New Zealand 1992 Directed by Peter Jackson. Starring: Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver.

The shop assistant Paquita dreams about the great love. By a fortune-teller is she find out that she soon will meet the right man, and by accident is she thinks that it is, the mother fixationed jerk Lionel. Paquita wraps her arms around him, and they are deciding to go to the zoo together. Lionel´s jealousy mother wants to keep him for herself, and follows them to see so they behave themselves. Then, she´s suddenly slips over and falls into the horrible rat-monkeys cage, which bites her in the arm.Lionel takes home his mother and promise her that he´s never again are going to date Paquita.

But next day is it begins to happen things to her. It spurts liquid out of her wound and parts of the body falls of her. She´s even manage to eat up Paquita´s dog, until she at last dies. However is she shortly wakes up to life again as a zombie, and makes the nurse who just declared her dead, to a zombie too. After a wild uproar is Lionel manage to throw them down in the cellar. Gradually has he a zombie family in the cellar, that gets an addition with a little zombie baby. Now must Lionel and Paquita destroy them before they multiplies further more.

Peter Jackson has been cult declared ever since he made the tasteless "Bad Taste", a real low budget film. It was honoured all over the world and won several film festival prizes, but if you ask me is it a genuine shit film. Jacksons most famous film "Braindead", was with its bigger budget a bit sharper than "Bad Taste". It has been called "the goriest splatter film that ever has been made", and I can actually agree with that. I don´t understand on the other hand the big hype around "Braindead", because it´s not frightening at all.

It is a horror/comedy film, and starts very promising with comedy on a high level by the trio Lionel, Paquita and the mother. But after that is it only to become worse and worse. And my biggest objection focuses on the special effects. It´s filthy and messy and incredibly excessively, and not a thing credibly. The last half-hour is a long orgy of blood and disgust. Besides, is there boring surroundings and ugly persons. Peter Jackson has often been compared with Sam Raimi, but I don´t think he´s near as good as him and his "Evil Dead" films.

Kent Plamgren

Thrilling Movie Review