Braindead
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Braindead - The zombie lawnmower man Dead Alive |
| Original title | Braindead |
 | |
| Country of production | New Zealand |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1992 |
| length | 99 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK confiscated nationwide |
| Rod | |
| Director | Peter Jackson |
| script | Peter Jackson Fran Walsh Stephen Sinclair |
| production | Jim Booth |
| music | Peter Dasent |
| camera | Murray Milne |
| cut | Jamie Selkirk |
| occupation | |
| |
Braindead (also: Dead Alive ), (in German: " Hirntot ") is a New Zealand horror / splatter film - parody by Peter Jackson from 1992 , which is especially popular among fans of the genre as a cult film . It was released in German cinemas in August 1993 and attracted 174,827 viewers to the performances.
action
In 1957 a zoologist discovered a new species , a cross between monkey and rat, on an island off Sumatra called Skull Island (Eng. " Skull Island ") . This animal was soon found at Wellington Zoo , New Zealand . Lionel Cosgrove also lives in the same town, a rather delicate mother's boy whom the pretty Paquita falls in love with. However, Lionel's jealous mother tries to undermine the burgeoning relationship and follows the couple on a trip to the zoo. At the fence of the monkey enclosure, the extremely aggressive "rat monkey" bites the bossy mother's left forearm, and beside herself with anger, the lady then tramples the skull of the animal, which is also antisocial towards conspecifics.
Although Lionel has promised his mother not to see Paquita again, the two spend a romantic night together. Meanwhile, Lionel's mother is getting worse and worse. A rat monkey-borne virus spreads through the bite wound on the forearm in the old lady overnight. The next day, during an important lunch with a couple from the local charity, she loses her right ear, which ends up in the vanilla cream that is served. When Paquita comes to tell Lionel that her grandmother, a clairvoyant, saw in her tarot cards that dark forces are targeting Lionel, Lionel's mother, now completely disfigured, eats Paquita's dog. Then, after attacking Paquita and Lionel, she falls down the stairs and remains motionless. A nurse who has been summoned can only determine the alleged death of Lionel's mother. But then the mother, who has come back to life, attacks the nurse and transfers the terrible monster virus to her .
After the chaotic funeral of his zombie mother, his son Lionel, otherwise an honest boy wearing tank top with a left parting, goes back to the foggy cemetery at night to exhume his mother with a shovel . Four drunk rockers with black leather jackets and pomadic lard curls come along who think Lionel is a necrophilic sex offender and beat them up for it . Meanwhile, one of the rude rockers urinates on the grave of mother Vera Elizabeth Cosgrove (1897-1957), whereupon the undead woman sticks an arm out of the cemetery soil, grabs the peeing rocker firmly by the genitals and thereby also turns the young man into a zombie. When the priest Father McGruder, played by actor Stuart Devenie , comes to the rescue and the zombie rockers with the sentence “ I'll kick your ass for the Lord! "(In English:" I kick ass for the Lord! ") First struck down victoriously with karate kicks and punches, the white-haired theologian also becomes a drooling zombie. That's why Lionel takes the moronic zombies into his home and entertains them in the Cosgrove family's dining room. Using a large syringe filled with a liquid tranquilizer drug, Lionel defends himself against the rabid zombies. Paquita's grandmother, who as a fortune teller foresaw future events, also presents Lionel with a magical amulet. From then on, the zombies can no longer harm Lionel. Lionel tries to keep the infected, which will soon include a zombie baby conceived by the priest and the nurse, under lock and key in the basement of the property. Together with the zombie baby, who is now in a red and white striped romper and lying in a pram, Lionel takes a walk in the fresh air in the sunny city park. Although the stroller is secured with barbed wire , the sadistic baby, who is given the name Selwyn, tumbles out of the stroller and wants to abuse the other children in a playground, which Lionel is able to prevent by punching the naughty kid in the face several times with his fist and Selwyn pounds on the frame of a swing . While his greedy uncle Les, who is after the sumptuous legacy of his tender-hearted nephew Lionel, is celebrating a wild 1950s-style rock'n'roll party at Cosgrove with numerous friends and acquaintances, Lionel finally confides in Paquita. You decide to make the zombies locked in the basement harmless by injecting poison.
However, when Lionel studies the label on the glass bottle with the suspected poison more closely, the liquid in it turns out to be a strong stimulant, which makes the disfigured creatures even more aggressive, breaks out of the cellar and attacks the party society, which becomes one of their own. In the attic, Lionel discovers a chest with old black and white photos and a human skeleton in it, based on the documents, Lionel finds out that his tyrannical mother drowned his unfaithful father and his blond lover in the bathtub in the past when Lionel was a little one Boy was. When Paquita is seriously threatened by the zombie horde, Lionel finally wants to put an end to the spook: holding an old rotating lawnmower to his chest, he wanders through the pack and causes a bloodbath. During a showdown , a final fight develops with Lionel's mother, who has mutated into a monstrous figure one story high, with gigantic claws, huge hanging breasts and wide buttocks. The growling creature looks like an oversized rat monkey with a human grimace. She attacks the bloodied couple on the roof of the house and ultimately falls into the building that is on fire. The zombie baby sits in the burning house and screams, whether it will survive remains open. Lionel and Paquita kiss on the street and the arriving fire brigade begins to put out the fire.
Production and aftermath
In Germany, Braindead was shown in an uncut version by Peter Jackson at the Weekend of Fear Festival in Nuremberg in 1992 . On December 28, 1993, the English PolyGram video was indexed with the first reversible cover motif. In October 1994 the film with the subtitle The Zombie Lawnmower Man was released as a rental video ( FSK 18, approx. 95 minutes) from EuroVideo , which was shortened by approx. Five minutes . On February 28, 1995, this version was also placed on the index. Later, dubious extended versions circulated in Germany with, according to the cover info, up to approx. 107 minutes ( NTSC time specification ?; see: PAL Speed-up ) running length. However, various unchecked PAL DVDs with a running length of 99:16 to 99:24 minutes are actually considered uncut .
The distribution of Braindead is forbidden in the Federal Republic of Germany because it was officially confiscated nationwide on July 9, 1999 in the Astro laser disc according to Section 131 of the German Criminal Code ( representation of violence ). The English PolyGram video with the first reversible cover was also seized on March 1, 2000 and the five-minute shortened version of Eurovideo on February 18, 2003. The seizure affects versions from different publishers (also because of the so-called "principle of equal content") , with different run lengths and on various media ( VHS , laser disc, DVD ). Only a youth-free DVD version ( age rating : FSK 16; approx. 80 minutes) with extreme cuts under the less catchy name Dead Alive, which can be found mostly on "Grabbeltischen" tables, can legally be sold in Germany. However, this version also contains scenes that were cut in the also confiscated EuroVideo version to avoid any criminal relevance. Allegedly, Peter Jackson now prefers the 99-minute "unrated" version of the film. In 2018, Peter Jackson confirmed that he was working on restoring his first films, including Braindead . The image resolution is to be improved to 4K and the sound is to be converted into 5.1 surround sound .
The horror parody , filmed in the style of the 1950s with an estimated budget of 3 million US dollars , takes up numerous motifs from the horror genre and exaggerates them to the point of absurdity; the plot of the splatter film culminates in an extensive, extremely bloody lawnmower massacre , for which a total of 300 liters of film blood were used (or 20 liters of maple syrup per second) and which is still unique in film history.
Director Peter Jackson himself has a guest appearance as the quirky assistant to the taxidermist, who uses a kind of pump to inflate the corpse of the “deceased” mother to grotesque size.
At the location where the Skull Island scenes were filmed, Peter Jackson filmed the path of the dead followed by Aragorn and his companions 9 years later in The Lord of the Rings . Peter Jackson also returned to Skull Island with King Kong . In a scene below the deck of the Venture , the ship that transports people to Skull Island, a box labeled Sumatra Rat Monkey can be seen. It is a reference to Braindead .
Reviews
“If you take a closer look at Jackson's big blockbuster successes 'Lord of the Rings' and 'King Kong', you will not only rediscover so many actors from his old films (for example Leonel's mum Elizabeth Moody as hobbit Lobelia Sackville-Baggins or Jed Brophy, the actor of the crazy zombie rocker Void, as orc), but in the scenery, optics, style and atmosphere of orcs, hobbits, balrogs, dinosaurs or giant monkeys, there are some unmistakable 'braindead' inspiration. "
"Splatter-Movie" that is atmospheric, incorporating the atmosphere of the 50s, and which in every scene seems to strive to exceed the disgust limit further and further and demonstrates a macabre pleasure in the excesses of feasible trick techniques and 'sick' ideas. "
“The absurd and comic-like violence goes so far beyond the real taboos that it can no longer frighten anyone. Hysterical, cynical and dripping with blood, the film offers good entertainment only for die-hard zombie fans. "
"The humor of Braindead is almost unique to this day and makes the film, even today, an ideal cast on every party evening."
At Rotten Tomatoes , the film received a rating of 86%.
Honourings and prices
Peter Jackson received a number of prizes and awards for his third directorial work:
- Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival - Silver Scream Award (1993);
- Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival - Grand Prize (1993);
- Fantasporto - International Fantasy Film Award, Best Film and Best Special Effects (1993)
- New Zealand Film and TV Awards - Film Award, Best Contribution to Design, Best Director, Best Film, Best Male Dramatic Performance and Best Screenplay (1993);
- Catalonian International Film Festival , Sitges , Spain - Best Special Effects (1992);
- Fantafestival - Best Actor and Best Special Effects (1992).
background
- In the German dubbing of Braindead , the actor Norbert Gastell plays the role of the selfish Uncle Les. From 1991 until his death in 2015, Norbert Gastell was the German voice of the character Homer Simpson in the American cartoon series The Simpsons . In addition, Matthias von Stegmann , the German-language dialogue book author of the series The Simpsons , will speak in Braindead, the main role of Lionel Cosgrove, played by actor Timothy Balme .
- In the scene in which the girl Paquita, played by actress Diana Peñalver , puts the vicious baby zombie in a mixer in the kitchen, the word "Gremlim" is written on a small sign hanging on this kitchen appliance. In the horror film Gremlins from 1984, a lizard-like monster, a Gremlin, is carved up in a similar way in a kitchen mixer.
- In the US, the horror film was released under the name Dead Alive , because there is another horror film, which is also called Brain Dead and was released in 1990. The actor Bill Pullman plays a leading role in this film by director Adam Simon .
- Under the headline Bradley vs. WingNut film was the production company of the horror film 1993 Braindead before the High Court in New Zealand sued because the complainant explained that during the cinematic graveyard scenes a grave stone of the applicant family is to see what the plaintiffs felt as a violation of personal privacy.
- In the 2018 black metal feature film Lords of Chaos by director Jonas Åkerlund, satanist metal fan Faust, played by actor Valter Skarsgård , watches the splatter film Braindead on a television on the lower mattress of a bunk bed .
Individual evidence
- ^ Profile of Peter Jackson at http://www.insidekino.com
- ↑ Braindead (1992) Alternate Versions on IMDB, accessed August 13, 2020
- ↑ Braindead - Peter Jackson is working on 4K restoration on Schnittberichte.com , accessed August 13, 2020
- ↑ filmstarts.de
- ^ Braindead in the Lexicon of International Films
- ↑ The Chronicle of the Film . Chronik Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 1994, ISBN 3-86047-132-5
- ↑ WatchTheShit.de
- ↑ Evaluation profile on www.rottentomatoes.com
- ↑ Nominations and awards on imdb.com
- ↑ German synchronous index : Braindead (1992) on www.synchronkartei.de, accessed on May 26, 2020
Web links
- Brain Dead in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Brain Dead at rotten tomatoes (English)
- Braindead at Metacritic (English)
- Braindead in the online film database
- Braindead in the German dubbing index
- Comparison of the cut versions FSK 16 - Unchecked , FSK 18 VHS Eurovideo - Unchecked , Unrated - Uncut , R-Rated - Uncut , Italian DVD - Unchecked by Braindead at Schnittberichte.com