261 Days of Horror, Day 76
Apr. 9th, 2007 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiBad Taste. 1989. Written and directed by Peter Jackson. Distributed on DVD by Anchor Bay.
This will be a short one. Some movies just don't need super-long reviews.
Last week, I reviewed Killer Klowns From Outer Space, one of the most accurately titled films ever. Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson's debut film, Bad Taste, most definitely belongs in the same pile . It's easily the best alien-invasion movie set in New Zealand made by Jackson. Ever.
The plot? Heh. Let's not overuse the film school words here. What we have here is an alien gross-out clusterfuck. A bunch of aliens, led by "Lord Crumb," have invaded and destroyed a small New Zealand town. They plan to ship humans to an interstellar fast-food chain. The four members of the Astro-Investigation and Defense Service* fight to defeat the aliens and take back the town. People and aliens die. There's gore. Lots of it. The good guys win. Yay, Earth!
Bad Taste isn't about story. Or plot. Or even characters (unless you like 'em painted in very broad strokes). It's about gross-outs and death.
In fact, there are really only two things most people remember about this movie, and rightly so:
1. Derek and his leaky brains. One of the psychopathic members of AIDS, after a few moments of torturing an alien**, ends up falling over a cliff. His skull fractures, but he somehow survives, with bits of his brain falling out. His brain continues to leak throughout the entire film, and he continues to shove his brains back into his skull (when he notices).
2. The vomit-drinking scene. In all the movies I've seen, there are no scenes I have more trouble watching. I can handle the ear-in-the-porridge in Dead Alive. I can take the woodchipper in Fargo. I'm just fine with the ear-cutting in Resevoir Dogs, the crotch-ripping in Sin City, and the splinter going into the eye in Zombi. Hell, I can even handle watching John Travolta pretending to be straight in film after film. But this scene makes me turn away.
The idea? The aliens have a ritual involving puking into a bowl***. Then they drink from it. One of our heroes, pretending to be an alien, has to drink the vomit to avoid being detected. And he does so (and even likes it). It doesn't matter how obviously fake it is; it's still unbelievably gross. I cannot eat before watching this scene. Just unbelievable.
The rest of the movie is more of the same. Aliens get shot, stabbed, chainsawed, and otherwise mutilated. A severed head gets kicked out a window. Another alien gets shot and drips blood into the glass he's holding. A errant bazooka shot blows up a sheep. All the fun stuff you should expect from the man who brought us Lord of the Rings.
Bad Taste isn't good. It's not even as lovingly bad as Killer Klowns From Outer Space. It's a gorefest with some slapstick humor. Jackson, as writer and director, comes up with some good dialogue and sight gags, but he's not even aiming for the sort of plot coherence that later films like Meet the Feebles would show. Bad Taste is a great film for gorehounds and for Jackson completists, but it's probably the one Jackson film from his pre-Hollywood days that can be safely left out of your library.
*Yes, the heroes all fight for AIDS. No, it's not symbolic of anything. And I'd have liked to have seen a group called the Astro-Investigation and Defense Association, so they could break into opera while fighting.
**Both Derek and his victim are played by Peter Jackson, who, as an actor, is a damned fine director.
***The puke, incidentally, is fluorescent blue. This does not make it any less disgusting.
This will be a short one. Some movies just don't need super-long reviews.
Last week, I reviewed Killer Klowns From Outer Space, one of the most accurately titled films ever. Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson's debut film, Bad Taste, most definitely belongs in the same pile . It's easily the best alien-invasion movie set in New Zealand made by Jackson. Ever.
The plot? Heh. Let's not overuse the film school words here. What we have here is an alien gross-out clusterfuck. A bunch of aliens, led by "Lord Crumb," have invaded and destroyed a small New Zealand town. They plan to ship humans to an interstellar fast-food chain. The four members of the Astro-Investigation and Defense Service* fight to defeat the aliens and take back the town. People and aliens die. There's gore. Lots of it. The good guys win. Yay, Earth!
Bad Taste isn't about story. Or plot. Or even characters (unless you like 'em painted in very broad strokes). It's about gross-outs and death.
In fact, there are really only two things most people remember about this movie, and rightly so:
1. Derek and his leaky brains. One of the psychopathic members of AIDS, after a few moments of torturing an alien**, ends up falling over a cliff. His skull fractures, but he somehow survives, with bits of his brain falling out. His brain continues to leak throughout the entire film, and he continues to shove his brains back into his skull (when he notices).
2. The vomit-drinking scene. In all the movies I've seen, there are no scenes I have more trouble watching. I can handle the ear-in-the-porridge in Dead Alive. I can take the woodchipper in Fargo. I'm just fine with the ear-cutting in Resevoir Dogs, the crotch-ripping in Sin City, and the splinter going into the eye in Zombi. Hell, I can even handle watching John Travolta pretending to be straight in film after film. But this scene makes me turn away.
The idea? The aliens have a ritual involving puking into a bowl***. Then they drink from it. One of our heroes, pretending to be an alien, has to drink the vomit to avoid being detected. And he does so (and even likes it). It doesn't matter how obviously fake it is; it's still unbelievably gross. I cannot eat before watching this scene. Just unbelievable.
The rest of the movie is more of the same. Aliens get shot, stabbed, chainsawed, and otherwise mutilated. A severed head gets kicked out a window. Another alien gets shot and drips blood into the glass he's holding. A errant bazooka shot blows up a sheep. All the fun stuff you should expect from the man who brought us Lord of the Rings.
Bad Taste isn't good. It's not even as lovingly bad as Killer Klowns From Outer Space. It's a gorefest with some slapstick humor. Jackson, as writer and director, comes up with some good dialogue and sight gags, but he's not even aiming for the sort of plot coherence that later films like Meet the Feebles would show. Bad Taste is a great film for gorehounds and for Jackson completists, but it's probably the one Jackson film from his pre-Hollywood days that can be safely left out of your library.
*Yes, the heroes all fight for AIDS. No, it's not symbolic of anything. And I'd have liked to have seen a group called the Astro-Investigation and Defense Association, so they could break into opera while fighting.
**Both Derek and his victim are played by Peter Jackson, who, as an actor, is a damned fine director.
***The puke, incidentally, is fluorescent blue. This does not make it any less disgusting.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 04:51 am (UTC)I also remember the brain-leaking and Jackson chainsawing his way through the alien at the end, to emerge from his bottom half, covered in blood and guts, grinning like a maniac, in a birthing sequence just as disturbing as the one from Brain Dead.
I do ever so love the New Zealand PM having a speed dial labeled "The Boys".
But this still remains mroe or less a film-school grad project in quality; the film stock is pretty bad, the audio needs work, the pacing is DREADful.
But it's damned fun, and shows a flair for direction in Jackson.
Also a flair for miniatures. He built that rocket-house by his lonesome, he did.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 04:59 am (UTC)My friend just started working at a video store, so has been bringing home a ton of movies. His coworker found out he likes zombie flicks and recomended that one. Roommate knows I like zombie flicks, we watch it together. Cue squealing and lots of EWWW!
Although Shark v. Zombie was pretty bomb. I actually felt bad for the shark. One question remains though- during the fight, the zombie bit the crap out of the shark. Shark eventually won... but does this mean that there is now a zombie shark swimming around in the Carribbean?
Also, Susan was the stupidest character ever. Stand there staring as HUGE f-in zombie rises from the grave, then still stands there immobile as it rips open her jugular?
Oh man, this comment is way too long, but seriously, everyone in that movie was an idiot. Shoot the people's brains out once they're dead! How hard is that to remember???? GAH!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 06:15 am (UTC)I have loved this film for years.
Have you seen Grindhouse yet?
I love it, too.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 11:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 01:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 01:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 02:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 02:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 03:20 pm (UTC)What makes it even worse is when you watch the director commentary... He explains that the actress got really into her role and insisted on being geniune for everything... Then they show the vomiting and ensuing drinkage.
I couldn't watch that part with my eyes open... *shudder*
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 03:23 pm (UTC)But this still remains mroe or less a film-school grad project in quality. . . But it's damned fun, and shows a flair for direction in Jackson.
Yep. That sums it up perfectly.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 03:24 pm (UTC)I can't remember if the Fulci zombiverse believed in animal zombies. Since it's inspired by Romero, I think the oceans should be safe.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 03:25 pm (UTC)There was so much else in Audition that made me squirm that the vomit drinking just didn't stand out as much (not that I exactly enjoyed watching it).
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 03:30 pm (UTC)I had to watch the ending of that one twice just to figure out the whole thing... after the first time, it's not as bad...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 05:03 pm (UTC)*jumps up and down*
You might get a new gross moment!!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 07:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 07:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 07:20 pm (UTC)Meh. It's a muddle no matter how you approach it.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-11 07:43 am (UTC)The face-dissection in Poltergeist - but not the shot on the actor, the stuff falling into the sink. Brain registered it as 'looks like raw chicken bits' and promptly spazzed.
The fingernail-biting in Cronenberg's The Fly. 'Nuf said.