I recently enjoyed watching the first Hobbit movie and I am looking forward to its new installment now playing in theaters. Although the Lord of the Rings franchise is what usually comes to mind when people think of Peter Jackson, Braindead is the movie I will always associate him with. When friends showed it to me back in high school, I was shocked: "What kind of movie is this? An horror/comedy/gore movie? Who the hell put all this care in making that?".
I'm not surprised to learn today that the movie was a commercial flop with its overwhelming amount of teeth pulling and gut ripping gore. Even though I'm not really into gory movies, I really enjoyed the quality of the universe put together by Peter Jackson. It is absolutely surreal with its stereotyped characters and stop motion monsters.
Jackson is uncompromising and just doesn't do half measures. When you thought you had seen it all, the movie ends with a lawn mower zombie-blending scene that might turn your stomach upside down. This movie is a blast.
Although Peter Jackson has now moved on to seducing wider audiences with movies like King Kong and the Lord of the Ring, he remains authentic to his early filmmaking by delivering highly entertaining, rich and cohesive universes. I can't wait to see what his next projects will be. In the meantime, we get to sip on a little longer on the Lord of the Ring universe with the Hobbit trilogy.