Bad Taste (1987)

This movie is defiantly an oddity. I've sat through a lot of "b-movies" and mst3k episodes in my time, and this pushed my limits. Amateurish and crude, funny at times, incomprehensible at others, I can't say it has enough to recommend it. The plot and characters are paper thin even for this type of movie, the inspired moments are few and far between, and the script feels like it doesn't know when to end. It's obvious that this movie was made for next to nothing and by an inexperienced but ambitious filmmaker who had a preoccupation for gore and crude humor (Part Sam Rami, part Monty Python, part just plain gross). To put it in the same category of films like Dead Alive and Evil Dead (both of which I love) seems a bit unfair to the term B-Movie, this feels more like a C-Movie. It's not Manos the Hands of Fate or anything, but it's still extremely crude film making wise. Years ago this would have been available to film enthusiasts who spent money and time track down a bootleg copy, but now, thanks to Jackson's current success, the film has been released to mass audience on DVD. It's nice that it's available, but unless you're a Peter Jackson completist or a very forgiving genre fan , stay away, this probably should have been left in the world of bootleg VHS.

Those who are interested in Jackson would be better served by checking out movies like Heavenly Creatures, and the Frighteners. If you think you would like to see this movie, perform this test; first rent Dead Alive (which looks like Oscar material compared to this movie), if you can stomach that and want more then next you want to go rent Meet the Feebles. If you still feel the need to go back to Jackson's roots, by all means go check out this movie but be warned, these people giving this movie 10 stars are obviously hardcore low budget genre enthusiasts or insane, possibly both.

Fmovies: Before Peter Jackson went on to huge success with A-list Hollywood films he was quite the horror film director (just watch Dead Alive!) and this ultra low-budget flick was his cinematic debut.

A half-baked group of 'agents' must save the world when some aliens arrive to harvest humans for their fast food chain.

From the premise alone one can tell that this flick is very campy, and rather darkly funny too! Jackson essentially made Bad Taste over a series of weekends, using his own friends for the cast and crew. Needless to say it's very low-budget, and it looks it, but in the end the cheap FX only heighten the sense of absurdity and comedy that makes this movie so damn amusing! One thing that young Jackson does well though is produce some great gore FX. As with his later gem Dead Alive (1992) there's plenty of blood flying in this early film too. It also has a number of memorable comical gags and everything is wildly over the top.

Bad Taste is just as crazy as it sounds, but comes off all the more an entertaining riot because of it. A real cult classic.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Gore: Oh yeah. Acting: Who cares? Action: Sure. Humor: What's funnier than life-sized Sgt. Pepper cut-outs of the Beatles in a car? Nuff said. 10/10

Bad Taste fmovies. Directed by the New Zealand king of low-budget gore - Peter Jackson, who also takes the starring role in his debut film as 'Derek', the leader of the alien prevention group 'Alien Investigation and Defence Service' - A.I.D.S(!), who are called into action when a group of aliens land on earth with the intention of kidnapping humans and using them as the main ingredient for their fast food restaurants! Naturally Derek and his crew are none too happy about this and set about stopping them in the only way they know how - violently.

As you can imagine with a plot like this and with Peter Jackson involved you can expect extreme gore mixed with extreme cheese, for example there is this one part where an alien has been severed in two from being hit by a car, his remaining top half fends off Jackson's attacks with a chainsaw by throwing pine cones at him! Also throughout the film Derek becomes increasingly demented after having a particularly nasty fall off a 90ft cliff, although miraculously surviving this, he has a nasty crack on the back of his head which keeps flapping open and letting bits of brain fall out (nice) and at one point he replaces his emptying skull with an alien's intestines who he has just slaughtered! As you can probably tell from these examples this film is pretty gross and if your like me you will find it very funny as well.

Watch this film even if it is only to see one of Derek's compadres' rip off an aliens head with his bare hands and drop-kick it successfully out of a window to which he casually comments "The old magic is still there."

Being a fan of films high on the gore scale, and reading many reviews for this film, I finally decided to give this film a whirl...to this day, I still don't regret it! If you like gore, this is for you. If you like comedy, this is for you. If you liked the "Evil Dead" series, no doubt you will LOVE this film! For the full-effect, pick up the limited edition DVD. I swear, even if you have to pay 25 or even 40 bucks for this version, it's worth every penny! However, if you hate getting songs stuck in your head, then don't listen to the end theme! It's a cool eighties-style song, really good for a low-budget pic, but IT WILL GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD!!! The entire film has great pacing, never slowing down for one second! This is also a great film for those, like myself, who want to get into filmmaking. This is one of those few films you never get bored watching, whether it's ten times or a thousand times!!! This is a must have for everybody!!!

BAD TASTE, the worldwide cult hero Peter Jackson's first picture, concerns four bumbling government agents whose job it is to rid scenic New Zealand of any alien scum that may be invading their otherwise peaceful country. After being called upon to explore an entire town that has been mysteriously deserted, the men fall upon a shocking discovery: aliens from outer space have abducted much of the human race and are planning on using their flesh for intergalactic hamburger meat! It seems humanoids are the newest taste sensation all throughout the galaxy. Now, our heroes, with the aid of the city's one surviving human, are on a mission to save Earth from these extraterrestrials' fiendish plot--in the bloodiest, slapstick-iest, most outlandish ways imaginable.

BAD TASTE took four years, a shoestring budget, and a tiny devoted cast and crew to complete. Shooting took place mainly on weekends, while the amateurs tended to their daily lives the rest of the week. The unmitigated commitment the crew had towards the production of the film really shows, as they all must've given their utmost towards not just getting the movie complete, but making it look spectacular. Jackson's camera-work and special effects are nothing short of mind-blowing, and the fast-paced editing really gives this 16mm wonder a big-budget, professional look while still maintaining a goofy, campy feel.

Sure, the acting may be a bit over-the-top, and the meandering script does seem largely improvised, but these "shortcomings" only add to the picture's fun, crazy atmosphere, helping to make it even funnier. The soundtrack is oftentimes a little overbearing and awkward as well, but again, it doesn't in any way detract from the overall enjoyment of the film. All in all, if you're a fan of gore movies, alien romps, or just good ol' fashioned black comedy, then you don't want to miss BAD TASTE. Just make sure you have the stomach for it, or it might just get torn out and eaten!