Peter Jackson
Bad Taste

Year 1987: Napoli wins its first championship led by the brilliant Ma-Gi-Ca trio, Nelson Piquet wins his last and third F1 title, the USA sees the debut of the yellow characters from the massively successful series The Simpsons, and in the Middle East, the First Palestinian Intifada breaks out against Israeli domination. This year also marks the cinematic debut of a director who will achieve global success and recognition only about fifteen years later, when he decides to bring to the screen the hugely successful fantasy saga "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R. Tolkien. Of course, I am talking about Peter Jackson, a New Zealand director (who would have thought), who at the time was still very young and about 40 kg lighter than he is now, but already full of inventiveness and imagination.

His debut work, indeed, is the famous "Bad Taste" (shamefully translated as "Fuori di Testa"), a film that begins a journey into violence that will reach its climax in the subsequent "Braindead" (rightly considered the bloodiest film of all time, even though idiotic Japanese directors strive to create guttings and emasculations of all kinds). Among these two masterpieces of the most scandalous trash and the funniest splatter of all time is "Meet The Feebles," a spot-on muppet representation of human society, with its vices (all) and virtues (none). However, returning to "Bad Taste," it immediately stands out as a true masterpiece. You got it right, ladies and gentlemen, this film, in its idiocy (which is infinite), in its rawness (which is present in industrial quantities), in its blood-soaked comedy (which, I can assure you, will literally make you roll on the floor laughing), can only be a true cult classic, one of the highlights of Peter Jackson's entire career.

Briefly moving on to the plot: a group of aliens has invaded a remote location in even more remote New Zealand (congrats Peter, the landscapes of that country are wonderful! I plan to visit soon!). Their aim is to conquer the entire New Zealand and capture humans to turn them into the main dishes of interstellar fast food, delicious human-burgers! So far, nothing to say, simply genius in its absurdity, it seems obvious! However, the government cannot remain idle, so it sends a group of heroes (oh, what a term), or rather special agents, to dispel the alien threat without alarming the population too much. And then let the festival of atrocities begin, lol! Humans literally pierced by sawed-off shotguns, open brains and parts of gray matter put back in the skull as if nothing happened, human brains enjoyed with a spoon as if they were desserts, chainsaws slicing through and piercing the horrid aliens, nothing is missing! It's like being at an amusement park, how can one not be enthralled by such art! This film should be shown in all universities where cinema is a major subject. At first glance, it will seem obvious that we are facing a colossal example of purposely comedic and splatter trash cinema to the maximum, this is undeniable. But if you watch Bad Taste multiple times, you'll discover increasingly surprising and curious details, such as the artisanal special effects created by Jackson himself, which probably cost him no more than 300 New Zealand dollars of the time, keeping it high.

We all know Peter Jackson as the man of the "Ring Trilogy", but not many know this Jackson, the more reckless (if you allow me the term) and boisterous one, but also the more likable and genuine one, essentially the truest one. Jackson has now been seduced by the brilliant world of Hollywood, with its multimillion productions, its computerized effects, and its super-publicized blockbusters. Fine Peter, but remember that you asked for it. Surely you will earn a ton more money than when you were making your films in New Zealand (from this period I recommend his beautiful "Heavenly Creatures", with a young and talented Kate Winslet), but you have lost all the satirical and grotesque vein of your first films. I don't give a damn if this means you've matured, I acknowledge it takes real guts to attempt to bring to screen a thick book like "The Lord of the Rings"), but the magic of Bad Taste is no more, it has flown away forever. The critique of American society through human meat fast foods is beautiful: the aliens are like our Yankee friends who gorge on poor quality meats, settling, moreover, for the least tasty pieces of the butchered animal, no more, no less. In reality, humans are not good at all, quite the opposite. But profit comes first and by producing a large quantity of human burgers to sell in interstellar fast foods business would surely be golden for the aliens; of course, the same goes for the Americans, rest assured they would manage to sell us even rat meat for burgers if it meant keeping costs as low as possible. Peter Jackson is fierce in this, there's nothing you can say against him.

Lastly, noteworthy are the splendid musical tunes, initially haunting and suspenseful then suddenly more open and playful, to underline the grotesque nature of the film, always on the edge between comedic and splatter, the deadly bazooka and sheep scene (hilarious!) and the final dismemberment of the alien leader by the bespectacled boy known for having placed parts of his own brain (among other things) back into his skull, through a splendid chainsaw, after being swallowed, no less!

Absolutely do not watch the film if you are easily impressionable, as there are countless extremely violent or vomit-inducing scenes (check out the one with the group of aliens, too lol!). Let's say if you want to spend an hour goofing around happily with friends, go rent this film, guaranteed laughs for everyone, as long as vulgar and macabre humor is your daily bread. As for me, I'm done, I think watching "Bad Taste" is one of the few things all cinema experts should do in their lifetime. This is an epochal film that opens the mind, surprises, and entertains. In short, the kind of film someone like Robert Ebert, a well-known American film critic, would define as a MASTERPIECE. If you like "Bad Taste", which I have no doubt about, the already mentioned "Braindead", also directed by Peter Jackson, is highly recommended, even more grotesque and splatter than this little great gem.