as there was also some parts were entertaining too, which makes it enjoyable.

Next, is the eight-one minute full length documentary "Poultry In Motion" This is a very good documentary that highlights the film's production though the various mishaps during the production to some of the outrageous and fun moments that happen during filming. The documentary also provides a lot of detail to into the special effects of some of the film's key scenes. It’s also a good look at the world of low budget filmmaking, as Troma has been an independent studio that really does a great job in making their documentaries feel like an all access experience, instead of just another quick behind the scenes featurette that most of the major studios put out.

After that film, there's even more behind the scenes featurettes. The first one is an eight minute featurette called "Designing the Monster" This featurette goes into how one of the film's main monsters is created. Next is the "Recording the Songs". It's a six-minute featurette that goes into the behind the scenes process, when the actors recorded the songs before actual shooting of the film happened. "Shooting the Meatgrinder" featurette is next. This four minute featurette goes into the behind the scenes of one of the film's most gruesome death scenes. After that there is a five-minute featurette called "The Rooftop Reshoot" highlighting the NYC rooftop scene, which was inserted into the film a year after the film was shot. It goes into the filming of that scene. After that, it's another FX featurette called "Joe Fleishaker Gets a Head Mold". It goes into the process of how a head mold is made. The next featurette is called "Make Your Own Sound Effects" It's a twenty-three minute featurette that's very informative, as it goes into the process of sound effects are made. The last behind the scenes featurette is "Blow Me Away: Filming the American Chicken Bunker Explosion. This fourteen minute featurette goes into the process of blowing up the fast food restaurant that take place in the film, while going into things that filmmakers may need to know when filming a explosion sequences. All in all, the extensive behind the scenes stuff does great job highlighting the film's production.

After that, there is a nine minute featurette that highlights the film's NYC premiere and Q&A session. There's also another Blu-ray excusive featurette called "Chewing the Fat with Joe Fleishaker. It's a two-minute featurette that goes into Joe Fleishaker, who has been in countless Kaufman films. The disc wraps up with a four-minute short called "Chicken Ass", music videos from Count Smokula and Calamari Safari, four deleted scenes, two "Poultrygeist trailers and four trailers for other Troma releases.

Final Thoughts:

Even though, this is Troma’s first foray into Blu-ray. You couldn’t tell it was the company’s first release, as this is fully loaded with extras with great behind the scenes footage and informative commentary.

“Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead” is truly one of Kaufman’s best films, as it’s funny and contains blood-squirting gore that will make you think twice before eating your chicken tonight. Had to throw that last part in there. It’s catchy though.

Film Review Rating: 5 Stars
Blu-Ray Extras Rating: 5 Stars