Chickundead

How often have you pondered the unearthly mystery of a McChicken Sandwich slathered in special sauce? Leave it to low-budget-movie impresario Lloyd Kaufman to delve into the heart of the matter with a cursed tomahawk and come up singing about zombies, chicken fuckers, and suicide bombers. Poultrygeist, the latest offering from Troma Entertainment, strikes an improbable balance between social satire and projectile diarrhea in this tale of young love (a lipstick lesbian and vengeful fast-food employee), bad eating habits (you don’t know where that poultry has been), and a Native American graveyard (enter bloodthirsty zombie chickens). While some viewers came close to losing their cookies during the New York premiere this spring (when it came in second only to Iron Man at the box office), most fans were laughing between their upchuck. Between songs such as “Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Deep Fried” and “Slow Fast Food Love,” Poultrygeist offers cinematic homages to The Exorcist, Night of the Living Dead, Jaws, and Troma’s own Die You Zombie Bastards. For truly devoted Lloyd Kaufman fans, there’s even a good eyeful of the director’s hairy scrotal sac. But even neophytes (for whom this might be the most disturbing image in the film) will admit: Nothing could come closer to a genetically engineered hybrid of Fast Food Nation, The Singing Detective, and Toxic Avenger.
July 18-24, 7 & 9 p.m., 2008