Bad Taste

It seems fitting that in the wake of the excellent Lord of the Rings films, that we should have a look at just what started director Peter Jackson on the road to being one of the worlds greatest visionaries. Before LOTR's, Jackson's biggest financial hit was the Michael J. Fox horror comedy 'The Frighteners', and his biggest critical success being the haunting 'Heavenly Creatures', starring a then not-so-famous Kate Winslet. But it wasn't an easy ride getting to be the director of the most anticipated trilogy since Star Wars. Jackson started small, very small, and clawed his way up the movie ladder using nothing more than pure determination and a raw talent for film-making.

Jackson's first feature was Bad Taste, a low, low-budget horror comedy movie made over two years about aliens killing humans for their fast-food business back in space. No real plot, no real actors, no real crew. Only an insane imagination and devoted friends willing to help out. There's not even much of a script, because what Jackson sets out to do is sicken his audience with some of the most gruesome deaths ever seen and make them laugh until the back of their heads fall off. And he succeeds.

Narrative and plot structure are not on the vile menu here. Instead, Bad Taste is a testament to sick jokes, low-budget gore and technical brilliance on a shoestring. Jackson made his own steadicam, crane and other camera rigs to create the impression of a bigger-budgeted movie (he fails to do so, unfortunately) and even undertook the task of making all of his own make-up and prosthetic effects, including mechanised masks and realistic machine guns. This is an even greater achievement when you consider just how much gore there is in the film, but the finale, in which a huge mansion is rocketed into space, defies the rules of its low budget and minimal crew.

Even the cast were so minimal that the same aliens can be seen, if you look hard enough, being killed over and over again throughout the film, and Jackson himself takes on two roles; the unstable Derek and a mad alien called Robert. In one scene, Derek and Robert engage in a cliff-top fight with each other, balanced precariously on the edge and with no indication that one is a body double. Jackson's creativity and knowledge of movie trickery is undoubtedly on display here, but the low-rent sickness and bloody gore on display would suggest otherwise. At first it is hard to imagine that Jackson would go on from this to directing one of the best films of all time, but when you look closely, examine just what Jackson could do with no money and no crew, you begin to realise that a true genius was at work here.

Bad Taste is a delirious testament to the 'just-get-out-there-and-do-it' school of film-making, as that is literally what Jackson did. Shooting whenever he had the money for film stock and making props and special effects in his parent's garage. Apparently, one of Jackson's greatest problems was keeping his actors consistent in appearance over the two-year period, making sure haircuts remained the same and that one actor had a permanent five-o'clock shadow. Bad Taste is true to the spirit of independent film-making, one man making the film he wants, when he wants and with whom he wants. In fact, it would never and could never have been made under the supervision of a studio, and even if it had the spirit would have been killed off.

Bad Taste works for me because I admire the way in which it is made. When I first saw it I was in my teens and I liked it because it was a demented, gruesome, funny film, so maybe the teen crowd is the right one for Jackson's brain-eating, vomit-spewing, chuck-up-a-thon, or maybe it's also for twenty-somethings after a night on the lash. Either way, Bad Taste should be seen as an example that if you want to make a movie and know how - there is usually a way

Bad Taste is one of the weirdest, stupidest, most idiotic, b (if that) movies I've ever seen. Why then do I own this movie? Because Peter Jackson has created one of the funniest splatterfests period (especially the hilarious machine gun scene and the pine cone tossing). It takes a while for the hilarity to start but so did Dead Alive (another Jackson great). Enjoy as Derek, Ozzy (wearing a Tales From the Crypt t-shirt), and the rest of the boys take on extra-terrestrial buggers who've come to Earth in search of meat. The plot is also a little hard to follow the first time around. After watching Bad Taste many times however, I have no idea how he was chosen to direct the Lord of the Rings (which rocked). So, Peter Jackson, for that...I salute you.

"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.

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.

Being a fan of films high on the gore scale, and reading many reviews for this film, I finally decided to give this film a whirl...to this day, I still don't regret it! If you like gore, this is for you. If you like comedy, this is for you. If you liked the "Evil Dead" series, no doubt you will LOVE this film! For the full-effect, pick up the limited edition DVD. I swear, even if you have to pay 25 or even 40 bucks for this version, it's worth every penny! However, if you hate getting songs stuck in your head, then don't listen to the end theme! It's a cool eighties-style song, really good for a low-budget pic, but IT WILL GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD!!! The entire film has great pacing, never slowing down for one second! This is also a great film for those, like myself, who want to get into filmmaking. This is one of those few films you never get bored watching, whether it's ten times or a thousand times!!! This is a must have for everybody!!!