Peter Jackson’s zombiefest follow-up to Bad Taste (1987), set in suburbia in the late 50s, is one of the most relentlessly, gleefully nasty movies ever released, incorporating mutant monkeys, zombie flesh-eaters, death by lawn mower, kung-fu priests and jokes about The Archers.
It also contains the queasiest dinner scene since La Grande Bouffe, involving spurting blood, dissolving flesh, human ears and bowls of claggy rice pudding.
When 25-year-old virgin Lionel (Timothy Balme) falls for the lovely Paquita (Diana Peñalver), he provokes his domineering mother’s jealousy.
Soon after, a toxic nip from a Sumatran rat-monkey at the local zoo transforms Lionel’s mother – through several putrescent stages – into a hideous, pustulant monster with a craving for human flesh.
The finale, in which Lionel reduces a horde of flesh-eaters to a mulch of blood, flesh, and offal with the aid of a Flymo (pictured below) is probably the goriest scene ever. 300 litres of fake blood was used in the scene.
Lionel Cosgrove
Timothy Balme
Paquita Maria Sanchez
Diana Peñalver
Mum (Vera Cosgrove)
Elizabeth Moody
Uncle Les
Ian Watkin
Nurse McTavish
Brenda Kendall
Father McGruder
Stuart Devenie
Void
Jed Brophy
Zombie McGruder
Stephen Papps
Scroat
Murray Keane
Nora Matheson
Glenis Levestam
Mr. Matheson
Lewis Rowe
Rita
Elizabeth Mulfaxe
Roger
Harry Sinclair
Paquita’s Grandmother
Davina Whitehouse
Paquita’s Father
Silvio Famularo
Vet
Brian Sergent
Undertaker
Peter Vere-Jones
Mandy
Tina Regtien
Stewart
Bill Ralston
Winston
Tony Hopkins
Zoo Keeper
Tony Hiles
Barry
Tich Rowney
Lawrence
George Port
Spike
Stephen Andrews
Spud
Nick Ward
Gladstone
Kenny McFadden
Courtney
Angela Robinson Witherspoon
Director
Peter Jackson
