Before he brought Middle-earth to life in The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson made some of the most subversive horror flicks of all time. The New Zealander cut his teeth in the independent film scene, honing his craft through low-budget movies that allowed him to flex his creativity. What resulted was a handful of horror films that caused a stir around the globe.
Jackson pioneered the so-called “splatstick” style which combined elements of physical comedy with the excessive gore of ’80s horror. There was no boundary that Jackson didn’t push, and that ruffled feathers in an era where censorship was on the rise. Several of Jackson’s horror films have faced bans in various countries, with censors citing their excessive gore and violence as particularly offensive.
This hasn’t stopped the movies from gaining huge cult followings, and it was that controversy that helped propel Peter Jackson into a mainstream career in filmmaking. Though The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are wildly different from his earlier works, Jackson still applied his resourcefulness and ingenuity to those blockbuster productions. Jackson’s eye for the absurd is why his fantasy franchise is so engrossing.
All told, Jackson has made five horror films so far. He’s seemingly given up the pursuit of terror in the past few decades, but a triumphant return is always possible. Even if he never makes another horror flick again, his legacy will live on forever through stomach-churning chills. They’re all great in their own ways, but which of Jackson’s horror movies is the best?
5
Bad Taste (1987)
Peter Jackson’s debut feature was made on a shoestring budget and produced entirely independently, but his brilliance still shines through in Bad Taste. The plot concerns a race of aliens who try to invade a small town in New Zealand, only to meet resistance from a local militia. The cast is composed of Jackson’s friends, and even the director himself in multiple roles.
Bad Taste takes the alien invasion concept and cleverly subverts it, adding elements of goofy humor to create a unique tone. Despite being a low-budget feature, the film features a handful of impressive effects. It’s unabashedly gross and offensive, living up to the title. Even the one-finger salute in the movie’s promotional imagery represents the film’s philosophy.
All that said, Bad Taste is easily Jackson’s worst horror film. It’s impressive for what it is, but it’s certainly rough around the edges. The director makes the best of his low-budget production, but the limitations ultimately hold it back from being truly great. Nevertheless, it still succeeds as a gross-out horror film that is sure to please the gore hounds in the audience.
4
Meet The Feebles (1989)
Emboldened by the infamy of Bad Taste, Jackson returned to the director’s chair with 1989’s Meet the Feebles. In a spoof of The Muppet Show, the film concerns the cast of a children’s theater troupe who live debaucherous lives while pursuing careers in showbusiness. The twist is that all the characters in Meet the Feebles are anthropomorphic animal puppets.
Taking aim at recognizable children’s program imagery was a bold move, and Jackson’s sophomore feature pulls no punches in its pursuit of shock value. It’s absurd, humorous, scandalous, and downright weird, and truly exists in a category all its own. Though Meet the Feebles isn’t a conventional horror movie, there’s something unsettling about the juxtaposition of cute with crass.
Peter Jackson clearly gained confidence the second time around, and Meet the Feebles feels like a more complete cinematic experience. However, some of the jokes don’t land, and it is a pretty unbalanced movie. It’s arguably the only time in Jackson’s filmmaking career where the shock value wears thin at times.
3
King Kong (2005)
After conquering Middle-earth, Jackson’s next big project was a high-profile remake of one of the greatest monster movies of all time. King Kong is the epic tale of a film crew’s trip to Skull Island, and their encounter with the massive ape that rules the secluded land. Modern technology allowed Jackson to pull even more from the beloved story.
At a whopping 187 minutes, King Kong is a horror film on a scale that has never been seen before or since. The CGI effects are still impressive two decades later, and Andy Serkis’ digital performance as Kong deserves special praise. One thing Jackson does really well in his version of the film is make Skull Island feel like a terrifying place to be, and every square inch is crawling with nightmarish monsters.
Sadly, the film stands in the shadow of the 1933 original, and doesn’t surpass it. Jackson’s Kong is certainly a thrilling flick, but its length is daunting, and it lacks a lot of the charms of the Golden Age chiller. It is one of the best monster movies of the 21st century though, and a testament to Jackson’s ability to tell stories on a massive scale.
2
The Frighteners (1996)
The Frighteners was the first time that Peter Jackson had a big budget and a major studio backing one of his horror films. Unfortunately, the 1996 release was something of a box office disappointment. The plot concerns a man who can see ghosts, who uses his powers to scam people. When a mysterious entity begins killing the residents of his town, he has to use his powers for good.
The underrated Michael J. Fox movie clearly tones down Jackson’s “splatstick” style, but keeps the same quirky sensibility. The Frighteners is silly and spooky in equal measure, and it’s helped by strong production design and a fun subversion of typical ghost mythology. Even if the CGI effects are dated today, they were cutting edge 30 years ago.
The movie is a cult classic in every sense of the word, and it’s arguably the most underrated film in Jackson’s entire filmography. Though the plot is a bit overstuffed, The Frighteners has boundless energy and is never boring. If it wasn’t for one other movie, it could easily be called Peter Jackson’s best horror film.
1
Braindead (1992)
Following Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles, Peter Jackson really hit his stride with Braindead. A hapless man accidentally starts a zombie outbreak in his small town, and must hack and slash his way through the undead to save the day. There are plenty of gory films in the horror genre, but none can hold a candle to the gleeful gruesomeness of Braindead.
Braindead was released as Dead Alive in the United States.
The 1992 box office bomb perfectly illustrates Jackson’s “splatstick” approach, using some of the sickest imagery imaginable to deliver sidesplitting physical comedy. The entire film builds to a crescendo of gore, and thousands of gallons of blood splash across the screen in a climax that will make even the most jaded horror fan queasy.
Despite all that, it’s also a well-crafted story. It has a polished script with interesting characters, and it shows off Jackson’s evolution into a bona fide maestro behind the camera. Braindead is easily Peter Jackson‘s best horror movie because it best illustrates his strengths as a filmmaker. It somehow manages to be funny and endearing while making audiences run screaming from the theater.
- Birthdate
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October 31, 1961
- Birthplace
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Pukerua Bay, Wellington, New Zealand
- Height
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5 feet 6 inches
- Professions
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Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Film Editor, Actor