Halloween Horrors-Dead Alive

Dead Alive (a.k.a. Braindead, 1992), comes from New Zealand, directed by Peter Jackson...yes, that Peter Jackson, long before he he did the Lord of the Rings films. If you're expecting a LOTR kind of movie here, you'd better think again. Dead Alive is a manic, blood-soaked horror-comedy, and probably one of the wettest, goriest films I've had the pleasure of seeing.

Lionel is a grown man with an evil bitch of a mother who doesn't want him dating, especially the pretty Paquita, who Lionel has shown interest in. Lionel, as big a mama's boy as there ever was, and follows his mother's wishes, even though he pines for Paquita. One day , while taking his crone of a mom to the zoo, dear old Mum is bitten by a cursed Sumatran Rat-Monkey, which Mum kills immediately. Mom later falls ill and dies from the cursed bite, but this isn't the last we see of Mom...in addition to the bite being lethal, it also turns its victims into the undead, with an appetite for human flesh, of course. Lionel tries to keep Mom under control with sedatives, but things soon get out of hand, and he's keeping several undead in his basement, all of whom have been infected by Mom's bite, under wraps. Soon, as I'm sure you could have predicted, all hell breaks loose during a party that Lionel's shifty uncle has at the house. Will Lionel become a real man, take matters in hand, defeat the undead and his uncle, and win the heart of Paquita?

Dead Alive is light-years away from the style most are familiar with from Jackson, especially if you're only familiar with LOTR and his Kong remake. It's like a cartoon made with real people, and filled with zombies and blood, pus, and gore. Like I said earlier, this is one of the goriest, grossest films I've seen...and that's saying something. There's a scene involving a lunch with friends , and what Mom does to the custard...well, a strong stomach is required to view this film, to be sure. It's also one of the funniest films I've seen, with many laugh-out-loud moments, like when Lionel takes the undead baby(yes, you read that correctly) out to the park, or when the local vicar takes the fight to some undead, showing off his martial-arts skills..." I kick ass for the Lord!" The humor involved is dark to be sure, but it's still funny as Hell. The climactic end battle is both funny and gore-covered...literally.

If you want a seasonal film that's a bit on the lighter side, funny but still having the goods blood-wise, check out Dead Alive. Oh, and get the unrated version...no sense in half-assing it.