When someone asks me what is the goriest film I’ve ever seen, my mind immediately races to Peter Jackson’s zombie horror Braindead, or as it’s known in the US and Canada, Dead Alive. I remember seeing the cover art in a video store and thinking: how awesome is this movie going to be? I’ve loved horror since I was a kid, I’ll watch the worst of the worst in the name of horror. So I immediately rented the film.

Much to my disappointment, I rented the R-rated version of the film. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are ever going to watch Dead Alive, please, for the love of god, rent the unrated version. That is the true version and the one Peter Jackson intended all of us to see. The difference is shocking because when I watched the R-rated version, all I would see are dead bodies and blood, but no scene showing me where all this carnage came from. Approximately 20 minutes of blood and guts were removed from the film.

Filmed in New Zealand, as most of Jackson’s work is, Dead Alive tells the morbid tale of a young man who lives with his overbearing mother. One day, while at the zoo, a new Sumatran rat-monkey bites our hero’s mother on the leg. She gets sick and dies. Not for too long though -- she rises back up from the grave and goes on a dog eating, nurse killing spree. Lionel (Timothy Balme), our lead character, locks all these zombies, courtesy of his mother, in his basement. But then it just so happens that his good-for-nothing uncle decides to throw a giant party at his Lionel’s house, which means more bodies for the zombies to feed on.

The film’s third act is one of legend; there’s simply no other way to describe it. So many countless horror films since then have tried to imitate the amount of carnage Jackson threw together and they always seem to come up short. Despite being fairly low budget, Jackson’s creative genius was running wild here, and the make-up department, along with props department, delivered one hell of a zombie feast. There are a few gross out gag moments that might have you reaching for a vomit bag. Which, if you lived in Sweden, came with the film upon renting.

If you thought Kill Bill, Vol. 1 was nuts, you haven’t seen anything yet. This film showcases one of the most iconic scenes in horror history: it involves a man, a lawnmower and hundreds of zombies waiting to be sliced and diced. The recent Canadian film Hobo With A Shotgun even paid homage to this scene with their very own lawnmower “accident”, which made me want to go back and visit Dead Alive even more.

For every gory scene, there is some hilarious comedy accompanying it. There is a zombie baby that Lionel tries to play with at the park. A priest who knows Kung Fu and isn’t afraid to use it on some would be zombies. Even a sex scene involving the undead characters that gets to be both horrific and comedic. Jackson’s film manages to blend both genres perfectly and I ask every filmmaker who tries to do both horror and comedy to look towards this film as guidance.

Just when you think the carnage is over, the film throws another curveball at you and before you realize it, the climax has you watching Lionel do battle with his mutated zombie mother, who is now a giant demon-type creature that destroys the house. Great use of animatronics and puppeteering, I miss the days of practical effects. Everything looked fake but felt real. Today it’s the total opposite, they get the look down, but the experience isn’t the same. You, like the actors, know there’s nothing there.

Dead Alive owes a lot to Evil Dead II, which really was the stepping stone in the horror/comedy genre. I love both films to death and if it weren’t for Ash, Dead Alive might have been the better film. As I’m sure you are all aware, Peter Jackson got his start in horror, way before he decided to helm the epic fantasy adventure Lord of the Rings. I still, to this day, have no idea why the studio went with him. Had they not seen his earlier works? I’m sure if they watched Bad Taste, Dead Alive and more importantly Meet The Feebles, that they would probably have gone with another filmmaker, except that Jackson’s talent is clearly visible here and despite the Lord of the Rings movies being a grander spectacle, you can sense the same style.

Dead Alive is the goriest film ever made, it’s one of the defining zombie films and one everyone should watch. You can’t call yourself a horror fan without seeing this movie. Think of it as required viewing. If you like it, you pass, if you don’t -- well, then you fail.

   -- Matthew Layden