U. P. J. Lesson 1: Bad Taste

This is the first entry in a series of blog posts that will continue on for quite some time. One of my personal favourite directors is Peter Jackson. He is a fascinating man because before he made the fantastic LotR trilogy, he was known as a splatter film director – and not necessarily the good kind (if one such kind exits, that is). It was therefore without much doubt that I paid a healthy sum for a collection set of his earliest work; containing such treasures as Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, Braindead and Forgotten Silver. I’m led to understand that there is a second collection set out there somewhere, so I’ll have to see what I can do to get a hold of that when I’m done with this one. Anywho; this is the first entry in my series “Understanding Peter Jackson” (U.P.J. for short, dimwit). This is lesson 1: Bad Taste.

Bad Taste is a right out, all limits removed, gore fest of a film. Made by primarily by Peter Jackson and some willing friends over the period of four years, this is as low budget as films can go without having to be shot with a handheld camera by a quivering teenager. I kept this in mind when I watched Bad Taste last night. I didn’t expect anything more than a very enjoyable home video with more blood than brains (all though Bad Taste did contain a lot of bloody brainz.).

The gist of the movie comes down to this. A small town in New Zealand is attacked by aliens who are looking to harvest man kind for an intergalactic fast food chain. They harvest the entire population of the town and grind them up to hamburger meat, enjoying the human brain especially.

But wait! Here comes The Boys to rescue man kind! Four men from New Zealand’s home defence department of Extraterrestrial Threats to Earth and the Moon are starting to feel suspicious of the activity in the area. Armed with chainsaws, bazookas and Uzis, they go in the lion’s lair, guns a-blazing.

Bad Taste is in essence a film that was made purely for funsies by Peter Jackson. He revels in the fact that he can get away with anything; ripping out the spines of the humanoid aliens so they flail about in the air, making the skull of his human actors crack open and leave the brains trailing out when they run, sawing his right through the head to bottom of an alien while the actor falls through the open hole. Anything goes; even drinking green vomit.

Peter Jackson himself plays two of the supporting roles in Bad Taste. It was fun to watch the well renowned director of LotR and King Kong jumping around with chainsaws and vomiting in bowls, but it left me with a somewhat flattened impression of the impressive man. Fortunately for me, Bad Taste didn’t last longer than 90 minutes, which is more than enough time to kill (pun intended).

So what did I learn about P. J. after having watched Bad Taste? Not all that much. He likes blood, he likes wacky deaths and he seems to enjoy green vomit. As far as home video goes, this one is top notch. As far as normal film goes; you could easily live with yourself if you haven’t seen this particular cult classic. Final Verdict for Bad Taste: 2/10. Recommended only for gore fans and sick P. J. fans like myself.