When an army
of evil aliens invades earth with the intention of selling mankind as intergalactic
hamburger meat, the New Zealand government calls in an elite team of psychotic
assassins. But are these boys brutal enough to tackle the vilest villains
in the universe?
"Stay where you are then, and I'll give you an
eye witness description of this, intergalatic wanker!"
- Derek |
Where does one begin when reviewing one of the craziest and most followed cult films of all time? Give me a second to think.... ahhh, ok! We'll start with Mr. Peter Jackson!
At this stage in the game, if you've never heard of Peter Jackson you're a disgrace to hobbits and wizards across the land. Yes kiddies, this is the same Peter Jackson that brought us the " Star Wars" of our generation, " The Lord of the Rings". And for that reason alone, this film deserves your money. (Bow to the Jackson.)
Peter Jackson started creating feature films back in 1987 with, you guessed it, Bad Taste. The film was shot on weekends over a four-year
period with friends playing the lead roles. Jackson funded most of the
film himself until towards the end of the shoot when the New Zealand film
commission gave him money to finish his project after being impressed with
what he'd already produced. The entire movie had been improvised! Talk about and overwhelming dedication to the project!
Remember in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King when Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are walking through those creepy caverns on the way to the Army of the Dead? Those aren't sets. As a matter of fact, you can see the same caverns in Bad Taste! Peter Jackson used many of the landmarks he used in Bad Taste for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Makes sense... both were filmed in New Zealand.
Lets talk about the gore in the film. Excuse me while I vent.... "FUCK YEAH JACKSON! I LOVE YOU AND YOUR CHUBBY MAN BOOBIES FOR STAINING EVERY SECOND OF THIS FILM WITH OVERWHELMING AMOUNTS OF BRAINS, INTESTINES AND ASSORTED GOODNESS!" Whew, I feel better. Yeah, there is more gore in this film than you can shake a stick at. The most impressive brains you'll ever see on film are included throughout. I've searched through the web to find out how they pulled it off, but have been unsuccessful. Perhaps sourdough and jelly? If you know... email me.
One of the only downfalls of the film is the lack of females. Not one. The only set of boobies are those of Peter Jacksons, bouncing and hairy not unlike Samwise Gamgees testicles. (I know, I've seen them in Hobbits Gone Wild 14: Special Addition.) I guess another thing I could do without is the gawd awful voices not matching with the actors. I realize it was filmed in a different country, but please people... this could be fixed up a bit. Then again, it does add to the hilarity of the film.
 Lets not forget people, this is a black comedy dripping with gore. It wasn't designed to scare the corn kernels out of your itchy penny. No, it was made to laugh your ass off while your girlfriend gets queasy. (Your the man Peter.)
If you're a horror fan, comedy fan, or both - add this film to your collection. It's worth the time and money. Also, invite your friends over and try to pick out all the Lord of the Rings landmarks. WOO!
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- Director Peter Jackson shot the film on weekends over a four-year
period with friends playing the lead roles. Jackson funded most of the
film himself until towards the end of the shoot when the New Zealand film
commission gave him money to finish his project after being impressed with
what he'd already produced. The entire movie was improvised.
- One of the actors hadn't shaved. For continuity, he couldn't shave
until the movie was completely shot.
- All the dialogue in the film was dubbed after the original sound
tapes went missing.
- Peter Jackson constructed his own counterweighted steady-cam device
for this film that cost only $15.
- The movie was banned in the Australian state of Queensland until
the early-'90s when the Queensland Censorship Board was disbanded.
- Peter Jackson made all masks in his mother's kitchen. The heads
of the aliens are bent backwards because otherwise they wouldn't fit in
the oven where the latex was hardened.
- There are no female characters. Women played alien roles, but
aliens appear to be all males.
- While the original VHS box artwork had the alien flipping the middle finger,
tapes distributed to US video rental stores were provided with an extra
finger that could be glued in place to make it look like it was making
a "peace" sign instead.
- The film started life as a 10-minute short called Roast of
the Day, which started shooting in 1981. The story concerned Giles
(Craig Smith) an aid worker who comes to the small coastal town of Kaihoro
on collection day. The young man encounters a psychopath named Robert who
then pursues him. Giles escapes the madman and reaches an old heritage
estate where he tries to contact the authorities. However the same clan
of cannibalistic psychos that Robert is from occupies the house and captures
Giles. In a twist of irony the aid worker is later cooked up to relieve
the famine of the cannibals. Along the way Jackson added the "special forces"
team that would be sent to rescue Giles, but in this early version, the
"boys" would turn out to be cannibals as well (they staged the whole thing
because they like to play with their food). When it came time for Jackson
to finally edit the film together he found that he had nearly fifty minutes'
worth of useable footage. So with it's current length and being inspired
by the 16mm efforts of Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, Jackson continued
shooting to make the movie a full-length feature.
- The movie technically takes place on Peter Jackson's birthday. You can
find it out by checking the envelope that the collector is carrying with
him in the movie.
     
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