Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

Of course, everyone knows that before the director of the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy became a big shot Hollywood director, he made some pretty vile Horror movie gore-fests when he started as an aspiring filmmaker. There's DEAD ALIVE, which has been called the "goriest film of all time" and if you've ever seen it, you probably won't disagree with that claim. And then there's this movie.

BAD TASTE is Peter Jackson's first film, and while the body count is lower and the gore isn't as over the top as DEAD ALIVE is, this movie managed to do something that no other movie has ever done: make me nauseous. I've seen FACES OF DEATH, I've seen SALO, I've seen the sickest viral videos you can think of, and usually I get shocked more than anything. However, this film had a scene that made me absolutely sick to my stomach and it took every ounce of my will just to hold it in. I won't ruin it but let's just say it involves people drinking something they shouldn't be drinking. But what makes it so disgusting is not only the visual, but the sound effects. BAD TASTE has some of the most absolutely disgusting sound effects I've ever heard in ANY movie and it makes the gore in the film even more cringe-inducing. Even hours after watching the film, I was still haunted by it and gagged at the mere thought of it.

With that story out of the way, the film is basically about an Alien invasion. Alien beings are on Earth disguised as humans who all wear matching clothes and look like the belong in some sort of suicide cult or something. Their mission on Earth has something to do with killing humans for an intergalactic fast food chain. Then a bunch of goofs who are supposed to be some sort of elite group of mercenaries (or something like that) are given a mission to eliminate the Aliens before they whipe out every human within a certain radius.

This film is extremely low budget and I don't think anyone in the film has had any prior acting experience. It was more of a labor of love for Peter Jackson and his friends that eventually became a funded project and ultimately a Cult Classic. With that being said, I won't rag on the visuals or the acting because it's not professional per se, but let's just say that you shouldn't expect a cinematic masterpiece. Going based entirely on an entertainment level, I must say that I was sort of bored with this movie. It wasn't horrible, but I just couldn't get into it until the very end. It wasn't "laugh out loud" funny either. Not to me, anyway. I thought DEAD ALIVE was excellent and worthy of it's Cult Classic title, but not this one. BAD TASTE tested my patience and most of all my stomach. But on a plus side, for how amateur this film is, the effects in the movie were amazing and it seems like Jackson and his crew really put forth a lot of effort. A lot of camera tricks were used, and the homemade makeup effects were very well done. If you're into filmmaking at all (especially Horror filmmaking), you may find this movie to be very inspiring.

Overall, it's not a horrible movie considering the circumstances in which it was made (it was filmed over a period of four years and I did not notice any outstanding continuity or consistency problems), however it just didn't keep my attention. The almost vomit-inducing scene aside, the gore in this film is so over the top that you can't help but love it (for example, Peter Jackson's character has a huge hole in his skull for most of the movie and has to keep stuffing his brains back into the hole and securing it with his belt). The filmmaking is noteworthy. The characters are entertaining (even though some of the actors sound like they're constipated). Just as an overall film, it was a bit on the boring side. But the bottom line is, if you like gore (Comedic gore, at that) then I highly recommend BAD TASTE. You may not like it, but it's still a film that every Horror fan should and MUST see.

3 stars

This movie is pretty much tongue in cheek sci fi.
Jack in the golden arches from outer space wants to Kentucky fry
humans. The aliens seem unstoppable after butchering a small
New Zealand town. To the rescue is an odd team of young commandos.
The rest is a shoot out between the heroes and the invaders.
As bad as the dialog and special effects are
the comedy touches kind of make up for it.
I just don't much like horror movies...