Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead 2006

High school sweethearts Arbie [Jason Yachanin] and Wendy [Kate Graham] head to the Tromahawk Native American burial ground to share a private moment, hoping to seal their bond before Wendy heads off to college. A tense, uneasy mood hangs over the scene as Arbie frets about being left behind, while Wendy reassures him with a promise of faithfulness. Their plan is abruptly interrupted when a gravedigger watching them is attacked by zombie hands bursting from the ground, and the couple flees in shock.

Months later, Arbie returns to the site and finds two shocking changes. The burial ground has been bulldozed and replaced by a mammoth American Chicken Bunker, a mega-fast-food franchise that looms over the area. To his dismay, he discovers Wendy has transformed into a politically active, left-wing, lipstick liberal who protests the construction with her activist girlfriend Micki [Allyson Sereboff]. Disillusioned and seeking revenge, Arbie takes a job at the very restaurant, under the watchful eye of the paranoid manager Denny [Joshua Olatunde]. The staff is a colorful mix: the effeminate Paco Bell [Khalid Rivera], the animal-loving Carl Jr. [Caleb Emerson], the burqa-clad Hummus [Rose Ghavami], and a mysterious 60-year-old man who lives in the basement and has worked as their costume mascot for decades—their past is oddly connected to Arbie, a fact tied to the mascot, played by [Lloyd Kaufman].

As the shift begins, the drive for profit collides with a hidden horror. While the crew grinds meat, Paco is forced toward the wrong end of the processing line and is pushed into the meat grinder by an uncooked chicken. General Lee Roy decides to convert Paco into a sloppy joe rather than waste the body. Arbie soon uncovers a sinister plot: the spirits of disenfranchised Native Americans and countless chickens slaughtered for the chain are rallying for revenge, a warning delivered to him by Paco, now reanimated as a sandwich. The danger escalates as Carl Jr. engages in a grotesque encounter with an uncooked chicken in the storage room, which the chicken uses to viciously bite him. Hummus intervenes, killing the intruder by shoving a broom up Carl’s backside, an act that tragically tears off his penis. The situation spirals as General Lee Roy insists on not taking Carl to a hospital and instead turning over the chicken to protesters outside.

Carl Jr. meets a grim fate later when Arbie gives him alcohol to drink, and the chain’s chaos continues to unfold. Micki declares the chicken delicious, prompting Wendy to break up with her and return to Arbie. The poisoned chicken sickens customers, and Lee Roy, trying the product himself, experiences a sudden diarrhea episode. He lays an egg in the bathroom, and the chicken hatches into a chicken zombie that grows into a formidable threat. Denny leads everyone toward the kitchen’s back area, recounting his first chicken encounter in a moment that echoes Jaws, only to be decapitated by the General.

Soon the restaurant, its workers, customers, and protesters all transform into zombie chickens, wreaking havoc as they mob the premises. The mascot [Lloyd Kaufman] fends them off with an M-16, neutralizing many of the avian attackers. The General Lee Roy zombie returns, only to be shot down by the mascot; before the death blow lands, the General’s nose is torn off by a resurrected Denny. Arbie, in turn, shoots Denny, halting the immediate threat. Wendy flips the open/closed sign to “closed,” attempting to halt the outbreak and limit the carnage, a move that buys them a fleeting reprieve.

The mascot then reveals a shocking twist: he is Arbie’s future self. He too morphs into a chicken zombie, and Micki—who tries to escape—also becomes one. Hummus drinks a meat steroid to try to save them, an act that backfires and costs her life in a dramatic sacrifice. With their options narrowing, Arbie and Wendy manage to escape alongside a young girl [Faith Sheehan], while the building lurches toward destruction. The trio makes a narrow getaway as the restaurant explodes behind them, bringing the nightmarish threat to a dramatic close.

In the final seconds of chaos, the little girl’s emotional journey continues in the aftermath: on the drive home, she experiences stomach cramps after drinking a can of beer, clucks like a chicken, and unexpectedly lays an egg, unnerving her guardians. The driver loses control, the car flips, and it explodes, ending the perilous ordeal with all inside killed.

During the credits, a surreal dance of chicken zombies provides a final, dark wink to the madness they endured, leaving viewers with the memory of a town faced with a monstrous culinary nightmare.