It’s difficult to imagine that the man who achieved critical success with the dark drama Heavenly Creatures, and unprecedented commercial success with the grand Lord of the Rings trilogy, first cut his teeth in the realm of low-budget gross-out horror. Yet this is exactly the arc along which Peter Jackson’s career in film has traveled. Dead Alive (aka. Braindead) is the director’s landmark entry into the arena of grue and gore.
Dead Alive begins with a scene on the island of Sumatra, where a zoologist and his guides have captured a rare and elusive creature – a Sumatran Rat Monkey – which they plan to return to New Zealand for exhibition and study. The team meets with intense resistance from a native tribe, and in the course of a narrow escape the scientist is scratched and bitten by the monkey. Upon noticing the zoologist’s wounds, his native guides shriek in horror and proceed to lop off each part of his body that has been infected with the beast’s bite – including his head.
Next, we fast forward to small town New Zealand, where a hapless young man named Lionel (Timothy Balme) spends all of his days tending to his overbearing mother (Elizabeth Moody), which duties include indulging dear Mum’s every whim and fancy, no matter how inconvenient or unreasonable. On a run to the local grocer, Lionel encounters Paquita (Diana Penalver), the lovely shopkeeper. The two fall for each other almost instantly, though two more star-crossed lovers there never could be. Though Paquita’s love for Lionel appears written in destiny, her grandmother provides a dark warning, borne via a tarot reading: death surrounds Lionel.
Undeterred, Paquita convinces Lionel to take her to the zoo. None too pleased with Lionel’s recent distraction, Mum follows Lionel and Paquita and jealously leers at them from the cover of a nearby bush. While spying on the lovebirds, Mum regrettably sneaks a little too closely to the cage of the Rat Monkey and is promptly bitten on the arm. Her subterfuge is blown, and Lionel tends to her injury.
Despite the apparent harmlessness of Mum’s injury, and Lionel’s and the town nurse’s best efforts to care for her, she becomes increasingly ill. Ever the doting son, Lionel continues to look after his dear mother, until she finally passes away… and, well, for a good time thereafter. We quickly understand the earlier screams of the Sumatran guides: the Rat Monkey’s bite turns its victims into undead, flesh-gobbling zombies. Mum is no exception, and her appetite is pretty, um, robust. A zany encounter between Mum, Lionel, a kung-fu priest and a gang of toughs at a cemetery results in even more zombies, and the clan just keeps growing from there. A welcome addition is the adorable baby Selwyn, who joins the gang as the product of a passionate love-making session between a zombie cleric and a zombie nurse. In the end, only Lionel and Paquita are left to combat a full-blown uprising of undead ghouls, and, far more terrifyingly, Lionel must also finally stand up to his dearest Mumsie.
Dead Alive is a quintessential splatstick flick, serving up equal parts of gore and humour, each offered by the gallon. I hesitate to qualify this movie along with other horror comedies such as Shaun of the Dead for a couple of reasons: (1) though not exactly a pioneer in the sub-genre (remember Student Bodies?), Dead Alive came out far ahead of the modern movement in horror comedy that includes Shaun, and (2) it’s not a spoof or parody. Dead Alive is best described as a black comedy, but the measure of bloodshed is so steep that no prospective viewer should expect a Scary Movie-styled experience.
The review caption on the DVD cover claims that Dead Alive is the goriest fright movie of all time. While I can’t exactly endorse this as fact, I can say without hesitation that, in my horror viewing experience, it definitely qualifies as being at or very near the top of the gore heap. The gory visuals begin early on in the film, escalate continually, and culminate in a bloodbath so gargantuan and grotesque that you almost become bored (but not quite). Fright, however, is in very short supply. The violence in the film is so zany and over the top that your eyeballs just gloss over and you begin to skim instead of absorb the scenery. The comedic elements deactivate any chance the movie might have at actually being scary, but this is obviously Jackson’s design so don’t expect any starts or shudders.
Dead Alive hooks its viewers with its crazy cast of characters (Lionel, Mum and Father McGruder are all quite exceptional), who are repeatedly thrust into ludicrously tragic circumstances. Some of the film’s more memorable scenes include Mum’s custard surprise, Lionel’s midnight cemetery throwdown, Selwyn’s trip to the park and Uncle Les’ impromptu zombie house party, all of which provide good comedy in the midst of violence and bloodshed. The budding love affair between Lionel and Paquita is cute in its own foolish way, and Lionel’s tortured dynamic with his mother is also quite entertaining. If not for the blood by the boatload, stalking viscera, fists through the head, lightbulbs in the brain, demon babies and lawnmower massacres, you’d essentially have a lovey version of a Monty Python project on your hands.
Dead Alive is damned good fun and uniquely entertaining, which makes it a must-see for any horror fan. Fully recommended!
