Movie Review- Bad Taste

Bad Taste is Peter Jackson's debut feature film. Yes, the guy who directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy directed a few schlocky B-movie in the late 1980's and early 90's. Bad Taste definitely lives up to its title, providing buckets of blood and some nasty special effects. But there are a few flaws here and there that keep this film from being great.

The script in particular is lacking. This is the type of movie that doesn't really need much of a plot, but despite that the script often feels like it's forgotten where it wants to go with the plot. The basic premise is that aliens have invaded New Zealand and instead of sending in the army, the government opts to send in a group of guys called "The Boys" to stop the aliens. It's never quite explained why the government only sent in four guys with guns instead of an army; there's a brief throwaway line about the army being "too flashy" or something. Other than that plot contrivance, the only other major flaw with the script is the pacing.

According to the IMDB page, there was no script for Bad Taste and the script was made up on the fly. This causes the plot to wander at times, but it manages to snap back to the main story. There's also a surprising lack of a second act, the script jumps from introducing the characters and setting up a conflict, and then straight to a non-stop climax for the second half of the film. There's also a lack of subplots;  the only plot thread throughout the entire film is the main one, and the few minor subplots are resolved well before the end of the film.

The characters are all pretty forgettable, too. Peter Jackson's character, Derek, is really the only character given any memorable scenes. Albeit  his scenes are less about character development and more about the brain-falling-out gag. The other three main characters are all pretty much the same personality, or lack thereof. And to make matters worse, the three characters all wear ski-masks during the last 30-40 minutes of the film, making it nearly impossible to tell them apart. And in terms of dialog everyone a few funny lines here and there, though, but no one in particular ever says anything memorable.

The major attraction to this film, however, is the gratuitous violence. The film makes up for its weak plot with an abundance of gross special effects and spurting blood. The special effects for the film are really well done given the budget, particularly the opening and ending fight scenes. The gross-out moments are equally abundant. There's recurring gag in which Derek's (Peter Jackson) brain keeps falling out of the back of his head, and he has to find various implements to keep his skull together. There's also a rather nasty communal vomit-eating scene, and of course a scene where an alien has his head ripped off with the spinal cord still attached for good measure. The masks used for the aliens are pretty convincing, but we don't actually get to see the aliens in their true form until the last 20 minutes of the film.

There's one big problem I had with Bad Taste, however. The film quality is terrible. According to the IMDB page, it was filmed on a 16MM camera, and started out as a short film that branched out into a feature film. As a result, the film looks  like a really expensive home movie. A majority of the camera angles and cinematography give the film an unintentional AFV feel. This is the most distracting part of the film, and it makes the film feel a lot cheaper and sleazier than it is.

Overall, this is a very unbalanced but entertaining movie. The plot is unstable and extremely simplistic, and the dialog is pretty bland, too. But the charm lies in the film's over-the-top violence and several flat-out disgusting scenes. If you have an appreciation for campy movie, and have a strong stomach, this is a film worth looking into. It's not as good as Peter Jackson's 1993 film "Braindead" (which this film is sometimes compared to on a gross-out level), but it's still a fairly decent movie, and a great deal of mindless fun.

Entertainment- 4/5

Quality- 3/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092610/