Other Titles • Braindead (1992) • Dead Alive • Dead-Alive
Synopses for Braindead (1992)
1.
If you're not a connoisseur of graphic horror and gruesome gore, you'd better steer clear of Braindead, a wicked 1992 horror-comedy from the demented mind and delirious camera of writer-director Peter Jackson, years before he went on to mainstream success with The Lord of the Rings. However, if non-stop mayhem and extreme violence are your idea of great entertainment, you're sure to appreciate Jackson's gleefully inventive approach to a story that can judiciously be described as sick, twisted and totally outrageous. The movie's central character is a poor schmuck named Lionel who's practically enslaved to his domineering mother. But when ol' Mum gets bitten by a rare and poisonous rat monkey from Skull Island and is turned into a flesh-eating zombie, Lionel has the unfortunate task of keeping Mama happy while fending off all the other zombies that result from her voracious feeding frenzies. If you've read this far, you'll either be crying out for censorship or eagerly awaiting your first viewing (or second, or third...) of this wildly clever and audaciously uninhibited movie. While director Jackson would later achieve far greater critical and box-office successes, his talent is readily evident in this earlier effort. If you find this kind of thing even remotely appealing, consider Braindead a must-see movie. --Jeff Shannon
(51 votes)
2.
Peter Jackson's third feature-length film is a bizarre black comedy--sort of a screwball NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, with plenty of graphic violence thrown in for good measure. While spying on her son and his date on a trip to the zoo, Lionel's domineering mother (Elizabeth Moody) is bitten by a vicious Sumatran rat monkey and consequently starts manifesting some rather peculiar behavior, attacking all those unfortunate enough to get in her way and turning them into zombies. Poor Lionel (Timothy Balme) is forced to hide her victims in his basement in order to conceal his mother's grotesque affliction from his love interest, Paquita (Diana Peñalver). But soon his mom's zombified entourage starts to rebel and becomes too much for Lionel to handle. In the raucous finale, Lionel takes on a whole army of the undead (plus the occasional unruly bodily organ) with his trusty lawnmower and finally confronts his mother in an all-out Oedipal extravaganza. Though so over the top that it's often classified as a comedy rather than a fright film, DEAD ALIVE has also been touted as one of the goriest horror movies ever made--so be warned: It's not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.
(53 votes)
3.
Mother's boy Lionel Cosgrave is 25 and has never been kissed. Then one fateful day in 1957, Lionel's uneventful existence changes forever. Drawn to the lovely Paquita, a young Spanish girl from the local corner shop, the couple plan a tryst at the nearby zoo. Thinking themselves alone at last, the young lovers are unaware that their every move is being observed from the bushes by Lionel's possessive mum. Sneaking close, mum stumbles against a cage which contains a vicious Sumatran Rat Monkey which duly sinks its toxic fangs deep into her flesh. When the strange wound transforms into a putrefying virus, Lionel and the unwitting Paquita are sent spiralling into an endless nightmare...
(53 votes)
4.
Some things won't stay down...even after they die.
On a quiet street, in a small town, pure evil has come to stay. Lionel, an innocent young man, is forced to care for domineering mother and finds the task a whole lot more demanding after she's bitten by the cursed Sumatran rat monkey. Passing the point of death, Lionel's mother sucks friends and family into her gruesome existence among the living dead and Lionel is sent spiraling into a ghoulish nightmare.
(50 votes)
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