Bad Taste

I'm a Derek, and Derek's don't run.

– Derek (Peter Jackson)

I think the gruel is ready!

– Lord Crumb (played by Doug Wren, voiced by Peter Vere-Jones) introduces one of the film's most stomach-churning scenes

Where most New Zealand films are made by liberal, middle-class minds, and generally pay their respects to the values upheld by that group, Bad Taste operates entirely on enthusiasm unfettered by any sign of preachiness or moralising.

– Reviewer Stephen Ballantyne in The Dominion Sunday Times, 24 July 1988

[I said] 'Whack it in, let's do it'. Those were things I did not consult with the Film Commission at all. I mean, could you imagine me writing, 'Well there's a scene in which massive amounts of vomit spends hours coming out of somebody's mouth and then everybody gets to eat it? They'd be like, 'What?' You just don't tell anyone.

– 'Consultant producer' Tony Hiles on Peter Jackson's idea for the vomit scene, in 2003 book Peter Jackson: From Prince of Splatter to Lord of the Rings, page 49

[The special effects] serve well enough in their slapstick pantomime way to defuse any potential offensiveness in the horror content ... Bad Taste is quite a remarkable achievement. It follows The Quiet Earth and The Navigator in establishing New Zealand as a leading source of cinefantastique.

– English reviewer Kim Newman in the Monthly Film Bulletin, September 1989, page 267

...fails to take itself at all seriously, which is the secret of its success.

– Author Steven Paul Davis on Bad Taste, in his 2001 book A- Z of Cult Films and Film-Makers, page 15

When filming finally came to an end, one vital element was still missing. Only a small amount of the movie had been recorded with sound, which meant that an entire soundtrack was now required.

– Writer Ian Pryor, in his 2003 book Peter Jackson: From Prince of Splatter to Lord of the Rings, page 52

When you're shooting on Sundays, you get all these ideas in the week, and the next Sunday you've got a whole lot of gags you want to film. It was almost like making it up as you go along.

– Writer/director Peter Jackson on Bad Taste's long development, in 2003 book Peter Jackson: From Prince of Splatter to Lord of the Rings, page 42

The toughest thing for me was hanging upside down off that cliff. It crushed all the nerves in my foot and it took about six months for the sensitivity to come back there ... After three or four hours it loses its terror and becomes a bit boring.

– Peter Jackson on filming the scene where he fights himself on a hilltop, Empire magazine, January 2015, page 64

Pete [Jackson] always tried to get people to come along to be extras but most times it was me, Terry Potter, Pete O’Herne, Craig [Smith], and Ken [Hammon]. So we would get roped in to play different parts. Pete would say “Put this blue shirt on and stand over there. When I go bang fall down dead.” Each of us probably 'died' scores of times. Then somewhere along the line, Pete revamped the plot and ended up giving us more of a starring role. ... We hammed it up like blazes, basically just being ourselves and having fun. Pete would tell us what he wanted and we’d do it. We didn’t have a clue what the story was or anything like that.

– Bad Taste actor Mike Minnett on website Kitley's Krypt, 20 November 2015

I’m definitely not a violent person myself; I’d never want to experience half the stuff that goes on in Bad Taste.

– Director Peter Jackson, in Tony Hiles' documentary Good Taste Made Bad Taste (1988)

Movies are a medium in which you can get away with murder. You can show anything you like: it’s safe and harmless and nobody gets hurt, and yet it can also shock or thrill a few people, which is also a bit of fun!

– Bad Taste director Peter Jackson, in 1988 documentary Good Taste Made Bad Taste

...the film would grow like some kind of indecisive yet unstoppable plague — claiming new victims week by week, bringing old ones back to life, and constantly changing direction as the plotline morphed into yet another new shape.

– Writer Ian Pryor, in his 2003 book Peter Jackson: From Prince of Splatter to Lord of the Rings, page 40

....an outstandingly awful, at times awfully brilliant, first feature from Peter Jackson ... [The film] announces the arrival of a new and considerable talent to the small band in the Kiwi film industry.

– Mike Nicolaidi in one of the earliest reviews of Bad Taste, in American magazine Variety, 1 June 1988

If you decide that you cannot support us the film will still be made. I will stay at work and continue to film in my spare time. I've committted far too much money to it, to back down now.

– Peter Jackson, in one of his letters to the NZ Film Commission requesting funding, quoted in Brian Sibley's 2006 book Peter Jackson - A Film-maker's Journey, page 90