Bad Taste

"Bad Taste" is Peter Jackson's first film and it shows. This is because Peter was not a director....just some guy making a film with his friends. In fact, because they had no money it took four years to piece the project together...and they didn't even have a script! But despite this and many other shortcomings (including using a 16mm camera and having ridiculous bloody effects), the film is VERY watchable and even, at times, quite funny.

The story is very simple and there really isn't any context or backstory. It begins with some zombie-like folks trying to kill and eat a group of guys. Later, the guys all don commando outfits and take on a whole house filled with what you've come to realize are blood-thirsty aliens!

There are two thins that really help this film....the sense of humor AND the cheesiness of the guys and blood. If the movie was more realistic (such as Jackson's "Dead Alive" made just a short time later), it would have been repulsive and sick. Instead, you find yourself laughing at the guts, blood and mayhem since it's so obviously fake. Well worth seeing and a great example of cheap filmmaking that works.

It's everything a low budget production from the 80s could be, especially in a world before CGI but, as a basis for the craft and imagination it nurtured, it should be considered an inspiration for anyone with the imagination and aspiration to venture into original and ground breaking film making and cinema. Plus it includes references to Doctor Who, which can never be a bad thing, and you can also see those references reciprocated by that series the following century with some similar looking characters that appeared one season. Must have been great fun to make.

This extremely bloody and hilariously funny gore comedy from the director of "Braindead" and "Meet the Feebles" is about some aliens,who gather in a small New Zealand town to harvest human beings as a food source for their struggling intergalactic fast food.Four agents of the Alien Investigation and Defense Sector(A.I.D.S)are called on to stop them."Bad Taste" was filmed on a shoestring budget over a period of four years,using second hand equipment,and produced by and starring all Jackson's friends and work colleagues.The amount of bloodshed in this film is really high,but the gore is presented in such a way that it just makes you laugh hysterically.There's vomit eating,brain eating,exploding heads,flying guts and even exploding sheep.A must see for horror,splatter and gore fans!

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.

BAD TASTE, the worldwide cult hero Peter Jackson's first picture, concerns four bumbling government agents whose job it is to rid scenic New Zealand of any alien scum that may be invading their otherwise peaceful country. After being called upon to explore an entire town that has been mysteriously deserted, the men fall upon a shocking discovery: aliens from outer space have abducted much of the human race and are planning on using their flesh for intergalactic hamburger meat! It seems humanoids are the newest taste sensation all throughout the galaxy. Now, our heroes, with the aid of the city's one surviving human, are on a mission to save Earth from these extraterrestrials' fiendish plot--in the bloodiest, slapstick-iest, most outlandish ways imaginable.

BAD TASTE took four years, a shoestring budget, and a tiny devoted cast and crew to complete. Shooting took place mainly on weekends, while the amateurs tended to their daily lives the rest of the week. The unmitigated commitment the crew had towards the production of the film really shows, as they all must've given their utmost towards not just getting the movie complete, but making it look spectacular. Jackson's camera-work and special effects are nothing short of mind-blowing, and the fast-paced editing really gives this 16mm wonder a big-budget, professional look while still maintaining a goofy, campy feel.

Sure, the acting may be a bit over-the-top, and the meandering script does seem largely improvised, but these "shortcomings" only add to the picture's fun, crazy atmosphere, helping to make it even funnier. The soundtrack is oftentimes a little overbearing and awkward as well, but again, it doesn't in any way detract from the overall enjoyment of the film. All in all, if you're a fan of gore movies, alien romps, or just good ol' fashioned black comedy, then you don't want to miss BAD TASTE. Just make sure you have the stomach for it, or it might just get torn out and eaten!