OK, so this movie is based in New Zealand rather than Australia but…

Murderous aliens have invaded Kaihoro and want to turn humans into extraterrestrial fast food.

I remember seeing Bad Taste when it was released on video here in the UK. Unfortunately, this coincided with a reprise of the earlier Video Nasties moral panic as Sam Raimi had just released The Evil Dead 2 which had brought Mary Whitehouse back out of her coffin to spew more bile. Bad Taste was cut by 3 minutes by the BBFC.

Bad Taste reminds me of the first Evil Dead film in that it’s low budget but the filmmakers have enough verve and innovation up their sleeves not to be hamstrung by this. The director of this film is none other than Mr Peter Jackson who went on to make the Lord of the Rings films, of course.

There’s also an awareness of cinema and its genres at play here just like in Raimi’s masterpiece. Blood and gore being thrown around is the equivalent of a custard pie in the face in more traditional comedy films of yore.

Bad Taste is just as visceral, gory and darkly humourous as The Evil Dead. You’ll be laughing just as much as wanting to vomit (in a good way).

4 out of 5 stars