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Braindead/Dead Alive (1992)
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Movie Review by The Undertaker
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02.23.03
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Peter Jackson is going to have a strange place in motion picture history. He was able to almost pull off Tolkien's Rings trilogy perfectly and he's also responsible for one of the most over-the-top, bad-ass zombie splatter fests of all time. That's a damned good resume' in my book. I'm not sure the same audiences that flocked to see The Rings would love Braindead, but us fans who have been enjoying Peter since Bad taste sure do. Is it the ultimate splatter film? It just may be, but it's definitely the ultimate gore/horror comedy in my book. You may be more familiar with the U.S. version Dead Alive, same film, unrated, though not uncut as the original Braindead runs a bit longer. Still, either version you have (I'd highly suggest you get the original though), it's so good, you have to smile just thinking about it. Listing all that is good in the world of Braindead would take up a book, let's just say you must own this baby. Some Oscar nominations it could have won are: Best use of a lawn mower in a film, Best baby sitting scene in a film, Worst case of mother love in a film, and Best Zombie Sex scenes in a film. Gotta love it! That damn little Sumatran Rat Monkey sure caused Lionel a whole shit load of trouble after it bites his over-protective mum who's spying on his date with that hot little latina chica. Braindead just steam rolls on afterwards. Mum gets sick, dies, comes back, kills nurse, who comes back and the vicious circle spirals poor Lionel's life down as he tries hard to keep it all under everyone's nose. By the end though, folks are lucky to have a nose left as zombies attack, eat, and fuck all over Lionel's poor house. His stupid sleaze uncle only adds to the mess by showing up and trying to take over the boy's shit and having a party for all his dumbass friends. It's just one big mess from there out, a mess that can only be cleaned up by...well, a lawnmower. Some many memorable scenes, lines, and gore, Braindead became and still is a cult classick. No true horror or gore fan hasn't seen this or doesn't own it, do they? I would hope not. I imagine with Jackson's recent Rings films even more people will stumble into Braindead's twisted tale and become fans. At least by film's end, love wins out over all, even that ugly-ass zombie bitch of a mum Lionel has. This is Jackson's best horror/comedy, even topping Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles. Cool thing is that all his films, this one especially, are so damned funny that the gore doesn't hurt your tender sensibilities as much. Jackson has been the only director to me that has made a movie or two as good or better than the Evil Dead films, that's saying something folks. Braindead does like that priest says and kicks ass for the lord. Well not sure about the lord, but it sure kicks ass for someone.
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Rating: 9.3 out of 10.0 - 25 votes cast total
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