Cult Classics: Peter Jacksons "Dead Alive"

Hey everyone! It's Nate and I'm back with a new type of series that I plan on doing every once in a while. I'll be going back in time to review some movies that would be considered "cult classics". These movies may not be as well known as some of the blockbuster horror movies we are use to seeing, but these ones nonetheless have stood the test of time and are still popular among horror movie fans. I hope you all enjoy!

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The first cult classic that I am going to talk about is a Peter Jackson film called "Dead Alive". Otherwise known in other countries as "Braindead". And yes, you heard me right. The director of the Lord of the Rings and King Kong made a horror movie back in the early 90's that may be considered the "goriest movie of all time". This movie is about a young gentle man named Lionel who is living a life that is run by his demanding and snobby mother. But when she is bitten by a sumatran rat monkey, her increasing demands are the least of his worries.

The movie starts out with a group of people who are on an island known as "skull island" (King Kong reference). These people are trying to steal a Sumatran-Rat monkey that is native to that island alone. While stealing it, they get attacked by some of the natives that are located on the island. Once they get away from these natives, the leader of the group gets bitten by the creature. Because of this, the other members of the group begin to cut off his limbs, but when they see a cut on his forehead, they have no other choice but to behead the leader. It then cuts to black and the movie begins.

At the start of the film, we meet Paquita. A cute Latina girl who is working in her parents grocery store. We then met Rodger, who is a delivery guy that Paquita likes. Her mother is a kind of fortune teller and tries to find out who her daughters future love is. And it's not Rodger. Her mother tells her that a star symbol will reveal her lifetime love to her.

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This is when we meet Lionel. A goofy, unbalanced man who is in the stores to give Paquita his grocery list. After a few clumsy acts, the star symbol appears on the counter and this is when she realizes that Lionel is the love of her life. Lionel awkwardly leaves the store and heads home, where we meet his mother Vera. She is a very mean and demanding person who makes Lionel do all of the chores around the house and makes him feel like he doesn't do anything right. She never really has nice thing to say to him.

Paquita comes to the house to deliver the groceries and due to some of her tricks, she gets Lionel to invite her to the zoo. They go to the zoo and they see all of the animals you could imagine. This is where they share their first kiss. They then go on to see the monkey exhibit, which is where they run into the Sumatran-Rat monkey that was introduced in the beginning of the movie. The creature is very vicious and even rips the arm off of one of the monkeys. After this all happens, we see Lionel's mother sneak in and she gets bitten by the rat monkey, but she eventually kills that creature. Lionel takes her home, leaving Paquita behind.

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Lionel then takes care of his mother. But she gradually gets sicker and sicker. At one point she actually eats Paquitas dog. Now Lionel starts to realize that his mother is not getting any better so he decides that he is going to hide her in the basement. Now as the film progresses Lionel starts avoiding Paquita. Taking care of his mother is taking up most of his time and he is now very sad and helpless. Now for the people who haven't seen this movie, a *SPOILER ALERT* is in order. At Lionel's mothers funeral, her body is being pumped with embalming fluid but no one is watching her, so her body starts to leak all of the nasty fluids that are in her body. We then see the man who was performing the embalming wipe his face with a handkerchief which spreads some of the bodily fluid on his face, and I'm sure we all know where this is going. I give that subtle giveaway a Lighthouse (my roommates grading system representing a 3 out of 5). Now for most of the film we see zombies in the graveyard, zombie babies being born, and even zombies kissing at the dinner table. This is all happening while Lionel is trying to keep it a secret.

Now earlier at the funeral, Lionel's mean uncle shows up and believes that he should be part of his sisters will. So he guilt's Lionel into giving him the house and money after he finds the corpses hidden in the basement. Now the uncle decides he is going to throw a huge party in his newly acquired house. However Paquita, since the funeral, has not been with Lionel and has been seeing Rodger, the delivery guy from the beginning of the movie. She gets bored with Rodger and disappears, but he doesn't really seem to care. She makes her way to Lionel's house to see that there is a party going on. She finds Lionel in the basement and he is about to poison his mother, ultimately killing her. He does this with the other bodies as well. They bury the bodies and go back to the party but the uncle is not very happy. Him and Lionel start fighting and Lionel is thrown in the basement and locked in. He notices on the bottle of poison it says "Not For Human Consumption". Suddenly one of the corpses shoots out of the ground and is now alive and even more hungry. This is where the chaos begins.

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The zombies start attacking everyone at the party, turning it in a glorified bloodbath. The only people who are still alive and fighting are Lionel, Paquita, and the uncle. And also some girl who meets Paquita but she doesn't last very long. Lionel is then launched out a window, and we think he is gone. Right? No that's not very good movie logic. Paquita is being surrounded by zombies until Lionel busts through the front door with a lawn mower over his shoulder. He delivers his famous line "Party's over." He then continues to rip apart every corpse that comes into contact with him. This scene alone is why this movie is considered the goriest movie of all time.

After he is done with them all, Paquita thinks they are safe, but Lionel says "Haven't seen mum yet". This is when the mother comes out of the ground, and she is now 30 feet talk with giant claws on her hands and is a deformed monster. she chases them up to the rooftop where Lionel gives away her big secret. Earlier in the movie we find out that Lionel's dad is dead because his mother found out he was cheating on her so she killed him and the mistress.  The mother's stomach then opens up like a mouth and swallows Lionel whole. Paquita is now trapped and she is hanging on the edge of the roof while the mother is trying to break her grasp. Then all of a sudden, Lionels hand comes out of her stomach holding the a star symbol necklace that Paquitas mother gave him earlier in the movie. He then makes his way out of her stomach. the mother falls through the roof of the house and Lionel grabs Paquita and Tarzan swings both of them down to the ground below. The fire department shows up and they both walk away as the credits start rolling.

Pros:

• The movie definitely lived up to its name as the the goriest movie of all time. 
• The acting was exactly what it needed to be, goofy and silly. It was a different type of zombie movie that was entertaining to watch.
• The music was amazing and it was music that I haven't ever heard in other movies before. It made each scene more emotional or suspenseful.

Cons:

• Some of the effects were a little over the top. I loved the whole movie but there were some parts that seemed necessary. Like when Lionel was being chased by he zombie intestines. That pushed the limit a little too far

Now on a scale from A-F, I give "Dead Alive" an... A-!!

For Peter Jackson's first film, I was very impressed with what he can do with a horror movie. He can definitely bring originality to a film. He took a very common horror topic like zombies and change it to be different.  It was very goofy and outrageous at some points but I think that was what he was trying to get across. I loved the music in the film and it made each scene more emotional and it really pulled you in. Definitely one of my favorites!

Thank you guys so much for reading and come back for all that is horror with HorrorForLife

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