Peter Jackson is clearly the director of the new millennium thanks to the blockbuster success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what are his origins as a filmmaker? Very few Americans have seen his previous films. The bizarre nature of Jackson’s pre-Rings films prevented them from connecting with mainstream audiences, but cult status is a certainty.
• Meet the Feebles (1989). Not all puppet shows are for kids, and Meet the Feebles hasn’t been nicknamed “bloody Muppets” for nothing. Jim Henson would be horrified. The “Meet the Feebles Variety Hour” is a TV show starring and run by puppets who show the worst characteristics of human beings. Jackson plunges the puppets into a nightmare of sex, drugs and murder that culminates with Heidi the Hippo’s psychotic rampage prompted by the discovery that her husband, Bletch the Walrus, has cheated on her. To call it tasteless would be an understatement. Most people, in fact, are repulsed.
• Dead Alive (1992). Jackson first demonstrated his skills as a director with his third feature, a low-budget horror film that displayed some of the most dazzling camera work ever seen in the genre. Why would a director of such raw talent waste his time with such a lurid subject? Whatever his reason, Dead Alive, known as Brain Dead in its native New Zealand, is a rare instance of a horror film that qualifies as a work of art. The story is simple. An adult mama’s boy takes his domineering mother to the zoo, where she is bitten by a strange monkey. Gradually she is transformed into a zombie, and her affliction spreads like the plague. Soon the shy hero is defending his home against an army of the undead. This has been called the goriest movie ever made, and it just might be. It is also very funny. Avoid the hacked-up R-rated version, and watch it in its original unrated glory.
• Heavenly Creatures (1994). Jackson graduated to respectability with his next feature, a period drama about the friendship of two lonely and desperate teenage girls who retreat into their own fantasy world. The bonding of these misfits leads to murder, an act that neither would have committed alone. The strangest aspect of this story is it happens to be true. In fact, one of the girls, played by future star Kate Winslet, became a successful novelist under an assumed name. Jackson refined his visual style, opting for a more stately look. It isn’t Jane Austen dull, but it lacks the zip of his previous film.
• The Frighteners (1996) With all due apologies to the legions of Rings fanatics, this comedy ghost adventure is Jackson’s best film to date, and the reason for its box-office failure is baffling. Michael J. Fox is perfectly cast as a con artist who masquerades as a ghostbuster. The twist here is the ghosts do exist, but they happen to be his buddies. Fox finds a target house, his friends haunt it, and he now has customers in need of his services. The scheme works beautifully, until his paranormal antics disrupt the spirit of a psychopathic serial killer. Jackson expertly shifts the tone from light comedy to dark horror. The Frighteners is truly one of the finest ghost stories ever filmed.
From here Jackson moved on to The Lord of the Rings, a massive undertaking that stifled the quirkiness that made his films fun. Will the real Peter Jackson ever return? That doesn’t seem likely as he is now preparing to film a mega-budget remake of King Kong.
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2004.
