Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Reliable Rents: “Dead Alive” — Peter Jackson, 1992

Not many articles need to come with a warning, but it would be proper if this one did. If you are weak of heart or stomach, this movie is definitely not for you. If in fact you do watch this, prepare to run to the bathroom before the first 10 minutes are up.

Since that unpleasantness is out of the way, it is important to talk about the director of the upcoming super-colossal “Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers,” Peter Jackson. Many hadn’t heard of this short stocky fellow from New Zealand before he made J.R.R. Tolkien’s books into a beautiful and breathtaking reality. Peter Jackson should be recognized for his movies before “LOTR,” since many operated on a short budget yet showed signs of his genius to come; even if a lot of his previous films operated on less-than-stellar moral ground (see “Bad Taste” and “Meet The Feebles”).

There are movies that are far more depraved, show far more blood, and make the viewer cringe and use monosyllabic phrases like “Ah!” and “Geh!” One movie in particular makes the viewer say all this and more, while gallons of blood are shooting out like a Fourth of July fireworks display. That movie is “Dead Alive.”

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Released in 1992, this movie still makes the viewers gasp as they are shown the world of Lionel (Timothy Balme, “The Vector File”), who deals with his domineering and pathological mother (Elizabeth Moody, “Heavenly Creatures”). When Lionel starts showing interest in a young, attractive shopgirl, mother becomes quite upset.

Following Lionel on a date to the zoo, a rare form of monkey bites mother, and with this changes inside of her begin. Not talking about the changes you hear on mother/daughter on the beach commercials, but skin peeling off her face and biting people on the arm kinds of changes.

Soon enough, mother turns into a zombie, and starts to infect other people who cross their path. Since Lionel is the only person with this knowledge, he is constantly trying to set things right while not stirring up attention. Mix a crazy priest, an uncle who wants some riches, and a zombie baby and you have a recipe for pure chaos.

This movie is gory — not like guy stabbing someone and knife goes into the back gory, but heads popping off, impaling, chainsaw-massacre-on-steroids kind of gory — the final 20 minutes being some of the goriest scenes ever captured on film. At the same time, Jackson incorporates a lot of slapstick that helps keep the mood light, even if the whole room is getting bogged down in blood.

So before you go renting “LOTR” for the fifth time to get ready for “Two Towers,” take a history lesson and grab “Dead Alive” for a good 90 minutes of pure mayhem. Get ready with this film and when you’re done, rent “Meet the Feebles” or “Bad Taste” — you’ll never look at Peter Jackson in the same way ever again.

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