5. Dead Alive (Braindead) (1992) - Dir. Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive, a.k.a. Brain Dead, is, without question, the goriest film ever made. It's not even a contest really. When it comes to the sheer amounts of blood and gore splashed about the screen, this film wins severed-hands down. No other film, to my knowledge, has ever depleted the fake blood reserves at major effects houses across the globe, nor has any other film tackled as many raunchy and down right disturbing scenarios with such glee, delight, and fun. There are aspects of Dead Alive that should offend, but Peter Jackson and his crew film everything with a comical touch that sheds a campy-light on situations that, if handled differently, would have been quite uncomfortable to behold.
The only problem I have with Dead Alive is that it has set the bar so high for gory-goodness, that I fear it will never be topped. I always hear film buffs compare dramatic films to Citizen Kane, or The Godfather, or Apocalypse Now – well that’s all fine and dandy, but to us gore-hounds, Dead Alive is our top dog, and it will forever be the measuring stick of greatness. Ever since the night of my first viewing of Dead Alive, I have been on a constant search for something, ANYTHING, as gory, or preferably, gorier, than Jackson’s film. I have been promised many times by quick write ups in Fangoria, or quick-blurbs on DVD covers, or from the mouths of other fans, that a certain film or another IS gory and just might dethrone Dead Alive – well, each and every time I am left disappointed and let down.
Of course it has the one and only, the legendary, the brilliant, LAWN MOWER SCENE. Whenever someone mentions “the lawnmower scene,” it is not uncommon for the eyes to glaze over, a smile to appear on the mouth, and visions of gore and guts to replay in the mind. This one sequence is so dastardly, so incredibly executed, and so over the top in its sheer amounts of gory giddiness, it almost hurts to think about it. Our hero, Lionel, winds up with an old fashioned single-bladed lawnmower strapped to his chest, and proceeds to plow through hundreds of walking-dead all the while his girlfriend and sinister cousin are blending and hacking away at the limbs of other undead. At one point, there is so much blood on the floor, Lionel has to use decapitated heads as stepping-stones to stop from slipping!
So, I think I have conveyed to you that Dead Alive is gory – but is it any good (Yes, there is a difference)? The film itself is solid and it is as good as it is gory. Jackson has always been a talented filmmaker, he proved as much with Bad Taste, and continued his trend for whimsical humor, melodrama, terror, and creative filmmaking with Dead Alive. Jackson definitely leaves a signature mark on every film he touches. Perhaps his greatest achievement is his ability to project his personal passion and excitement for making films on the screen. While watching some films, I get the impression that the filmmakers are not having fun – to them its all a very serious business and the final product must carry theor burdens. This is not so with Jackson. Even with the huge, Hollywood blockbusters he creates now, a Peter Jackson film always has a feeling of excitement and fun that stems from the director. It is easy to imagine Jackson as the world’s luckiest kid in the world’s grandest toy store.
So, will a film ever top the gory loftiness of Dead Alive? I don’t know, and I guess I don’t really care. I mean sure, I would love to see something that uses more blood, has more zombies, and more craziness, but I don’t know if such a film would maintain the sense of fun and excitement of Jackson’s brilliant work. After all, he set the bar so high on all accounts, that maybe they should just retire the Dead Alive jersey, set the record in stone, and close the books. I could quite easily live the rest of my life content with only one Dead Alive.
