Bad Taste (1987)

Tagline: ‘One thing the aliens hadn’t counted on was Derek, and Derek’s don’t run’
UK Running Time: 92 Minutes

Film Quality: 4.5/5
Gore Content: 4.5/5
Entertainment Value: 5/5
Originality: 4/5

Introduction

There’s probably a whole generation of film fans for whom Peter Jackson is the man that made ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ films…for the rest of us he’s the guy that made ‘Bad Taste’! Jackson’s first feature probably took him longer to make than those six films combined, taking the best part of four years from first picking up that 16mm camera to wrapping up in the editing suite. Whilst the ‘Rings’ movies boasted hundreds of SFX artists, the alien masks in ‘Bad Taste’ were baked in his mum’s oven…the budget for ‘Rings’ was $300m and took $2.2billion at the box office, ‘Bad taste’ cost $30,000 and made $150,000. They couldn’t be more different yet there is so much affection for this low budget effort that it’s screaming out for a re-appraisal and long overdue a remaster and blu-ray release.

In a nutshell

Giles soaking in Reg's eleven secret herbs and spices

Intergalactic food manufacturers Crumb’s Country Delights are determined to make human flesh the next taste sensation and set down in the Kiwi town of Kaihoro with the intention of turning its population into the first sample dish. The Astro Investigation and Defence Service (“I wish we’d change that name!”) get wind of their plan and send ‘The Boys’, four clueless imbeciles in anoraks armed with machine guns, Magnums and chainsaws, to stop them.

What’s good about it?

This a seriously funny film! Channelling elements of Monty Python, Spike Milligan and The Three Stooges to create some gloriously slapstick humour the film is laugh out loud funny. Of course, it’s not for everyone because as well as being side splitting, a lot of sides are literally split on screen as the blood, gore and brains fly across the screen, into characters faces at regular intervals. There is blood everywhere and it’s certainly not for the faint hearted but if you can stomach the on screen offal then you’re in for a treat.

"Put all the bits of brain in a plastic bag Barry...

we'll need them for analysis."

Speaking of which, gore hounds are in for a treat! Among the gory highlights we see heads shot in half at the nose, brains falling out of heads, arms severed, guns pushed graphically through stomachs, machetes rammed through feet and that’s just in the first 20 minutes. But it’s all very inoffensive and if you’ve seen the black knight scene in ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ then you will get a flavour of what to expect from this. It’s all played for laughs so rather than repulsed by the blood, brains, nasal fluid and vomit (to be fair that particular scene does make you feel a little queasy!) you find yourself chuckling…this may be the one gore film to sit down and watch with your mum!

Considering this film started out as a ten minute short, edited together into a 50 minute film, at which point Jackson decided to go the whole hog and turn it into a full length feature, it is a very coherent movie. Yes hair styles change, one of the character loses weight at various parts of the film and the weather changes very quickly but the tone of the film is consistent. Jackson makes the most of the ‘budget’ (for that read ‘goodwill of his friends and family’ and a modest grant from the New Zealand Film Commission) with some excellent DIY special effects including the aforementioned masks, miniature houses, fake guns and ‘shots’ that raises this well above what you might call a ‘backyard movie’.

Let’s take a moment to talk about the acting. The bulk of the film was filmed without sound and overdubbed and a lot of humour can be found in the amateurish nature of the delivery which definitely adds to the film. Most of the actors play two parts, most notably Jackson who plays Derek and alien ‘Robert’ which gives him the chance to show off his editing chops during a scene where the two characters fight each other halfway down a cliff face. Jackson has a great time hamming it up as Derek who, due to the fact that he takes a dive off the cliff face after losing that particular fight, spends the rest of the film trying to keep stop his brains falling out of a newly formed flap in his head. He consequently grows more insane, finally going “ape-shit” after finding out what happens when he puts a bit of the alien brain in his own head!

Exploding Sheep!

That’s just one of many inspired sight gags which includes a fine homage to the Monty Python ‘not being seen’ sketch, exploding sheep, cardboard cut outs of The Beatles, a decapitated man defending himself by throwing pine cones, one of The Boys literally trying to mop up the mess during a bloody exchange and an utterly insane climax that has to be seen to be believed! It just goes to show that imagination and drive can go a long way in compensating for a lack of dollar and it’s obvious from watching this film that Jackson was meant for bigger things.

What about the bad?

What some people love about the film will be a real turn off for some. The film really does have the look of a cheap and nasty horror flick, probably because at the end of the day that’s exactly what it is! Taken at face value the acting is poor, the effects are inventive but you can see the joins and production values are low. It’s a shame that some people won’t be able to see past the film’s shortcomings because there’s a lot of enjoyment to be had in the sheer enthusiasm and drive that got this film made in the first place. Did you know for example that for the scenes that took place on the top of a cliff, rather than face having to lug the camera equipment up there each weekend (due to work commitments they were restricted to weekends, sometimes less frequent!) they buried it up there and dug it up when they were ready to film! That’s commitment for you!!!

Any themes?

Not really, it’s only reason for being is to make you laugh, throw up and churn your stomach in equal measure!

Release History

Just like the Australian censors, Derek has no brain

Released in the UK at a time when censorship was strict, it’s perhaps a surprise to note that this has never had any trouble getting past the BBFC uncut and has never suffered from censorship on these shores, even during several TV screenings on BBC2 and Film4. However, that’s not been the case elsewhere. The most extreme example was in Queensland where the film was banned in its uncut form until 2004! It’s also been heavily cut in Germany where a FSK-12 version was released missing 10 minutes alongside a FSK-18 version cut by 7 minutes. There has been talk for some time that Jackson intends to release his first three films as special edition blu-rays but we’re no closer to those remastered movies. At present the only known extras are trailers and a 20 minute documentary ‘Good Taste Made Bad Taste’.

Cultural Impact

Enormous given that it gave the world Peter Jackson. When Christopher Lee read the scene in ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ where a severed head fell into a well alerting the cave dwellers to the Fellowship’s whereabouts he said “I knew that this was the guy that made ‘Bad Taste’”. Some of the shots you see in the Rings films are there in ‘Bad Taste’ such as the extreme facial close ups, the Orcs are incredibly elaborate versions of the ‘Bad Taste’ aliens and as for the Wraiths…well they’re straight out of the horror genre. Also, would we have had the same stunning scenery in those films had Jackson not been adamant that they should be filmed in his home country.

Jackson’s supernatural comedy ‘The Frighteners’ also owes a huge debt to this movie, being his first shot at a big budget production with a star name (Michael J Fox). It was also filmed in the Wellington, New Zealand area. Had this little slice of schlock not been made we would have missed out on a number of wonderful films as well as one of the greatest cinematic trilogies of all time.

Final Thoughts

It’s a low budget masterpiece that shows you don’t need to chuck millions of pounds at a horror film to make it entertaining. The horror genre is full of examples of horror movies that benefit from having a low budget, ensuring that talent conquers all when it comes to inventive ways to get around problems. In a way ‘Bad Taste’ typifies this approach to film making in that Jackson and his friends slogged away at this for four years with a single vision of making an entertaining slice of schlock that they would enjoy watching themselves. It’s a fan’s film and they know more than any studio exec what pushes other fans’ buttons and for this reason ‘Bad Taste’ deserves its place in cult film history.

Memorable Quotes

Derek: “I’m a Derek…and Derek’s don’t run.”

Ozzy (After pulling alien’s head off): “Jeez, they come to bits easy.”
Barry: “I’ve just cleaned that bit.”
Frank: “Get rid of it.”
Ozzy (drop kicking the head out of the window): “The old magic’s still there

Derek: “It wasn’t me…Barry shot his head off, he had the Magnum.”



Frank: “We have to remain faceless at all times.”
Ozzy (caressing the Magnum): “Oh I get it, just in case we kill a lot of innocent people.”

Barry: “Why can’t aliens be friendly?”
Derek: “There’s no glowing fingers on these bastards.”

Derek: “Well, this has buggered your plans for conquering the universe.”

Frank: “Well I guess we’re going to have to issue a gun to Ozzy.”
Barry: Yeah, but don’t forget about his personality disorder.”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

“The Evil Dead’, ‘Re-Animator’, ‘Braindead’, ‘Death Warmed Up’