Poultrygeist is a typical Troma film, with offensive and gross scenes starting right out the gate and continuing all the way to the end. This film is part musical, part horror, part romance and part comedy. It is quite an arrangement. The main premise is a boy leaves for college and returns after one semester to find his girlfriend is now a lesbian activist fighting against a fast food mega-conglomerate. The fast food chain, American Chicken Bunker, just built a new restaurant on an old Indian burial ground. This leads to the employees and main characters having to fight off chicken-possessed zombie demons, as well as some other strange occurrences. The names of the characters are all restaurant references (i.e. Arby, Wendy, Micki, Denny, Paco Bell, Carl Jr and Jared). The musical numbers are quite amusing too. Of course with it being a Troma film, Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman has a small roll. Poultrygeist is easily one of the craziest and grossest films you’ll ever see, but it truly is a fun time if you have an open mind and a strong stomach. Look for the Ron Jeremy cameo too, as Crazy Ron.
”I aim to misbehave.” If you know that quote, then chances are you know what a “browncoat” is and have seen this film. Serenity is a film follow-up to the short-lived television series Firefly. Firefly was a space western created by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse). Though only eleven episodes were originally aired (out of 14 created) before it was cancelled, Firefly became a cult hit and garnered fans all over the geek world. Thanks to the support, a film was made a couple years later. Some hoped this would be the rejuvenation the franchise needed to get the show back on the air, but that still hasn’t happened. Serenity takes place after the events of the television series, bringing the crew of the Serenity on a new adventure. Though Serenity is obviously a great thing for fans of Firefly, it works as a standalone film and can be enjoyed by anyone. The film gives enough info to follow the story without needing to know the background of the series. I would love to see Captain Mal and his crew again, but some major players have gone on to bigger things. Nathan Fillion is starring in Castle, Adam Baldwin is the magnificent John Casey in Chuck and Summer Glau is continuing to get every show cancelled that she costars in (Firefly, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse, The Cape).
The streets of Verona have never looked so…New Mexican. R&JvTLD is an independent film created in and around Albuquerque. The story is just like the classic Shakespeare tale except for one fact, the Montagues are zombies. Juliet falls in love with the zombie Romeo, and their love is forbidden. This is a fresh and entertaining take on the classic, and was created before the Jane Austen classic/zombie mashup Pride and Prejudice and Zombies became a big hit. Mark Chavez (of the Pajama Men) is featured as a very amusing Mercutio. Sadly this film has not gotten dvd distribution yet, but you can purchase and download it at Amazon. I would very much recommend it, as I would of course recommend all the top films on this list.
When people think of Japanese horror, they think of films like Ringu and Ju-On, both remade into American films The Ring and The Grudge respectively. However, back in the seventies a Japanese film was released that to this day is unlike any other. Only recently becoming available in the United States, House (or Hausu in Japan) is about a group of school girls who go on vacation to one of the girls’ aunt’s house. What they don’t know is that the aunt is evil and wants to “eat” the young girls to help her look young again. This appears to be done by the house itself actually attacking the girls. House is very unconventional in its cinematography. The director, who had previously only done commercials, used his creative mind to apply various experimental techniques. The result is an amusing yet strangely beautiful-looking film. The girls are named for their personality traits (i.e. Gorgeous, Melody, Prof, Kung Fu, Mac, Sweet and Fantasy). There are some really strange things in this film, but it is truly a sight to behold. Watch this to experience a film that is hard to describe and can’t really be compared to anything else. It is a treat to be able to watch House.
Moon is the directorial debut of Duncan Jones, son of David Bowie. The film is mostly a one-man show, resting on the shoulders of Sam Rockwell in a powerful performance. Rockwell stars as Sam Bell, an employee for a company that is mining on the moon. Sam lives and works alone, though he does have a robot named GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey) who keeps him company and helps him out. All Sam has to do is oversee a mostly automated operation during a three year contract. At the start of the film, Sam is near the end of his contract. He has been keeping in touch with his pregnant wife by recorded communications, but other than that his only other human contact is during brief communications with his employer. Two weeks before he can go home, Sam hallucinates while on the surface in a rover and crashes his vehicle. He wakes up in the infirmary not remembering the accident. Soon after that, a series of events takes place that leads to a mind-blowing discovery for Sam. Moon is purely a character-driven science-fiction film, something that rarely exists anymore. With science-fiction relying on big budgets and ridiculous special effects these days, it is refreshing to find such a smart film that is both entertaining and through-provoking. It is the type of film you want to discuss with others afterwards.