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 Monkey Tale
 A Friendly Career
 The Evening Paper
 Stalin's Sickle
 Sex, Drugs and Soft Toys - The Making of Meet the Feebles

Synopsis

After his Mother gets infected by a bite from a deadly Sumatran Rat Monkey, Lionel (Tim Balme) has to contend with a plague of the living dead while attempting to woo the love of his life, Paquita. Peter Jackson had already been tagged with the nom de guerre, ‘The Sultan of Splatter’ by fans of his first two pictures; but in this deliriously liquid romp, he takes a Flymo to fusty 1950s New Zealand and takes cinematic gore to a whole new extreme in the process.

Background

A perspective by Costa Botes 22.08.2008

Peter Jackson had already been tagged with the nom de guerre, ‘The Sultan of Splatter' by fans of his first two pictures; but in this deliriously liquid romp, he took cinematic gore to a ...

Read more ›

Credits (27)

 Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson
Editor, Writer, Director

 Jim Booth

Jim Booth
Producer

 Stephen Sinclair

Stephen Sinclair
Writer

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Comments (2)

 Vero

Vero

Posted at 12.20PM - 22.04.2011

I LOOOVVEEE this film!!! I love the gory special effects, they're amazing!!

 Peter

Peter

Posted at 10.06PM - 20.10.2010

I've always loved this film - it's a NZ classic. Why we still can't get the DVD in this country I'll never know.

View all 2 comments ›

Produced by

WingNut Films

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Related Titles (16)

 Monkey Tale

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A less bloody expose of postwar NZ suburban life

 A Friendly Career

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Another 50s murder house

 Meet the Feebles

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A short film about Kiwi suburban

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More anarchic effects and comedy

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Davina Whitehouse stars in this TV monologue

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More anarchic effects and comedy

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More blood and bone film fertiliser

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The making of Jackson's previous film

Collections.   See all collections ›  

Included in:

 The Peter Jackson Collection

The Peter Jackson Collection

Curated by NZ On Screen Team
Added 19 November 2012

Quotes

From the first scene - a funky parody of Raiders of the Lost Ark - Dead Alive is stylistically a comedy, with hilarious slapstick performances, most notably from the very talented (Tim) Balme....If there's any justice, this one should play forever in midnight screenings. Great stuff.  

– Andy Klein - Los Angeles Reader, 16 July 1993

Comedy with heart, guts and offal. 

– Rachel Lang - More magazine, September 1992

The film is basically like a theatrical farce in many ways. Lionel ends up with a problem of having all these zombies in his house, without wanting anyone else to find out about it. ..every possible thing that could go wrong, does go wrong. 

– Peter Jackson

Awards

1993 New Zealand Film and TV Awards
Best Film
Director: Peter Jackson
Screenplay: Peter Jackson, Stephen Sinclair and Fran Walsh)
Male Performance: Tim Balme
Contribution to Design: Richard Taylor

1993 Fantasporto International Festival of Cinema (Portugal)
Main Award - Best International Fantasy Film
Best Special Effects

1993 Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival (France)
Grand Prize for Best Film

1992 Rome Fantasy Film Festival
Best Actor: Tim Balme
Best Special Effects

1992 Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival (Spain)
Nominated for Best Film