Troma still squelching their way to the top

There are some things that will never change. Blockbusters will continue to flop, my invite to Cannes will continue to be lost in the post year upon year and Troma head honcho Lloyd Kaufman will continue to be a thorn in the side of the filmmaking establishment.

The Kaufman produced Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead clambered to the top of the US indie charts on the back of Kaufman himself petitioning theatre goers whilst dressed as a giant chicken around the East Village cinemas of New York. Rumours that Harvey Weinstein is considering this for his next film at the moment are unfounded. The film gathered a screen average of $10,700 to nudge past The Cell director Tarsem’s much-hyped The Fall at the top of the charts.

Troma has a long, if not especially celebrated, history on the independent circuit and shows no signs of slowing down. Their trademark genre bending, gore splattered style has been invading the picket fences of America since 1974 and has had a hand in launching some of the most celebrated careers in the world of film. Samuel L Jackson (Def by Temptation), Robert De Niro (Greetings), Oliver Stone (Battle of Love’s Return) and Trey Parker and Matt Stone (Cannibal: The Musical) all got some of their first breaks from the New York studio. Peter Jackson also credited Troma with pioneering the schlock comedy that was perfected by Evil Dead 2 and with his own efforts Bad Taste and Braindead in the 1990s.

Schlock cinema is often overlooked in the indie world as little more than trash, but the number of directors and stars influenced by Roger Corman, Troma and the DIY horror of the 1970s and early 80s suggests that this attitude is ripe for change. Kaufman himself is passing on his wisdom by acting as an advisor to aspiring filmmakers on all aspects of low budget filmmaking. Troma now also hosts an annual Tromadance Festival in Park City, Utah. The festival runs at the same time as the Sundance festival and hosts submissions from the breadth of the schlock community both in the US and abroad. Troma has released many of the best submissions subsequently.

Kaufman was quoted in an interview with Tabula Rasa as saying, “I think that for every Crying Game or for every Piano the battlefield is littered with hundreds of wonderful movies that have gotten destroyed by the fact that they simply could not get decent distribution, by virtue of the fact the cartel is very very difficult to crack.

“Troma's been lucky because we have a Troma universe, we've got a brand name, and people see that Troma logo on a movie and they go, because they know what they're going to get.”

As an example of how commitment to the art of low budget filmmaking can breed success, Troma is still in a class of its own. The recent success of Poultrygeist is just further example of this unique studio's charm.

Huw Baines – Toxically avenging the surf Nazis of nuke ‘em high.