Film

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead

Poultrygeist is a trashy, proudly dumb horror-comedy from the Lloyd Kaufman school: fast-food restaurant built on cursed Native American burial ground, chicken zombies, geyser-quantities of fake blood, and a tone that finds the joke in its own awfulness. It's a party movie for people who love bad taste and genre gonzo. Expect splattery, crude, and absolutely not for the easily offended.

TMDb rating3.0

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The template for comedy-horror excess: over-the-top gore, slapstick violence, a beleaguered hero, and a director having the time of his life. Same anarchic energy, same gleeful disregard for taste.

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Cute creatures wreck a small town with darkly comic violence and practical effects that feel gross and tactile. The tonal whiplash between cute and vicious is exactly Poultrygeist's game.

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Tremors1990

B-movie creature feature that knows exactly what it is: fun, unpretentious, packed with practical gore and quips. Plays its absurd premise completely straight, which is the best comedy move.

But The humor is often groan-worthy puns. If you need clever writing or character development, this isn't it—it's purely mechanics and laughs.

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Bad Taste1987

Both are independent splatter-comedies about creatures made from food products that infect and destroy human bodies. Same spirit of 'we have no money so we'll make it as disgusting as possible.'

Peter Jackson's literal feature debut: aliens land in New Zealand to harvest humans for meat; Jackson plays a hero fighting them with whatever's at hand. Homemade gore, go-for-broke ambition, and genuine ingenuity on a nothing budget. This is where it started.

But The production is genuinely shoddy. It's in 16mm, the dialogue is flat, Jackson is not a good actor, and the pacing drags—watching a film this rough can feel like work.

Bad Taste poster
More like this (8)

Troma's War1988

Lloyd Kaufman's previous masterpiece of tastelessness: B-team special forces movie where nothing is sacred and the violence is cartoonish and hilarious. Same director, same mission to offend and entertain.

But Production values are genuinely rough even by 1980s indie standards. The satire can feel scattershot and some of the humor lands on cringe rather than comedy.

Troma's War poster

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil2010

Takes horror tropes and inverts them with charm and real humor. Proves genre parody can work without being aggressively stupid, though the chaos and gore is there throughout.

But It's more clever than anarchic, which means it's almost the opposite energy. If you want stupid fun, this is too interested in being smart about stupid fun.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil poster

Braindead1992

Peter Jackson's greatest love letter to splatter: Mommy issues, gore that's so extreme it loops back to funny, and a final act that just keeps escalating. Absurdist and surprisingly heartfelt underneath.

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Night of the Creeps1986

Alien slugs infest human bodies; cue decapitations, campus chaos, and retro 1950s nostalgia. Knows it's ridiculous and plays it with winking competence and real affection for horror tropes.

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What We Do in the Shadows2014

Vampire mockumentary from New Zealand that proves genre comedy can be genuinely clever and sweet-natured. Mockumentary format lets it breathe between laughs and land character moments.

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What We Do in the Shadows poster

Student Bodies1981

Slasher parody decades before Scream that's genuinely goofy and absurd. Early proof that you could mock horror conventions and still have anarchic fun.

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Cannibal! The Musical1996

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Trey Parker's true-crime musical comedy where every song is genuinely catchy and funny. It's utterly deranged—cannibals singing show tunes—and committed to the bit in a way that makes it oddly touching.

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Cannibal! The Musical poster

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night2014

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Iranian-American vampire film shot in black and white, gorgeously composed and haunting. It's a vampire movie, but also a meditation on isolation and connection. Quiet where Poultrygeist screams.

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A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night poster

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