Oct 23, 2019
Braindead (or Dead Alive as it was known in America) is a romantic zombie comedy directed by Peter Jackson. Before hobbits, Lord of the Rings, and King Kongs, Peter Jackson made indie films that were not for the squeamish. Braindead was the final indie film that Jackson made before receiving mainstream attention with his shared nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the movie, Heavenly Creatures with his longtime writing partner, Fran Walsh.
Braindead has been described as a “splatstick” comedy, which is an appropriate title if there ever was one. The movie features gallons of blood, impressive practical horror effects, and a comedic tone that never allows things to get too serious.The movie follows Lionel, a devoted momma’s boy, who tries to start a love affair with a local shopkeeper named Paquita. A monkey wrench (no pun intended? Well….maybe) is thrown into the relationship when Lionel’s mother is bitten by a rare Sumatran rat monkey while spying on his son’s first date. When his mother starts to decay into a zombie right in front of him, Lionel has to wrestle with taking care of his undead mother and the chaos that she starts to cause while also trying to woo Paquita. It’s a movie with a sex scene between two zombies, a zombie baby (the post coital result of the aforementioned zombie union) that is like a drug-induced Loony Tunes nightmare, and more mommy issues than a 47 year old virgin. Jackson cowrote Braindead with Fran Walsh and Stephen Sinclair after collaborating with them on “Meet the Feebles.” Walsh would go on to become his long time writing partner and Sinclair would later cowrite “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” with Jackson and Walsh.As a bonus, Braindead has an unexpected crossover with King Kong. The Sumatran rat monkey is from Skull Island, the legendary home of King Kong. Look for an easter egg in the Jackson’s remake of King Kong featuring a wooden crate that says “Sumatran Rat Monkey—Beware the bite!”
For a longer, more comedic look at Braindead, listen to episode three of “Someone’s Favorite Movie”, a new movie podcast dedicated to the b-movies, guilty pleasures, and forgotten gems that people love to talk about. Got your own guilty pleasure that not many people know about, but you feel deserves to be seen? Email us at someonesfavoritemoviepodcast@gmail.com and tell us about the movie and why you love it. We might cover it on a future episode!
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Randy juggles two jobs and is the miserable retail slave of the two. He lives outside beautiful Flint, MI, USA and struggles with being a lazy, yet overworked dreamer and a struggling, but barely trying writer.
Tommy also lives outside Flint, MI with The Beloved and his two step daughters. He's a stand up comedian and a man of questionable common sense. Check out his stand up dates and plan a trip to throw tomatoes at http://tomethompson.com