Cult Horor Classics : BRAINDEAD (aka DEAD ALIVE)

I absoutly love cheesy , low budget but imagitive horror films. What I love more then watching about them, is discussing and debating with other fans who equally enjoy their unqiueness and often timeless appeal. I mean every director had to start somewhere and more often then not it was with low budget horror films, without Braindead from peter jackson we proberly wouldnt have had the epic adaptation of Tolkiens Lord of the Rings trilogy. Without Evil dead (and its subsiqent sequals) by sam raimi there proberly would not have been the multi-million dollar Spider-man franchise (mind you the less said about spider-man 3 the better). There are many more which have produced great filmmaking talent over the decades (these just happen to be the ones which occured to me) each containing various sequences , intresting touches of genius and pure adreneline fuelled crazyness. All of which should be part of what makes a great piece of entertainment.

They all contain iconic moments or characters which resonate so much with fans and devotees of this genre, when someone mentions Evil Dead it conjures up images of D.I.Y filmmaking, blood splattered humour, a crazy big chinned leading man (B-Movie king Bruce Campbell) and a chainsaw attached to the heros severed wrist. When I think of Peter Jacksons Braindead I get memories of one of the funniest and most quoteable comedy horrors (pre-shaun of the dead). I contains all the elements of a gore hounds wildest dreams, and is still to this day (I belive) yet to be topped on its joke /gore qota. It’s hard not to like this film and it is such a shame not to see more of this type of crazyness commited to celluloid, containing elements of well paced slapstick which gel supremely well.

Elements which instantly come to mind when I discuss this with other fans are particular sequences which are fantastically over the top and which satisfy the bloodlust but not at the expense of belly laughs. One of the best being Father McGruder’s Kung Fu showdown with a bunch of undead bikers, proclaiming (most rightously) “I kick arse for the lord!!!”. Then proceeding into what can only be discribed as a zombie martial arts film to rival Mr Vampire (a 1985 Hong Kong spiritual martial arts flim staring the great Lam Ching-Ying)

Then there is the quite stomach churning zombie love-making scene (which I still dont believe can be topped for pure gross out comedy), or the sequence where our hero Lional takes the zombie offspring for some fresh air in the park only to run into a lot of trouble controling the undead trouble maker and is  again another sequence which is a well concieve , thought out scene while being pant-wettingly hilarious  sequence which is very rarely seen within this genre of filmmaking. It contains the elements of balls to the wall outlandishness. It really is hard not enjoy espically when the last 20+ minutes contain a very creative use of a motorised lawnmower strapped to the hero as he mows down leigons of undead party guests, togeather with the use of mostly under cranked shots and quick zooms to highlight the pure grotesuness of some characters (Lional’s pervy Uncle Les being the main one) just make this film unqiuely enjoyable, if amazingly OTT cult classic romp.