Peter Jackson is one of the biggest and most acclaimed filmmakers who are working today, but before he made a name for himself with Lord of the Rings, he was blowing up aliens and zombies in low-budget horror.
Peter Jackson has come a long way from his independent roots back in New Zealand. He’s a director that has definitely put in the work and has pulled off an incredible feat by turning fantasy works like Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit into pop culture phenomena. Even his flawed films create immersive worlds that are full of incredible visuals. He’s turned into a versatile filmmaker that doesn’t just stick to one genre, which helped build his skills in the process.
Jackson may get a lot of recognition for being an icon for the fantasy genre, but before the director was working on these massive blockbusters and tentpole trilogies, he got his start in considerably smaller territory. Jackson started as the prototypical DIY filmmaker and was attracted to horror more than anything else. He was inspired by the works of upcoming directors like Sam Raimi and desired to create horror that existed in the same space.
Peter Jackson’s First Few Films Were All Gross-Out Horror Films
The first feature film Peter Jackson made was an outrageous horror/comedy hybrid (a gory sub-genre known affectionately as “splatstick”) called Bad Taste. The film details an alien invasion and the few soldiers that stand up to this extraterrestrial threat that wants to turn the human race into food. It took Jackson over four years to complete, but Bad Taste helped him gain recognition from the New Zealand Film Commission, gain a helpful producer as an ally, and a premiere at Cannes, not to mention a censorship controversy that arguably helped the film. Jackson turned out Braindead (Dead Alive in North America) a few years later, but the bloody zombie film was supposed to be his follow-up picture before last-minute production problems were faced and he pivoted to Meet the Feebles.
Undeniably, it’s these rougher horror films that helped put Peter Jackson on the map as a filmmaker and gave him a reputation outside of New Zealand. However, it wasn’t until Jackson’s Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Heavenly Creatures that he was able to fully break through to the mainstream. It’s worth pointing out that the first film Jackson made with this new clout was another horror/comedy hybrid, The Frighteners. This shows that horror clearly wasn’t just some stepping stone for Jackson, but a genre that he still holds very dear to his heart.
While there aren’t currently any horror projects on Peter Jackson’s slate, it’s very possible that the acclaimed director will once again return to the genre. If audiences are lucky, the result will be something that’s on the same scale of deranged as Bad Taste and Braindead.
More: Why Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste Got Banned In Australia
