Ep 165 - TROMA TIME! CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (1986) and POULTRYGEIST (2006) - Bad Taste Tastes Great

CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (1986) d. Richard W. Haines / Lloyd Kaufman (USA) CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH PART II: SUBHUMANOID MELTDOWN (1991) d. Eric Louzil (USA) CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH PART III: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE SUBHUMANOID (1994) d. Eric Louzil (USA) RETURN OF CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (2013) d. Lloyd Kaufman (USA) RETURN TO RETURN OF CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (2017) d. Lloyd Kaufman (USA) POULTRYGEIST: NIGHT OF THE CHICKEN DEAD (2006) d. Lloyd Kaufman (USA) Few independent film companies have cultivated a cinematic identity as unmistakable—or as gloriously unhinged—as Troma Entertainment. Founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, the New York-based outfit built its reputation by giving audiences the movies Hollywood wouldn't touch: outrageous, irreverent, low-budget spectacles that mixed horror, comedy, sex, punk attitude and social satire. Released in 1986, Class of Nuke 'Em High is one of the best examples of the Troma formula. Directed by Richard W. Haines and Lloyd Kaufman, the film transforms the familiar high-school horror movie into a radioactive free-for-all, with Tromaville High sitting dangerously close to a nuclear power plant. Students mutate, the honor society goes spectacularly bad, and the school becomes ground zero for a gleefully tasteless collision of sci-fi, splatter and teenage rebellion. In between the Nuke 'Em sequels and reboots, we got Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, Lloyd Kaufman's magnificently deranged 2006 splatter musical. Set in an American fast-food restaurant built atop an ancient burial ground, Poultrygeist unleashes chicken zombies upon unsuspecting diners while skewering corporate fast food, consumer culture and American excess. Put together, the films demonstrate that Troma's secret weapon was never simply blood, guts or shock value. Class of Nuke 'Em High and Poultrygeist turn exploitation cinema into a playground for satire, DIY filmmaking, and sheer creative lunacy. Forty years after Tromaville High first glowed green, Troma is still proving that sometimes the best way to make movies is to consult the rulebook... and then blow it the cluck up. Join AC and his Troma-loving panel of guests (Zack Beins, Dave "M" Gray, Jonathon Lucas) as we celebrate 40 years of NUKE 'EM HIGH and 20 years of POULTRYGEIST!  ---------------------------------------------- ZACK BEINS is a filmmaker from Denver, CO.  He has made several films and music videos including The Misled Romance of Cannibal Girl and Incest Boy, and Atom the Amazing Zombie Killer<span style= "font-family: Space Grotesk, Space Grotesk Fallback: BlinkMacSystemFont, Space Grotesk Fallback: Segoe UI, Space Grotesk Fallback: Helvetica Neue, Space Grotesk Fallback: Arial, Space Grotesk Fallback: Noto Sans, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symb