Dead Alive

Schlock and Awe

In ancient Rome, gladiators fighting to the death drew huge masses of spectators. In the old west, public hangings were huge events and drew large crowds. Now that such public carnage is no longer around, where can people go to sate there need for viewing carnage? "Dead Alive" can fill the gore void.

I would venture to guess that the average movie-goer knows Peter Jackson as the director of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. But most don't know about his sordid past as a horror/comedy director. "Dead Alive" was Jackson's third feature, and he didn't have any studio execs looking over his shoulder, so he was able to include all the excess of extreme gore that he wanted.

The gore may have been excessive, but it was presented in a humorous way, so it was far less disturbing than it could have been if it was presented in a realistic manner. The humor in this horror/comedy was not conventional-movie-comedy. Instead of humorous situations, one-liners, and sight gags; "Dead Alive" has loads of gross-out gags. I'll give one non-spoiler example: A woman, who is turning into a zombie, is having custard with guests. While they are eating, pus shoots out of the woman's arm and into her guest's custard. He, of course, proceeds to eat the pus-laden custard. Funny stuff, I know.

Jackson packs so much gore into this movie that it seems like an addiction. Jackson reminds me of a small child that learned how to make a noise on an electronic toy. All afternoon, that same electronic noise is played over and over again until you just want to smash the toy against the wall. But Jackson directs with such glee that it is hard to be annoyed while you are watching all the fun being had.

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