Braindead (1992)

 "I kick arse for the Lord!"

I utterly adore this film with all my heart. It is, of course, absolutely nothing like a cerain trilogy Peter Jackson would later helm. Said film may evoke the New Zealand landscape spectactularly but, well... the cast is as follows: the Hobbits consist of two Americans, an Irishman and a Scotsman. Aragorn is Norwegian. I could go on. 

But this film is very New Zealand.

This film is gory in exactly the way non-gore fans like myself prefer: comedically. And it fulfils the comedy enormously Yes, we end with a splendid, extended, zombie set piece, as we may well espect and want. But this film is New Zealand genius.

The zombies, including the zombie baby (it's a nuce sequence), look superb. No CGI here: it's 1992.  Have sime stop motion instead.plus the verbal wit is superb. Really superb.

The acting is sublime. Let us mention in dispatches Timothy Balme, whom I know not from anything else. The kung fu priest is hilarious, but there are so mmy genius linres. The '50s setting wasn't necessarily essential, but it adds depth: it works. The script ks comedy genius. The gore is... and I choose the adjective with care... hilarious. This superb New Zealand fim has a serious claim to being the greatest zombie film ever made.7