Peter Jackson’s 1990s low-budget movie Braindead has been named the most violent movie of all time in a new poll by British film magazine Total Film. The horror movie beat off the likes of Irreversible, Salo, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Oldboy, Antichrist, Natural Born Killers, Cannibal Holocaust and Hostel 2 to top the poll.
The film, released Stateside as Dead Alive, revolves around overprotective mother Vera Cosgrove (Elizabeth Moody), who is spying on her grown son, Lionel (Timothy Balme), as he visits the zoo with the lovely Paquita (Diana Peñalver). There, he is accidentally bitten by the fearsome Sumatran rat-monkey. When the bite turns his beloved mother into a zombie, Lionel tries to keep her locked safely in the basement, but her repeated escapes turn most of the neighbors into the walking dead, who then crash a high-society party thrown by Lionel’s boorish Uncle Les (Ian Watkin).
Total Film described the movie as “a giddy and hilarious splatter comedy that’s as outrageous as it is brilliant”. Made for just $3 million and released in 1992, the film sent Jackson off into a glittering career as a filmmaker. Films like The Frighteners, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit movies followed for which he received huge acclaim and awards glory.
Here’s the original trailer.
