Dead Alive (1992)

Director: Peter Jackson

Starring: Timothy Balme, Diana Penalver, Elizabeth Moody, Ian Watkin, Brenda Kendall, Stuart Devenie, Jed Brophy

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Some things won't stay down... even after they die.

Plot: In 1957, a zoologist traps a rare Sumatran rat-monkey on Skull Island and brings it back to New Zealand with the locals hot on his trail. Later, a young man falls in love and takes the young woman to the zoo. His overbearing and disapproving mother follows them and gets bitten by the rat-monkey. The monkey's bite turns her into a zombie, and her doting son has to keep her and the others she's bitten tranquilized in the basement while trying to preserve his love life.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Someday...someday.

DEAD ALIVE is the single most blood-soaked, intestine-splattered movie I have ever seen. It's so wet with red and guts that I literally almost felt like taking a shower. Seriously, it's that drenched in goo. I was stunned to see that Jackson had a $3 million dollar budget. But I'll tell you this, every single nickel is up on that screen. There are more gory makeup effects in this single film than you'll find in the entire FRIDAY THE 13th series and that's no joke. There's stop motion animation, too. YEAH! DA is playful from the start and there are some really laugh out loud moments that had me howling (I about pissed my britches when Lionel took the baby to the park). I've never seen a horror flick until now that I felt had too much gore. It really is excessive which I guess is part of what makes it what it is. I dig the picture but it's going to be a while before I revisit it. I feel so damn icky.