Review of Bad Taste (1987) by Harry W — 20 Feb 2015

Serving as a low budget exploitation film helmed by Peter Jackson in his early days, Bad Taste sounded like a fun cult feature.

I can't tell for sure if Bad Taste follows the cheap nature of its exploitation roots in an experimental manner or if Peter Jackson was limited by the setbacks of a low budget. I could never precisely figure out if it was a homage to exploitation films or an amateur film made in the same manner as the production information makes a case for both. Either way, the film is an amateur production from the later Academy Award winner which is likely to provide nostalgia to some in the same way that it will isolate others. For me, I found that my opinion was largely mixed.

I am a fan of exploitation films, and so Bad Taste should be right up my alley. I liked it in parts, but as a whole it just didn't seem to do this to me. As ridiculous as it sounds, I feel this is mainly because of the plot. Bad Taste is a film with a rather high concept plot for an exploitation film as it deals with Aliens coming to earth to harvest humans for a fast food franchise. I guess I set my hopes too high for the film due to Peter Jackson helming it because the fact that the aliens in the film did not end up becoming clearly relevant to the film until past the halfway point bothered me, mainly because the first half of the film was strictly generic stock characters occasionally killing each other. Bad Taste really picks it up in the second half as the creativity of the zany premise is explored further with the design of the characters stepping it up. After a scene in which several characters consume a strange green potion which seems very reminiscent of Troll 2, an Italian produced horror film known largely as one of the worst films ever made, the antagonistic characters are given an appropriately disgusting and cheap-looking but hilarious design which sets them apart from the heroes. The film really picks it up from here on because there is no longer a sense of cheap confusion with all the characters looking like humans, and so the midpoint in the film is the turning point. It is enough to mostly save the film and earn it the status of a worthwhile experience, but the first half of the feature is really dull and lacking in a sense of fun due to its generic and amateur nature.

Although the narrative improves halfway through, the amount of blood and gore in the film is consistently strong. Peter Jackson finds creative ways to kill everyone in the film in the most over the top manner in a series of guns and chainsaws being put to use. There is dismemberment and decapitation all over the place, and while the scenes in between the kills are not that entertaining due to a pace which takes a while to really settle in to a sense of energy, the gleeful exploitation of blood and gore that Peter Jackson continuously throws at the screen fits into the context of the film's genre and is easily likely to please fans. So much of the film looks cheap, but that is easy to embrace as it fits into the exploitation style of the film, and Peter Jackson manages to find a clever way to manipulate his financial limitations so that the exploitation of the film is all still there. The cinematography tends to be a bit poor due to the fact that it is continuously shaking during many of the key scenes of the film. It makes the experience rather unsteady and does not contribute to any sense of improvement in the visual style of Bad Taste. But most of the time it is not difficult to enjoy the sights of the film due to its gleeful over the top nature. It is good to see that Peter Jackson got this out of his system considering that he would later helm The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring which would win the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. However, the central problem with this is the fact that as an exploitation film, Bad Taste limits its appeal predominantly strictly to the visual nature of the film. Even though the low budget did not stand in the way of effective production design, scenery, prosthetic makeup and blood and gore effects, it interfered with the cinematography which is the portal to viewing all of the aforementioned elements which makes things feel rather shoddy. You can't put too many hangups on the film because it is what it is and it does what it can with such limitations, but the fact is that the cinematography of the film ranges between being too shaky one minute and too zoomed up in the next to fully grasp the nature of the situation that is occurring. It really proves annoying, and it is hard to get over until the film takes a turn for the better in the second half. It becomes easier to handle and tolerate as the over the top nature really goes into full gear. Everything about Bad Taste turns better in the second half in terms of narrative, style and creativity which means that as a whole it serves as a strong directional debut from Peter Jackson. It is thoroughly interesting to see how far he has come since this feature because it is quite an interesting transition particularly when you consider the difference in budgets.

So Bad Taste has a poor first half due to a sense of repetition and a lack of creative fun, but as it nears its second half the fun over the top nature of its exploitation style becomes easier to embrace due to an increase in blood and gore and creative effects which stand out over the thin nature of the premise as a whole.