Bad Taste (1987)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Peter Jackson

Writers:

Ken Hammon (additional material)
Tony Hiles (additional material)

Release Date:

June 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

One thing the aliens hadn't counted on was Derek, and Dereks don't run!

Plot:

The population of a small town disappears and is replaced by aliens that chase human flesh for their intergalactic fast-food chain.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Fast Food | New Zealand | Small Town | Chainsaw

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Terry Potter	...	Ozzy / 3rd Class Alien
Pete O'Herne	...	Barry / 3rd Class Alien
Craig Smith	...	Giles / 3rd Class Alien
Mike Minett	...	Frank / 3rd Class Alien
Peter Jackson	...	Derek / Robert
Doug Wren	...	Lord Crumb
Dean Lawrie	...	Lord Crumb SPFX Double / 3rd Class Alien
Peter Vere-Jones	...	Lord Crumb's Voice
Ken Hammon	...	3rd Class Alien
Robin Griggs	...	3rd Class Alien
Michael Gooch	...	3rd Class Alien
Peter Gooch	...	3rd Class Alien
Laurie Yarrall	...	3rd Class Alien
Shane Yarrall	...	3rd Class Alien
Philip Lamey	...	3rd Class Alien

Also Known As:

Roast of the Day (New Zealand: English title) (working title)

Runtime:

91 min | Australia:86 min (1989 video release) | Belgium:98 min (DVD version)

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 (DVD release) | Finland:K-15 (DVD release) | Spain:18 | Australia:(Banned) (queensland only) | Belgium:16 (video rating) | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:18 | USA:R (heavily cut) | Germany:18 (cut) | Germany:12 (heavily cut) | Austria:16 | Germany:Not Rated (uncut DVD version) | Germany:18 (re-rating, uncut) | France:-16 (DVD rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:(Banned) (Ontario) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Iceland:Unrated | Italy:VM14 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Singapore:R21 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Gear Homestead, Okowai Road, Papakowhai, Porirua, Wellington Region, New Zealand

Company:

New Zealand Film Commission

Trivia:

During a scene where Derek's van swerves off the road and runs over one of the aliens, Ken Hammon sat on the hood of a van because they weren't able to buy a camera mount for the hood. Peter Jackson was driving, but neither noticed a tree stump hidden in the tall grass. The van stopped immediately from high speed, launching Ken and the camera into the air. Amazingly, both Hammon and the camera came out fine, but said, "We ain't doin' that one again!"

Goofs:

Continuity: Near the parts on where Derek kills the "stupid" alien by pushing the gun through the stomach, the distance of the bench in relation of the location of Derek's activities change.

Quotes:

Frank: This isn't gonna be another false alarm like the Manor Street invasion over there, is it?
Derek: Well, how do you explain the disappearance of an entire township, Frank? Oh! The Kiwi Jonestown, of course, that's it! Drinking beer laced with cyanide from little polystyrene cups.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Young Frankenstein (1974)

Soundtrack:

BAD TASTE

Sick Flick

It seems fitting that in the wake of the excellent Lord of the Rings films, that we should have a look at just what started director Peter Jackson on the road to being one of the worlds greatest visionaries. Before LOTR's, Jackson's biggest financial hit was the Michael J. Fox horror comedy 'The Frighteners', and his biggest critical success being the haunting 'Heavenly Creatures', starring a then not-so-famous Kate Winslet. But it wasn't an easy ride getting to be the director of the most anticipated trilogy since Star Wars. Jackson started small, very small, and clawed his way up the movie ladder using nothing more than pure determination and a raw talent for film-making.

Jackson's first feature was Bad Taste, a low, low-budget horror comedy movie made over two years about aliens killing humans for their fast-food business back in space. No real plot, no real actors, no real crew. Only an insane imagination and devoted friends willing to help out. There's not even much of a script, because what Jackson sets out to do is sicken his audience with some of the most gruesome deaths ever seen and make them laugh until the back of their heads fall off. And he succeeds.

Narrative and plot structure are not on the vile menu here. Instead, Bad Taste is a testament to sick jokes, low-budget gore and technical brilliance on a shoestring. Jackson made his own steadicam, crane and other camera rigs to create the impression of a bigger-budgeted movie (he fails to do so, unfortunately) and even undertook the task of making all of his own make-up and prosthetic effects, including mechanised masks and realistic machine guns. This is an even greater achievement when you consider just how much gore there is in the film, but the finale, in which a huge mansion is rocketed into space, defies the rules of its low budget and minimal crew.

Even the cast were so minimal that the same aliens can be seen, if you look hard enough, being killed over and over again throughout the film, and Jackson himself takes on two roles; the unstable Derek and a mad alien called Robert. In one scene, Derek and Robert engage in a cliff-top fight with each other, balanced precariously on the edge and with no indication that one is a body double. Jackson's creativity and knowledge of movie trickery is undoubtedly on display here, but the low-rent sickness and bloody gore on display would suggest otherwise. At first it is hard to imagine that Jackson would go on from this to directing one of the best films of all time, but when you look closely, examine just what Jackson could do with no money and no crew, you begin to realise that a true genius was at work here.

Bad Taste is a delirious testament to the 'just-get-out-there-and-do-it' school of film-making, as that is literally what Jackson did. Shooting whenever he had the money for film stock and making props and special effects in his parent's garage. Apparently, one of Jackson's greatest problems was keeping his actors consistent in appearance over the two-year period, making sure haircuts remained the same and that one actor had a permanent five-o'clock shadow. Bad Taste is true to the spirit of independent film-making, one man making the film he wants, when he wants and with whom he wants. In fact, it would never and could never have been made under the supervision of a studio, and even if it had the spirit would have been killed off.

Bad Taste works for me because I admire the way in which it is made. When I first saw it I was in my teens and I liked it because it was a demented, gruesome, funny film, so maybe the teen crowd is the right one for Jackson's brain-eating, vomit-spewing, chuck-up-a-thon, or maybe it's also for twenty-somethings after a night on the lash. Either way, Bad Taste should be seen as an example that if you want to make a movie and know how - there is usually a way