This picture is about murderous alien zombies, headed by the unspeakable Lord Crumb, who invade Earth, intent on subjugating humanity for use on the menus of their intergalactic fast-food franchise. And it's also about the anti-alien SWAT squad battling them: four rambunctious New Zealanders who eventually seem little better than murderous psychopaths themselves.
It's a personal film to the max. Jackson wrote, produced and directed "Bad Taste" as well as editing it, doing the makeup and playing two roles, a demented commando and a crazed zombie alien. (At one point, through camera magic, the two Jacksons battle each other on a steep mountainside.) As Derek the commando, Jackson suggests that, had he continued acting, he might well have become New Zealand's Rick Moranis. (Fortunately, he didn't). As a movie maker, he proves that he was a natural from the first moment he pointed his camera at a band of fear-addled humans or bloodthirsty ghouls.
"Bad Taste" must be one of the most accurate titles in cinematic history. This movie is intended to make part of the audience reel and another part scream--though it's bad taste done, obviously, with a wink.
Most of the movie is a series of wild chases, terrifying fist fights, nauseating sight gags and bizarre gun battles, studded with gore and homages to "Night of the Living Dead," "Evil Dead" and "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." But throughout, despite the budget, it's staged and shot with deep-focus bravura and brilliance, non-stop verve and relentless energy.
Like "Dead Alive," "Bad Taste" means to scare us and make us laugh, go past all our defenses. You're probably shockproof if you aren't offended by the grislier moments of "Bad Taste"--like the scene where Derek, woozy from his zombie battles, peels back his own skull and sticks in some mashed brains he finds on the ground. But, if you aren't entertained, you've probably never seen a horror movie.
