Episode 125: Braindead aka Dead Alive

Send us Fan MailIn 1992 the movie genius that is Peter Jackson gave us this cult classic, Braindead, aka Dead Alive. Renamed in the US because of a Bill Pullman movie Brain Dead. It is messy, gory, fun, a classic tale of a Sumatran Rat Monkey (stop motion) infecting humans in 1950s Wellington, New Zealand, with its bite.If you like your blood in tidal waves, and your intestines with a mind of their own, if you don’t mind seeing zombie babies ripping their way out of a woman's head, or exploding pustules bursting and the rancid output being eating with custard then this is for you.With Simon Pegg listing this as one of his influences for Shaun of the Dead (you can see it with the tram scene with Lionel and the homeless guy and the pigeon and the bus in Shaun), it can be seen why this was one of the major players in the comedy zombie horror genre.Was it a game changer? I don't think so. But it's influence was huge, and can be seen in Zombieland, Bed and Breakfast, Shaun and many more.A solid 6.5/10 from me. If you haven't seen it, then you really have to.