''Chicken Park'' is a 1994

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic 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. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

parody film A parody film or spoof film is a subgenre of comedy film that lampoons other film genres or films as pastiches, works created by imitation of the style of many different films reassembled together. Although the subgenre is often overlooked by cri ...

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 o ...

that parodies various films, especially the 1993 film ''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton, centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of De-extinction#Cloning, cloned dinosaurs. It bega ...

''. The film is Calà's

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

Synopsis

When Vladimiro's (

) chicken is stolen while he is in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

for a

cockfight Cockfighting is a blood sport involving domesticated roosters as the combatants. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term ...

, 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 as Sigourney *

Rossy de Palma Rosa Elena García Echave (born 16 September 1964), known professionally as Rossy de Palma, is a Spanish actress and model. She is well known for her roles in films by Pedro Almodóvar such as ''Law of Desire'', ''Women on the Verge of a Nervou ...

as Necrophelia Addams *Lawrence Steven Meyers as Dr. Eggs *

Alessia Marcuzzi Alessia Marcuzzi (born 11 November 1972) is an Italian television host, actress and former fashion model. In a career spanning over 30 years, she also co-hosted Sanremo Music Festival 2025. Career Born in Rome, to father Eugenio, from Trieste, ...

as Airplane hostess

Production

The film was shot between

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...

and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. 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

. It was also the last work as special effects artist for

Antonio Margheriti Antonio Margheriti (19 September 1930 – 4 November 2002), also known under the pseudonyms Anthony M. Dawson and Antony Daisies ("daisies" is "margherite" in Italian), was an Italians, Italian filmmaker. Margheriti worked in many different film ...

. 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 (Northern League), a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone, and has four sons, ...

and

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

, ''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 The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...

Home Alone ''Home Alone'' is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dar ...

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

Full Metal Jacket ''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick from a screenplay he co-wrote with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 autobiographical novel '' The Short-Timers''. It stars ...

Sister Act ''Sister Act'' is a 1992 American musical crime comedy film directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Paul Rudnick (billed as Joseph Howard). It stars Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer forced to hide in a convent after being placed in a witn ...

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

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 ...

, Il Postino: The Postman'' and ''

Edward Scissorhands ''Edward Scissorhands'' is a 1990 American gothic romantic fantasy film directed by Tim Burton. It was produced by Burton and Denise Di Novi, written by Caroline Thompson from a story by her and Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as the title ...

''. Moreover,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

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 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is aimed at both a young adult and adult audience. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, was or ...

, at its television premiere the film was seen by over 4 million people. The film was released in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

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

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

as ''Pollo jurásico''.

Reception

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

L'espresso () is an Italian progressive weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is the conservative magazine . Since 2022, it has been published by BFC Media. From 7 August 2016 to 10 September 2023, it was ...

'' 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 A cult following is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...

. Film critic

Marco Giusti Marco Giusti (born 24 December 1953) is an Italian film critic, essayist, television writer and presenter. Life and career The son of a quaestor, Giusti was born in Grosseto and during his early years frequently moved following his father's ...

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 Paolo Mereghetti (born 28 September 1949) is an Italian film critic. Born in Milan, Mereghetti graduated in philosophy with a thesis about Orson Welles.Giorgio Dell’Arti, Massimo Parrini. "Mereghetti, Paolo". ''Catalogo dei viventi''. Marsilio ...

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 Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company. It distributes Italian films worldwide, produced from the 1930s onward. History Variety Distribution (formerly Variety Film and Variety Communications) has been in the film ...

{{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 1996 science fiction films English-language science fiction horror films English-language science fiction comedy films English-language adventure comedy films