Braindead (1992)

A young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.

Director:

Peter Jackson

Writers:

Stephen Sinclair (story), Stephen Sinclair (screenplay)

Stars:

Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody

13 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Timothy Balme	...	Lionel Cosgrove
Diana Peñalver	...	Paquita Maria Sanchez
Elizabeth Moody	...	Mum (Vera Cosgrove)
Ian Watkin	...	Uncle Les
Brenda Kendall	...	Nurse McTavish
Stuart Devenie	...	Father McGruder
Jed Brophy	...	Void
Stephen Papps	...	Zombie McGruder
Murray Keane	...	Scroat
Glenis Levestam	...	Nora Matheson
Lewis Rowe	...	Mr. Matheson
Elizabeth Mulfaxe	...	Rita
Harry Sinclair	...	Roger
Davina Whitehouse	...	Paquita's Grandmother
Silvio Famularo	...	Paquita's Father

Storyline

Deep in the lush jungles of the isolated Skull Island lies the habitat of the elusive, yet endangered and utterly vicious "Simian Raticus", or better known as by its common name, the Sumatran Rat-Monkey, a hideous mix of a virus-carrying slave-ship rat and a tree monkey. Presently, back in New Zealand's Wellington, the oppressed Lionel Cosgrove who lives with his despotic mother Vera, has finally found his soulmate, Paquita, but sadly, his world will rapidly change when after a stroll at the local Zoo, a live specimen of the rare species will bite Vera. Now that she's got the "bite", with the infection spreading and turning Vera into a festering, puss-squirting living dead ravenous for flesh, things are bound to get out of hand, as an ever-growing collection of stiffs and other stimulant-enhanced zombie misfits detained in Lionel's house basement will demand immediate action. Poor Lionel he needs to step up and clear up the mess, but above all, summon the courage to confront his ...

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Plot Keywords:

zombie | zombie attack | living dead | monkey | zoo | 

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Taglines:

The Goriest Fright Film of All Time!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for an abundance of outrageous gore

Details

Official Sites:

NZonScreen listing

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

12 February 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dead-Alive

Filming Locations:

Botanic Garden, Wellington, New Zealand

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$242,623

Company Credits

Production Co:

WingNut Films, New Zealand Film Commission, Avalon/NFU Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 85 min (R-rated) 97 min (unrated) 80 min (FSK 16) 92 min (1992) (1993) (cut) 85 min (heavily cut) 99 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

US trailer narrated by Percy Rodrigues.

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Goofs

When Uncle Les first enters the house, he practically gags on the smell, but later in the party scene, no-one notices any unpleasant odors, even though the bodies have yet to be buried.

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Quotes

Vet: Do you want a syringe, or are you going to sniff?

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Connections

Edited into Cent une tueries de zombies (2012)

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Soundtracks

Maori Battalion
Composed by A. Amarau
Performed by the Maori Battalion
Published by the Musical Import Company

User Reviews

Perhaps the best horror comedy of all time

Peter Jackson's gore-fest "Dead Alive" - AKA Braindead- is a very funny, very bloody film. The story is pretty simple, but includes some ingenious plot elements - such as a budding romance between two very likable characters (Balme and Penalver), a psychologically distressing relationship between Balme and his mother and well scripted dialog.

Balme plays Lionel - a troubled, more or less housebound young man who has been forced to spend most of his time taking care of a domineering and psychologically damaging elderly mother. Penalver plays Paquita - his romantic destiny. Paquita is a charming young woman for whom English is (perhaps) a second language. Soon after they meet, Paquita notices some odd quirks in Lionel's behavior, and slowly begins to realize that there is something besides the usual male fear of commitment. Perhaps Lionel's cannibalistic zombie mother is to blame? Soon enough Balme is babysitting a whole family of living dead who he has to constantly inject with animal tranquilizers, and trying to fend off a despicable uncle who is trying to muscle in on his inheritance. Then the fun really starts. It's the Dead Alive Series with extra gore, infused with brilliant slapstick and just a pinch of Monty Python.

Balme is amazing! - an excellent physical actor with great slapstick pacing and manic anxiety. And Penalver is delightfully pretty and sincere yet gives a nice campy performance. Dead Alive is one of the films in which Jackson began to blend detailed ecstatic and fantastic elements into his plots and cinematography - later culminating in the disturbing Heavenly Creatures and the spectacular LOTR trilogy. In Dead Alive, he finds his formula and makes it work without a tremendous budget. The film is well shot and grotesque, but remarkably amusing.