Braindead (film)
| Braindead | |
 Braindead German theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Peter Jackson |
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| Produced by | Jim Booth |
| Written by | Stephen Sinclair (story) Stephen Sinclair & Fran Walsh & Peter Jackson (screenplay) |
| Starring | Timothy Balme Diana Peñalver Elizabeth Moody Ian Watkin |
| Music by | Peter Dasent |
| Cinematography | Murray Milne |
| Editing by | Jamie Selkirk |
| Distributed by |  Trimark Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  August 13, 1992 September 17, 1992 January 16, 1993 February 12, 1993 |
| Running time | Theatrical: 104 min. U.S. Unrated: 97 min. |
| Country |  New Zealand |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,000,000 (estimated) |
| Gross revenue | $1,627,955 (NZ) $242,623 (USA) |
Braindead (New Zealand 1992), released as Dead Alive in North America, is a zombie comedy splatstick horror film directed by Peter Jackson.
Braindead is in the same vein as Jackson's earlier works Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles, but Braindead is rather more polished, with a budget of around $3 million. Although it starts with the capture of a zombie-creating creature on the eerie Skull Island, the movie is relatively low-key in its opening half. Only in the second part does it spiral out of control into a blood-filled zombie film.
Jackson reused the song played on the organ as the mourners wait to enter the church prior to the embalming scene. It is Sodomy from Peter Jackson's previous film Meet the Feebles (1989).
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Plot
The first scene of the movie sets up the danger of the Sumatran Rat-Monkey, a hybrid that (according to legend) resulted from the rape of tree monkeys on Skull Island by plague rats: Stewart (Bill Ralston), an explorer returning from the depths of the island with a rat-monkey in a cage, is stopped by his native guides. Seeing the mark of the monkey's bite on his right hand, they immediately hold down the infected explorer and amputate the appendage. A bite mark is then seen on his left arm, which swiftly results in the removal of that limb. Finally, they see a set of bloody scratches on Stewart's forehead and kill him. The title screen follows the man's dying scream, and as the opening credits roll the captured rat-monkey is shipped to Wellington Zoo in New Zealand.
Wellington, 1957, Lionel Cosgrove (Timothy Balme) lives with his domineering mother (Elizabeth Moody) and is at her beck and call. To his mother's dismay, Lionel falls for a local shopkeeper, Paquita (Diana Peñalver), and while snooping on the two during a visit to the zoo, Lionel's mother is bitten by the Sumatran Rat-Monkey. The animal's bite slowly turns her into a ravenous zombie. Lionel is horrified, but, ever the dedicated son, is determined to care for her.
Despite his efforts to keep her placated with periodic doses of veterinary anesthetic, his mother starts murdering other townspeople, turning them into zombies. He tries to keep them locked away in the basement, while simultaneously trying to maintain his relationship with the completely oblivious Paquita. His mother escapes, however, and is run over by a tram.
As the townspeople assume she is dead, Lionel tranquilizes the still-kicking zombie for her funeral. After she is buried, he returns to the graveyard to administer more anesthetic, but is accosted by a gang of hoodlums. His mother bursts from her grave, resulting in more deaths, and zombies.
As their numbers grow, Lionel manages to keep the zombies under relative control with repeated injections, and tries to keep them concealed in his home. However, Lionel's uncle Les (Ian Watkin), arrives to try and wrangle with Lionel over his mother's estate. Uncle Les discovers the "corpses" and blackmails his nephew into giving up his inheritance in return for his silence.
Lionel reluctantly administers poison to the zombies ("killing" them) and buries them, just as Uncle Les and a crowd of his friends arrive for a housewarming party. However, the "poison" turns out to be an animal stimulant, and the zombies burst from the ground to attack and infect the party guests in a gory finale.
Lionel, Paquita, Rita and Les are now fighting hundreds of zombies, animated intestines, severed heads, and disembodied legs. Despite Rita and Les being killed in the process they successfully destroy all the zombies until Lionel's mother, who has become a gargantuan monster, pursues Lionel and Paquita to the rooftop, where Lionel finally confronts his mother about the truth regarding his father's demise. She picks him up and stuffs him back into her abdomen, and in an over-the-top Freudian "rebirth", he cuts his way out of her grotesquely changed body and she falls into the fiery house below. Lionel and Paquita escape the burning building, and walk away arm-in-arm, covered in gore.
Lawsuit
The film was subject to a lawsuit. In Bradley vs. Wingnut Films Ltd [1993] 1 NZLR 415, it was alleged that the comedy horror film Brain Dead had infringed the privacy of the plaintiffs by containing pictures of the plaintiff's family tombstone. The tombstone appeared on the film for less than 14 seconds. It never appeared in its entirety, only the letters "BRA" were visible behind a person sitting on the wall at the side of the plot. After reviewing the New Zealand judicial authorities on privacy, Gallen J stated: the present situation in New Zealand ... is that there are three strong statements in the High Court in favour of the existence of such a tort in this country and an acceptance by the Court of Appeal that the concept is at least arguable. This case became one of a series of cases which contributed to the introduction of Tort of Invasions of Privacy in New Zealand.
Cast
- Tim Balme as Lionel Cosgrove
- Diana Peñalver as Paquita Maria Sanchez
- Elizabeth Moody as Mum (Vera Cosgrove)
- Ian Watkin as Uncle Les
- Brenda Kendall as Nurse McTavish
- Stuart Devenie as Father McGruder
- Jed Brophy as Void
- Stephen Papps as Zombie McGruder
- Murray Keane as Scroat
- Glenis Levestam as Nora Matheson
- Lewis Rowe as Mr. Matheson
- Elizabeth Mulfaxe as Rita
- Harry Sinclair as Roger
- Davina Whitehouse as Paquita's Grandmother
- Silvio Famularo as Paquita's Father
- Daniel Sabic as baby zombie
Versions
The film was released in a number of different versions.
- In some nations, such as Australia and the United Kingdom, the 104 minute film was shown in full.
- In countries where the censors balked at the extreme gore, the film was initially banned or left unrated before being heavily cut. In Germany a 94 minute version was seen with major cuts to some of the film's grislier scenes, but was widely ignored.
- In the United States, where the film was released as Dead Alive (because of another film with rights to the title Braindead), the R-Rated version is only 85 minutes, while the unrated cut is 97 minutes.
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Braindead |
External links
- Braindead at Allmovie
- Braindead at the Internet Movie Database
- Braindead at Metacritic
- Braindead at Rotten Tomatoes
- Braindead at the TCM Movie Database
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