Braindead

An old fortune teller's magical talisman carves its way through the protagonist's mother's belly, where she has trapped her son so he won't run off with his immigrant love. Freud takes it on the ass in a big way at the end, and rightly so. For a story that was no doubt originally intended to be just a thread through an incredible compilation of death and mutilation, it really goes the distance. And I suspect Frank Walsh's writing hand behind it, adding a certain mischievous woman's touch to the scripts of this enthusiastic nutcase. Just as it was the first time as a young adolescent, and still is now, the greatest satisfaction for me is not the lawnmower dance, but the very final gasp after the protagonist is free of the reins of a basement full of corpses and the emotional blackmail of his rotting mother. I also kept falling under my seat laughing during the scene at the children's park. (22/06/2020)

Do you want to know how to safely cut your way through a horde of zombies with the help of a lawnmower? Peter Jackson will give you detailed instructions, they might be useful some day. And please don't overlook the Master himself in a small role. Yes, the freak in the morgue, the little, goofy, bespectacled freak who gets a dead body exploding on a table :) (26/05/2002)

So, this is carnage, total carnage and nothing but carnage. I didn't have quite the fun I was expecting from some of the reviews, but I can say for sure that if there are any films that can be described as exceptional, unforgettable or unrepeatable, one of them is the disgusting, but in its own way terribly charming and captivating Braindead. Peter Jackson wasn't afraid of anything at the beginning of his career, and where other horror directors would put the brakes on and tease the viewer's imagination, he, on the contrary, stomps on the gas with all his might, perhaps teasing the viewer's stomach juices. His Braindead is simply an indescribable spectacle, with a well-developed humorous side, which, combined with a likeable main character, runs like clockwork from the beginning, and with an absolutely incredible last act that completely rewrote the history of all brutal and bloody films and raised the bar to an unsurpassed level in this respect. Blood spurts, limbs fly and ribcages are torn from bodies, but the viewer laughs, laughs and keeps laughing... How does Jackson do it? 4.5* (26/09/2012)

That’s so gross. I assumed it would be a carnage, but I wasn’t expecting such a level from Peter Jackson, even in my worst dreams. The imaginative cutting up of the human body and the creation of disgustingly bizarre scenes make the film a rarity that makes you wonder how it was ever released. In that respect, this is an unforgettable cinematic event, surely. Otherwise, however, in terms of humour and story, the film offers little more than escalating carnage, and I personally (unfortunately) am not one of those people who could properly enjoy it. (07/05/2017)

There was a time when I was in love with Peter Jackson and had great fun with Braindead, but when I put it on again today it failed to match my flawless memories. It is very bloody and insane, with a lot of memorable funny scenes, but the overall impression… I don’t know, it’s like an amusement park. Over-the-top characters, over-the-top action, all intentional, of course, but I’ve already learned to like different stuff. I’m bringing the original five stars down, and I’m not sure whether four or three. (16/05/2008)