Nowadays he's one of the world's most famous directors after his incredible success with the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, but everyone has to start somewhere and BAD TASTE is Peter Jackson's beginning. Shot over a period of 4 years as an amateur film and clearly inspired by the likes of THE EVIL DEAD, Jackson's film is equally inventive although totally different in tone. Instead of being a horror film, this is a comedy out and out, with the emphasis on dumb humour. Not really my cup of tea, but at least I could enjoy all the effort that went into this – especially the large-scale climax, with the flying house, which must have taken some doing!
The simple story of an alien invasion is handled well on what is a very low budget. For much of the movie, the aliens look human, only changing into their rubbery true forms near the climax. The heroes facing them are men of action, so there's plenty of shooting and fight scenes, some heavily in debt to Schwarzenegger's COMMANDO, although this time around Jackson amps up the gore to unbelievable levels. Brains are splattered everywhere, blood fountains through the air, bodies are chainsawed and torn into pieces – it's all very nasty stuff, although thoroughly unbelievable and played for laughs at all times.
One scene, the infamous vomit-drinking moment, is specifically designed to make the viewer be sick, and is pretty hard to watch (because of the sound effects, for the most part). This film's biggest detraction is the quality of the acting, which unsurprisingly sucks – particularly Jackson himself, who proves to be an intensely irritating screen star. Thank God then that his directing is good, showing promise even here. While I can't ever see myself sitting through BAD TASTE again, far preferring BRAINDEAD, fans of horror and gore flicks will no doubt have a ball with this silly outing that just goes to show what you can do with special effects and passion.
The simple story of an alien invasion is handled well on what is a very low budget. For much of the movie, the aliens look human, only changing into their rubbery true forms near the climax. The heroes facing them are men of action, so there's plenty of shooting and fight scenes, some heavily in debt to Schwarzenegger's COMMANDO, although this time around Jackson amps up the gore to unbelievable levels. Brains are splattered everywhere, blood fountains through the air, bodies are chainsawed and torn into pieces – it's all very nasty stuff, although thoroughly unbelievable and played for laughs at all times.
One scene, the infamous vomit-drinking moment, is specifically designed to make the viewer be sick, and is pretty hard to watch (because of the sound effects, for the most part). This film's biggest detraction is the quality of the acting, which unsurprisingly sucks – particularly Jackson himself, who proves to be an intensely irritating screen star. Thank God then that his directing is good, showing promise even here. While I can't ever see myself sitting through BAD TASTE again, far preferring BRAINDEAD, fans of horror and gore flicks will no doubt have a ball with this silly outing that just goes to show what you can do with special effects and passion.