The Jackson Four
The films of Kiwi director Peter Jackson all share a distinctive and joyful enthusiasm for the perverse. Here are a few of his best, arranged in order of increasing availability.
Meet the Feebles (1989)–Visit the Muppet Show backstage in a very
deep circle of hell. Copius amounts of every bodily fluid known to man irrigate
this fecal wonderland. Surrounded by a drug dealing, cat-fucking walrus, a shit-eating,
muck-raking fly, a decrepit, junkie alligator, a poodle-raping rat, and a mass-
murdering hippo, a mild-mannered hedgehog with a severe speech impediment gallantly
courts a tarted-up lap dog. Ah, splendid love!
Dead Alive (1992)–The gangrenous bite of the Sumatran Rat Monkey first
kills, then reanimates the mother of wallflower Lionel. As zombies are wont
to do, she in turn creates more living dead, which a frantic Stanley must keep
sedated in front of the basement TV. Suffice to say Lionel’s struggle to keep
his sanity, manage the unruly cadavers, and defend his home from greedy relatives
is not entirely successful. Tragically, an upturned lawn mower is needed in
the final, over-the-top gory showdown. Lawn gnomes are also present.
Heavenly Creatures (1994)–A beautiful and rather chilling story based
on a sensationalized, real event in New Zealand’s contemporary history. Two
teenage girls (one a young Kate Winslet) form an intense emotional and quasi-sexual
bond, constructing an increasingly elaborate, vivid fantasy world as a refuge
from their home and school life. When their uneasy parents announce their plan
to divide the pair, it spurs the girls towards a panicked, lethal attempt to
prevent their separation.
Frighteners (1996)–The angel of death haunts a small coastal town,
and shyster/ ghostbuster Michael J. Fox is the only one who knows it. Visually
impressive throughout, the film takes an especially stunning turn in a sequence
where a mass-murdering duo stalks a hospital both in flashback and present day.
Dee Wallace Stone plays a world-class psycho, but Reanimator’s Jeffrey Combs
steals the show as an FBI agent hilariously damaged by his involvement with
the occult. My formerly low opinion of Mr. Fox was vastly improved by his performance
here.