Man Peter Jackson went through some phase here before he took us into Middle Earth. This gory splatter frenzy of a zombie film combines the aesthetic of melodrama with the grotesque zombie flick.
My eyes will probably hurt if I saw the colour red after this film. Hold on, let me go change into something that isn’t red.
That’s better. I’m going to skip on the introduction because usually I use this space to ramble on about something loosely related to the film which cheaply borders on the philosophical, but in completely honesty there is nothing of the sort to be said about this film. If you came here looking for something thought provoking, you really got lost along the way, didn’t you? But if you came here for an hour and half of sustained splattering frenzy, a rain of limbs and a soup of puss, then come on inside, let me take your coat and get you a drink.
For my upcoming assignment, I’m exploring the comedic value of gory bloody death in films, what compels us to laugh at it? Could it be that were just sick bastards? Yes. But there’s more, I’m sure of it. And that’s why I’m writing about it. I’m still brooding over what films to make an example out of and for my first candidate I watched Braindead (1992). I’ve heard but passing comments and whispers about Peter Jackson’s filmmaking before he saddled up to make blockbusters, and they’ve always intrigued me. “Peter? Making splatter films? Are we talking about the same Peter here? Jackson right?” So, this was as good of an excuse as any to watch one of them and my my what a phase he went through. This is the usual zombie formula, patient zero catches the zombie strain from someone/thing, in this case it’s a bite from a rabid hybrid rat-monkey and patient zero is our main protagonist, Lionel’s overbearing pain-in-the-ass mother, patient zero then goes onto bite someone else and then the biting frenzy begins before the characters are standing face to face with a gut crazed mob of undead. What sets this particular film apart from the rest is that it doesn’t skimp out on the grisly details at all. The film finds its rhythms from quiet dysfunctional family story to puss-leaking injuries all the way to a sustained bloodbath that holds sway until the credits appear.
This waterfall of blood and viscera coats the whole narrative and characterisation, which there isn’t much of but that’s not the point of the film. The thin veneer of characterisation that does exist merely situates the ones that don’t turn into zombies immediately, in either the “like” camp or the “hate” camp, and that’s good enough for me in this case. If anything, I’m all for freezing their character development as the entrails began spilling because the way some of the actors clumsily over-play their parts is terribly sublime. Had it been any other film, the histrionic acting would’ve made me throw things at my TV, but here I found myself hoping for more.
If someone can get their hands on the bill for production budget for this film, do let me know if my prediction of the amount of fake blood used being right at the very top is true or not. I’d love colourpalettecinema to take a frame or two out of this film, but hey, all you’d see are different shades of red. Keeping a close eye on the ways in which some of the characters meet their messy end, I can confirm that there is indeed comedy to be had from the countless deaths that riddle the film. Sudden explosions, bodies ripped apart disproportionately, limbs torn off which were still functioning and internal organs crawling around the floor looking for someone to strangle with its intestines are but some of the many comic demises in this bloody craziness but what surprised me more was a kung-fu fighting priest. After making an opprobrious video essay about the trappings of religion and how cinema serves as an alternative to the cult audiences, in which I said some far from nice things about priests, I really wasn’t expecting to see a badass priest so soon.
I’m sure you know at least a few people who would faint during the first 10 minutes of this film, well that’s good because had they stayed conscious for the rest of it, I’m sure they’d have to be taken to the emergency ward. This film definitely isn’t for everyone, but if you can handle your gore and not feel a wave of nausea at the imminent sign of blood then there’s a great deal of enjoyment to be had from this film, especially after drinking a marvellous quantity of cheap alcohol.
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