What began as a short, fan project with a 16-mm camera and few of his friends, Peter Jackson's directorial (as well as writing and producing) debut, Bad Taste, has gone on to be one of the most memorable independent movies ever made and is forever etched into the world of fandom. Using his weekly newspaper salary, Jackson made a 75-minute short movie that included workmates and friends as the cast. After seeing this, the New Zealand Film Commission funded Jackson to finish the movie. While not a true horror movie, Bad Taste does strike a chord with horror fans. Jackson's humorous characters, proposterous plot, and mind-blowing special effects creates a side-spliting comedy that is never meant to be taken seriously.

After receiving a distress call from Kaihoro, a small seaside town, about aliens abducting the town folk, the New Zealand government sends in its best agency, AIDS (Astro Investigation and Defense Service). The boys are Barry (Pete O'Herne), Derek (Peter Jackson), Frank (Mike Minett), and Ozzy (Terry Potter). Barry is the first to enter Kaihoro while Derek keeps a look out atop a hill overlooking the town. Seeing collection envelopes on nearly every door, Barry figures that someone will be coming to town for those envelopes however, he soon finds a few human-looking aliens dressed in blue shirts and jeans looking for him. Chasing Barry armed with hammers, they are soon diverted by a scream from a fellow alien that's being tortured by Derek atop the hill Meanwhile, Frank and Ozzy are closing off all roads to the town and setting up for the big assault. Unbeknownst to the Boys, Giles - the BREAD (Beneficial Relief & Emergency Aid Division) collector - shows up for his charity. He soon gets kidnapped and put on the space ship to be prepared for the alien's reward feast. After fighting their way to the alien space ship that's shapped like a house, the Boys find out that Lord Crumb is on Earth to gather humans for his new fast-food taste sensation - Crumb's Crunchy Delights! And he's not leaving until he's got enough human flesh to make him rich!

Bad Taste took Jackson 4 years to make because he and the rest of the cast filmed it during their free weekends and holidays. This must have given Jackson plenty of time to create the hilarious script. This is definitely not his Academy Award-winning best but for fans of the genre, this science-fiction comedy also features very raw special effects. With a dead alien laying on top of him, Derek shoves his machine gun through its body so he can shoot at more charging aliens. Now that's B-movie goodness anyone would enjoy. Jackson also pays homage to many other sci-fi/horror movies and television shows. For instance:

1. After the aliens have landed and established a base, one of the cast states: "Ain't no glowing fingers on these bastards!" a direct tribute to Spielberg's E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial.
2. When Derek hammers a knife into the foot of the captured alien, the scream it makes sounds like the alien screaming in Carpenter's The Thing.
3. Frank: "We otta' have a look around. If these are aliens, they may have parked their space ship somewhere around here." Barry: "They might have come in a telephone box!". The title character of the BBC's popular tv show Doctor Who is a human-like alien that travels around in a police phone box.

Fans of comedy within the science fiction or horror genre, will love this movie. Jackson is a great director and only gets better the more movies he's got under his belt. You should also check out Jackson's sophmore attempt with a higher production called Dead-Alive (aka Braindead). Back in 2001, Anchor Bay released a deluxe limited edition DVD of Bad Taste that is the one to get.