Dead/Alive
Director: Peter Jackson
Year Released: 1992
Rating: 3.0
Before New Zealand's own Peter Jackson made the ultra large budgeted Lord of the Rings trilogy, his main fascination was with grotesque black comedies with a homemade feel to them. This particular work is not only quite amusing - the demon baby is a gimmick but a gimmick well-done (the same goes for the lung-and-spinal cord monster) - but it's also unceasingly inventive in coming up with ways to mutilate the human form (the ending, with the lead reabsorbed into his own giant mother's womb is a delightfully messy Oedipal joke). Years ago I watched the unrated version, but the used VHS copy I own is a neutered 'R-rated' edit, which runs about 12 minutes shorter than Jackson's original, and the abrupt cutting is noticeable and distracting. Watching a splatter-fest like this in edited format is akin to seeing a PG-13 Last Tango in Paris: you're just missing the point.
