Chicken Park

Chicken Park is a 1994 comedy parody film directed by and starring Jerry Calà that parodies various films, especially the 1993 film Jurassic Park.[1] The film is Calà's directorial debut.[2]

Chicken Park
Directed byJerry Calà
Written byGino Capone
Galliano Juso
Produced byGalliano Juso
StarringJerry Calà
Demetra Hampton
Rossy de Palma
CinematographyBlasco Giurato
Music byGiovanni Nuti
Umberto Smaila
Distributed byVariety Distribution
Release dates
  • 5 April 1996 (1996-04-05) (Turkey)
  • 21 August 1996 (1996-08-21) (Spain)
Running time
93 minutes
CountriesItaly
Dominican Republic
LanguageEnglish

Synopsis

When Vladimiro's (Jerry Calà) chicken is stolen while he is in the Dominican Republic for a cockfight, he immediately begins trying to get it back. During his searches he discovers an entire zoo full of gigantic chickens.[3]

Cast

Production

The film was shot between Santo Domingo, L'Aquila and Rome.[4][5] It was filmed in English.[6] The budget was two and a half billion lire.[6][7] The film marked both the directorial debut of Calà and the film debut of actress Alessia Marcuzzi.[8] It was also the last work as special effects artist for Antonio Margheriti.[9] Calà had previously announced his debut as director with a completely different project, a biographical drama film about Umberto Bossi and Lega Nord, Il Longobardo, that was eventually abandoned.[5]

Parodies

The film mainly parodies Jurassic Park but also references many outer films and cultural icons in some gags, such as The Addams Family, Home Alone, The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket, Sister Act, Pretty Woman, Hot Shots!, Il Postino: The Postman and Edward Scissorhands. Moreover, Pope John Paul II appears as a washer.

Release

Chicken Park premiered at the 14th edition of Fantafestival, in which it entered the main competition.[10] Due to production problems, it was not released theatrically in Italy.[7] Broadcast by Italia 1, at its television premiere the film was seen by over 4 million people.[11] The film was released in Turkey on 5 April 1996 as Piliç parki and subsequently in Spain as Pollo jurásico.

Reception

Critical reception for the film was generally negative,[2] with L'espresso 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.[12][13] 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.[4] 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.[14] According to author Massimo Bertarelli, the film is just made of "exasperating drollery and depressing sloppiness".[15]

References
  1. "Scheda del film Comico di Jerry Calà". Il Cancello. Archived from the original on 2 March 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  2. "When Comedy Fails: Two reviews by SC magazine contributor Mike Sullivan". Shock Cinema Magazine. 23 January 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  3. Pino Farinotti; Rossella Farinotti (2011). Il Farinotti 2012. Dizionario di tutti i film. Newton Compton, 2011. ISBN 978-88-5413-182-8.
  4. Marco Giusti (1999). Dizionario dei film italiani stracult. Sperling & Kupfer, 1999. ISBN 88-200-2919-7.
  5. Giovanna Grassi (12 January 1994). "Cala' : con i polli sfido Spielberg". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  6. F. C. (10 March 1995). "Attenti al gallo, è un vero gigante". La Stampa. p. 27.
  7. Giovanna Grassi (9 March 1995). "Cala' : mi gioco Demetra contro Lorella". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  8. Andrea Scalzi (29 December 2005). "Ero "bona" ora sono timida". La Stampa. p. 29.
  9. Luca M. Palmerini; Gaetano Mistretta; Margot Winick (1996). Spaghetti nightmares. Fantasma Books, 1996. ISBN 09-6349-827-4.
  10. "Roma capitale dell'horror: saranno le donne a scegliere il mostro più " bello "". Corriere della Sera. 8 June 1994. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  11. Alessandra Comazzi (12 March 1995). "Nell'orticello di Jerry Calà un gallo non è un dinosauro". La Stampa. p. 25.
  12. "Joyas del "cine basura": "Pollo Jurásico", esas películas malas que da gusto mirar". MDZ Online. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  13. L'Espresso, Volume 42, Issues 1-8. L'Espresso Publishing. 1996. p. 97.
  14. Paolo Mereghetti. Il Mereghetti. B.C. Dalai Editore, 2010. ISBN 88-6073-626-9.
  15. Massimo Bertarelli (2003). Millecinquecento film da evitare. Gremese Editore, 2003. ISBN 88-8440-264-6.
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