Peter Jackson’s first feature-length film, shot over a four year period, hints at the hyperactive creativity that would later win him an Oscar. However, Bad Taste is far from being as well crafted as his later horror efforts but nonetheless retains its oftentimes contagious sense of surrealistic fun. Unfortunately, the chaos overwhelms the ingenious premise as Jackson permits most every one of his satirical doors to close upon him.
Crumb’s Crunchy Delights, in hopes of crushing its intergalactic fast-food competition, land in the town of Kaihoro, population formerly 78, as the alien proprietors begin their plans to offer the inhabitants of Earth as the new wave of extraterrestrial snacks . . . .
Now, I have to stop the film’s summation here because there seems to be a bit of discrepancy with the critics as to whom sends the four human agents to thwart the culinary aliens’ genocidal plan. Regardless of the break down of the acronym “A.I.D.S.,” there exists a debate upon whether the abbreviation stands for “Astro-Investigation and Defense Service,” “Alien Investigation Defense Service,” “Astro Invasion Defense Service,” or “Alien Invader Destruction Service.” (For the record, it’s the first one on the list.) Nevertheless, the four “mates” are sent in and what ensues is nothing less than creative genius for we have two characters, Derek and Robert, battling one another, both of which happen to be played by the director.
To follow, we have an exploding sheep, à la a rocket launcher whose missile manages to go through a house, missing everything in its path, until it detonates upon the hapless woolen grazer; Beatles cut-outs; brains galore; no nudity to speak of unless you count alien buttocks circa mid-’90’s Prince (ope, scratch that, we have a charity collector played by Craig Smith, who is fermenting in a stew midway through the production); vomitus consumption; and a Lowe’s supply of sledgehammers to top things off.
Regrettably, it would take another film for Jackson to organize his mayhem, for Bad Taste crumbles under its own insanity as the void where a plot belongs is never sufficiently filled by the action, which is somewhat understandable considering the film is an ultra-low budget rookie effort that was improvised as it was being shot. Sadly, the black humor premise, which houses the capacity to posit quite a bit of scathing satire, is never capitalized upon. Yet, to Jackson’s credit, he did manage to dress his aliens rather poignantly, thus sardonically depicting–in the words of Elspeth Haughton of Apollo Guide Review–his “contempt for bureaucratic ineptitude.”
However, what’s past is past. Regardless of the missed opportunities, lack of control, and the deficiency of a storyline, for better or worse, we have Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
