Review #565: 'Bad Taste' (1987)

Before Peter Jackson almost exclusively worked with a CGI backdrop in the land of Middle-Earth, he began his film making career in the realms of low budget comedy-horror. Utilising the 1980's trend for splatter cinema, and no doubt the influence of Sam Raimi's tongue-in-cheek zombie film, The Evil Dead (1982), Jackson's debut feature film was entrenched in a very American tradition, but beholds the humour of his native New Zealand - which incidentally is part of the British commonwealth, meaning much of the uniqueness of British comedy is transposed onto the antipodean nation, the influence of Monty Python being one particular aspect of the film that made it such a surprise success. Bad Taste was clearly a labour of love, with Jackson bringing friends and family in to contribute to the making. The nature of the films production adds something quite special to both the narrative and the humour. The home-made special effects and props (Jackson used his parents oven to bake the handmade armoury used in the film) work both as farce and as actually quite an achievement of authenticity.

Set in a small, isolated town, a group of misfits, "The Boys," ordered from a shadowy government department, have been sent to investigate an invasion, where aliens have wiped out the inhabitants. What transpires is an alien fast food corporation have discovered that human flesh is the galaxy's newest taste sensation, and are accumulating cardboard boxes of flesh to market and sell to planets. At the centre of the government group is geeky scientist, Derek (Played by Jackson himself - he is also in the role of the alien Robert), who "can only relate to birds". He salivates at the sight of dismemberment and artillery. As the group discover the truth about the alien invasion, their mission is to stop them from leaving the planet. On a narrative level, Bad Taste is as simple as they come. But underneath this simplicity is a wealth of brilliantly formed characters, with their own idiosyncrasies, and a range of beautifully crafted one liners and references.

There are some stand out moments created with gruesome, cheep, but effective effects. The aliens seem to be mostly influenced by the zombie cinema of George A. Romero, with their slow moving mannerisms, and like Romero and Savini, Jackson delights in slicing them up with sharp tools and exploding them with guns. One alien has the top half of his head chopped off, a scene that displays Jackson's talent for editing, as he seamlessly cuts from the actors legs stumbling, to the rubbery half-head spurting copious amounts of blood and gore. Derek provides some of the most grotesque, Grand Guignol elements after he falls from a cliff, leaving a skull flat that exposes his brain matter. After this event, he constantly battles to keep the brain inside his head, strapping it closed with a belt. These scenes merge those ideas the comedy of the absurd, with the horrific splatter of giallo or the ridiculously over-the-top gore films of Herschell Gordon Lewis.

Considering the limitations of the incredibly low budget (according to imdb, the films budget was estimated at 30,000 NZD), the film looks good. Of course the film stock, the acting and the special effects aren't up to some of the more expensive American productions of its type, but with an insanely funny script, and the excessive nature of the violence, it is a film that should be loved. I do remember first seeing this film on video around 1989/1990, no doubt initially attracted by the latex alien on the video cover flipping the bird. It was soon the talk of the playground, as school friends would delight in the gore. But more specifically, I, along with my peers, were fundamentally reacting to the outlandish and on-the-money comedy, which holds up today as much as the first two Monty Python films. Gross-out comedy on this scale, has not been so much fun as this since. It's a shame Jackson hides away in Middle-Earth so much these days, it's about time he was funny again.


Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Terry Potter, Pete O'Herne, Peter Jackson
Country: New Zealand

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy