Comedy and horror. Two great tastes that go great together? Most would argue the negative. Luckily, a young man from New Zealand named Peter Jackson came along, mining in the same extremely gory vein as Sam Raimi and his Evil Dead trilogy but adding an even heavier ham-handedness only those wacky people from “down under” could pull off. Dead Alive, also known as Brain Dead, follows Lionel, a 25-year-old virgin who lives at home taking care of his domineering and tyrannical mum. So loyal is our henpecked hero, that he continues to clean up after her even when she turns into an oozing, ravenous zombie. One bite from mother, and it’s all over. So outrageous is Jackson’s style (see also Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners), Hollywood hired him to direct Tolkien’s freaky fantastic Lord of the Rings trilogy, all due in the next three years. Catch the cult original Tuesday night, part of Duke’s Freewater Films series. See “Special Showings” for details.
