''Chicken Park'' is a 1994

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

parody film directed by and starring

Jerry Calà Calogero Alessandro Augusto Calà, known by his stage name Jerry Calà (born 28 June 1951), is an Italian actor, filmmaker, comedian and singer who has written, directed, and acted in multiple film and television projects. He is considered one of ...

that parodies various films, especially the 1993 film ''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...

''. The film is Calà's directorial debut.

Synopsis

When Vladimiro's (

) chicken is stolen while he is in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

for a cockfight, he immediately begins trying to get it back. During his searches he discovers an entire zoo full of gigantic chickens.

Cast

as Vladimiro *

Demetra Hampton Demetra Lisa Ann Hampton (born June 15, 1968) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying the title role in the Italian television series '' Valentina''. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hampton began her career as a model in N ...

as Sigourney * Rossy de Palma as Necrophelia Addams *Lawrence Steven Meyers as Dr. Eggs * Alessia Marcuzzi as Airplane hostess

Production

The film was shot between

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. It was filmed in English. The budget was two and a half billion lire. The film marked both the directorial debut of Calà and the film debut of actress Alessia Marcuzzi. It was also the last work as special effects artist for Antonio Margheriti. Calà had previously announced his debut as director with a completely different project, a biographical drama film about

Umberto Bossi Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician and former leader of Lega Nord (Northern League), a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone, and has fou ...

and

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

, ''Il Longobardo'', that was eventually abandoned.

Parodies

The film mainly parodies ''

'' but also references many outer films and cultural icons in some gags, such as '' The Addams Family,

Home Alone ''Home Alone'' is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The first film in the ''Home Alone'' franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Hear ...

The Deer Hunter ''The Deer Hunter'' is a 1978 war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Slavic-American steelworkers whose lives were upended after fighting in the Vietnam War. The three soldiers are played by Robert De Niro, Chr ...

Full Metal Jacket ''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 novel ''The Short-Timers'' and stars Matthew M ...

, Sister Act,

Pretty Woman ''Pretty Woman'' is a 1990 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall, from a screenplay by J. F. Lawton. The film stars Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and features Héctor Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy (in his final performance), La ...

Hot Shots! ''Hot Shots!'' is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Jim Abrahams, co-writer and co-director of ''Airplane!'', and written by Abrahams and Pat Proft. It stars Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Jon Cryer, Kevin Dunn ...

, Il Postino: The Postman'' and '' Edward Scissorhands''. Moreover,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appears as a washer.

Release

''Chicken Park'' premiered at the 14th edition of

Fantafestival The Mostra internazionale del film di fantascienza e del fantastico (English: ''International Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Show''), commonly known as Fantafestival, is a film festival devoted to science fiction, fantasy and horror film tha ...

, in which it entered the main competition. Due to production problems, it was not released theatrically in Italy. Broadcast by Italia 1, at its television premiere the film was seen by over 4 million people. The film was released in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on 5 April 1996 as ''Piliç parki'' and subsequently in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

as ''Pollo jurásico''.

Reception

Critical reception for the film was generally negative, with ''

L'espresso ''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is ''Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media. History and profile One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, ''l ...

'' calling the film "trash" and ''MDZ Online'' commenting that the film was of such poor quality that it had the potential to become a cult classic. Film critic Marco Giusti described the film as "supertrash", "more stupid than funny" and a film in which the best actor probably is Jo, the chicken owned by Calà. According to film critic Paolo Mereghetti the film fails almost entirely to raise a smile and the English version of the film, with Calà self-dubbing himself, is a must for trash-lovers. According to author Massimo Bertarelli, the film is just made of "exasperating drollery and depressing sloppiness".

References

External links

*
''Chicken Park''
at Variety Distribution {{Jerry Calà 1996 films 1990s monster movies 1990s parody films English-language Italian films Italian parody films 1990s science fiction comedy films Giant monster films Films directed by Jerry Calà Films shot in Rome Films shot in the Dominican Republic Films set in the Dominican Republic Films about chickens 1990s adventure comedy films Cultural depictions of Pope John Paul II 1996 directorial debut films 1996 comedy films 1990s English-language films