By Todd Garbarini
New Zealand film director Peter Jackson is a favorite among
genre fans most notably for his early, off-the-wall gross-out comedy/horror
films. Anyone who has seen Mr. Jackson's
early work – specifically Bad Taste
(1987), Meet the Feebles (1989), and Dead Alive (1992) – cannot help but
wonder how in the world he managed to score the director’s chair for the film
versions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s massive epic about hobbits and Middle Earth. These three films, while highly entertaining,
are exercises in excess and were not embraced by the masses, although they have
all since developed cult followings. Bad Taste, about aliens who invade a
fictitious village in New Zealand in order to harvest human beings for their
outer space franchise of fast food, took four years to make on weekends and was
a gross-out success. It permitted Mr.
Jackson to secure financing for Meet the
Feebles in 1989, a black comedy about the entertainment industry, akin to The Muppets on acid. Like Bad
Taste, Meet the Feebles was shot
on 16mm. The film is comprised of
puppets and adults in oversized puppet suits and details a troupe of performers
called The Feebles, the antithesis of Jim Henson’s lovable group of which
Kermit and Ms. Piggy are the most recognizable members. The Feebles is a vulgar group of two-timing,
backstabbing performers who are caricatures of the worst people the business
world has to offer. A hilarious satire
with terrific music by Peter Dasent, the film is woefully in need of a deluxe
Blu-ray release.
His next film, Dead
Alive, was his first 35mm outing and is an over-the-top, cartoonish
gorefest that needs to be seen to be believed, and is now available on Blu-ray
from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. The
plot involves a creature known as the Sumatran Rat-Monkey who goes nuts and
bites people, spreading disease and contagion, resulting in one of the goriest
and messiest endings in film history involving limbs and a lawnmower. The style of the film is that of an
uproarious horror comedy and is by no means meant to be taken seriously, much
like Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator
(1985), and once again Peter Dasent is on board to provide a wonderful film score.
Timothy Balme and Diana Peñalver are
wonderful as Lionel and Paquita, respectively, two lonely souls who find one
another in a New Zealand town. Lionel
lives with his overbearing mother, brilliantly played by Elizabeth Moody. She is bitten by the rat monkey and the
contagion begins to spread. Despite his
best efforts, Lionel is unable to stop the spread of the virus and his house
becomes a battle ground of blood and guts as the townspeople turn into ravenous
zombies.
The late publisher Forrest J. Ackerman
makes a funny cameo and there is enough comedy and gore to go around to satisfy
the appetites of the genre’s most discriminating followers. The Blu-ray is a significant improvement over
the film’s previous home video appearances on VHS, laserdisc, and DVD and is a
worthy upgrade. The de rigueur trailer constitutes the disc’s sole extra; English and
Spanish subtitles are a welcome addition, too.
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