Director Peter Jackson's second feature cheerfully trumps the
gross-out quotient of his splatterfest debut, the appropriately
named Bad Taste. The tone is cartoonishly comic, and the
premise is simple: The village dweeb (Timothy Balme) is trying to
maintain a budding romance with the sweet Paquita (Diana
Penalver) while concealing the fact that his overbearing mum
(Elizabeth Moody, in an amazing good-sport performance) is a
flesh-eating zombie. (She owes her condition to a bite from a
"Sumatran Rat Monkey" at the local zoo.) Complicating matters
even further is Les, a greedy uncle (Ian Watkin), who suspects
that his sister has died and is eager to occupy her elegantly
furnished Victorian mansion. The climax is a housewarming party
Les throws to celebrate his "inheritance;" what he really gets is
his comeuppance, thanks to his sister and her similarly afflicted
zombie pals, who burst out of their basement prison to turn the
guests into appetizers. Our hero finally cuts a wide swath
through the zombie party crashers with the help of a rotary blade
lawn mower, leaving the house awash in blood and body parts in
order to save his romance. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
Running Time: 97 mins
Director(s):Peter Jackson
Writer(s):Frances Walsh, Peter Jackson, Stephen Sinclair
Theatrical MPAA Rating: R
gross-out quotient of his splatterfest debut, the appropriately
named Bad Taste. The tone is cartoonishly comic, and the
premise is simple: The village dweeb (Timothy Balme) is trying to
maintain a budding romance with the sweet Paquita (Diana
Penalver) while concealing the fact that his overbearing mum
(Elizabeth Moody, in an amazing good-sport performance) is a
flesh-eating zombie. (She owes her condition to a bite from a
"Sumatran Rat Monkey" at the local zoo.) Complicating matters
even further is Les, a greedy uncle (Ian Watkin), who suspects
that his sister has died and is eager to occupy her elegantly
furnished Victorian mansion. The climax is a housewarming party
Les throws to celebrate his "inheritance;" what he really gets is
his comeuppance, thanks to his sister and her similarly afflicted
zombie pals, who burst out of their basement prison to turn the
guests into appetizers. Our hero finally cuts a wide swath
through the zombie party crashers with the help of a rotary blade
lawn mower, leaving the house awash in blood and body parts in
order to save his romance. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
Running Time: 97 mins
Director(s):Peter Jackson
Writer(s):Frances Walsh, Peter Jackson, Stephen Sinclair
Theatrical MPAA Rating: R