History Film / Braindead

* ChasedByAngryNatives: the explorers running away from Skull Island with the captured Rat Monkey are chased by angry tribesmen with spears.
** Perfectly justified as said natives know exactly what the Rat Monkey's bite does: "Shangaia!"

* CreatorCameo: Jackson appears as the undertaker's bumbling assistant.

* EnfantTerrible[=/=]UndeadChild: Baby Selwyn. Who was conceived ''after'' its parents' zombification and was born apparently about a day later.

* GrievousHarmWithABody: Father [=McGruder=] kicks a zombie's ass using its own arm after he rips it off.

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: During the House Party Massacre scene, one poor bastard tries to slip through a hole into the kitchen from various zombies and two people try to pull him through as Zombies start going for his lower body on the other side. When the two people finally pull him out, all that's left of his lower body is his bloodied leg bones, his pelvis and his feet still intact thanks to his shoes.
** As is Zombie Void, who while trying to break through the bottom of the bathroom door, has his stomach impaled by Lionel stomping him into the broken wood splinters. Void then crawls enough to rip himself in two so he could get to Lionel.
* HelpingHands: Even dismemberment doesn't completely stop a zombie, with severed limbs continuing to attack after being severed. Taken UpToEleven with a complete set of ''bowels'' becoming animate and chasing Lionel.

* {{Homage}}: The explorer foolishly [[Film/KingKong1933 brings a deadly primate back from Skull Island]].
** ShoutOut: Jackson later gives a ShoutOut to ''Braindead'' in his "King Kong" remake: one of the crates coming back from Skull Island on the expedition ship is labeled "Sumatran Rat Monkey". And below that, the words "BEWARE THE BITE". In the accompanying book of the movie it is said that they live in chasms and ravines of Skull Island (AKA that scene with all the huge worms and bugs), one large picture in the book even has a hard-to-see Rat Monkey in it.
*** And the Paths of the Dead in Jackson's ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' was the same location as this film's opening scene.
* ImprovisedWeapon: A lawnmower becomes a powerful weapon against zombies.
** Jackson has jokingly claimed that the lawnmower is the preferred murder instrument in New Zealand.

* MadeOfIron: Selwyn takes a lot of punishment over the course of the film and doesn't come out any worse for wear. Although being set on fire may have done him in.

* PreAssKickingOneLiner: "''Party's over!''"
** Also, "''I kick arse for the Lord!''"

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Paquita's first boyfriend, Roger. Her relationship with Lionel starts like this as well, but then they both develop genuine interest for each other.
** Roger's a bit of a {{Deconstruction}}; since he had no real common ground with Paquita, she broke it off with him in very short order.
* ShoutOut: In addition to the reference to [[Film/KingKong1933 Skull Island]], there's a Literature/SherlockHolmes story that mentions "[[NoodleIncident the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared]].
** Not to mention, the whole MyBelovedSmother subplot, as well as their house, are really not unlike ''Film/{{Psycho}}''.
* SlasherSmile: Paquita puts one on just as the zombie baby falls into the activated blender.

* StopMotion: the Sumatran Rat Monkey.
** Somehow, that makes it even ''scarier'', in the scene where it bites Lionel's mother.

* TookALevelInBadass: After being meek and submissive for most of the film, both Lionel and Paquita gain several levels in the final thirty minutes.
** [[{{Meganekko}} Rita]] was getting there.[[spoiler: Too bad she got a splitting headache...literally.]]

* VillainsWantMercy: After Lionel has the Intestine-creature in his mercy, it smacks it's kidneys together in a pleading motion, to no avail.

* [[WouldNotHurtAChild Would Not Hurt a Zombie Child]]: At first, Paquita hesitates to kill Selwyn as it wails pathetically in the zombie blender...until [[VomitIndiscretionShot the above trope]] happens and it laughs about it. Then she purées that little bastard (or at least tries to) right then and there.

* BadassPreacher: [[TooCoolToLive Father McGruder, the Kung Fu Priest]], with the immortal line "I kick arse for the Lord!" Subverted in that [[spoiler:his badass causes his downfall]].
** He's [[spoiler: owned by his own badass really. He kicks a zombie's head off. The zombie head lands right on his shoulder. He gets bitten.]]

Released in 1992, ''Braindead'' (also known as ''Dead Alive'') is Creator/PeterJackson's third feature film, a gory comedy in the vein of ''Film/BadTaste'' and ''Film/MeetTheFeebles''.

* BlackComedy: It's essentially a BoyMeetsGirl story...with demonic zombies and a MyBelovedSmother.

* BigBad: The Sumatran Rat-Monkey, who was the cause of turning people into zombies.

* RuleOfSymbolism: [[spoiler:Lionel being dragged back to his mother's womb and fighting his way out]] (TheOtherWiki's plot summary even describes this as "an over-the-top Freudian 'rebirth'").

* ManiacMonkeys: [[BigBad The Sumatran Rat Monkey]]] is an aggressive and hideous abomination and the root cause of the zombie outbreak.

* ManiacMonkeys: [[ BigBad The Sumatran Rat Monkey]]] is an aggressive and hideous abomination and the root cause of the zombie outbreak.

* BigBad: Sumatran Rat-Monkey, who was the cause of turning people into zombies.

* ManiacMonkeys: The Sumatran Rat Monkey is an aggressive and hideous abomination and the root cause of the zombie outbreak.

* {{Badass}}: Lionel may be a wuss and a mama's boy, but still manages to destroy dozens of zombies and survive almost unharmed.
** He may be a {{Jerkass}}, but let's face it, Uncle Les proves to be this when he carves up dozens of zombies singlehandedly with only a pair of knives.
** Also Father [=McGruder.=]
** It seems to be in the blood. Vera gets bitten by the Sumatran Rat-Monkey through the bars of its cage. Her response? Smack the thing with her purse and then pulp its head under her heel.

It is a {{squick}}tastic gore fest. Intentionally hilarious in all its splattery glory. That's all you need to know.

* BloodKnight: Uncle Les becomes one when he gets his hands on a pair of cleavers

* DisappearedDad: Lionel's dad drowned at the beach while trying to save him.[[spoiler: But it turns out that his mother murdered him after catching him having an affair]].

* GagDub: the Italian dub adds all kinds of silly puns by having the zombies "talk" and not only make meaningless grunts and noises. it just makes everyhting even more hilarious.

[[quoteright:330:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Braindead_1489.jpg]]

'''Braindead''' (1992, also known as ''Dead Alive'') is Creator/PeterJackson's third feature film, a gory comedy in the vein of ''Film/BadTaste'' and ''Film/MeetTheFeebles''. It is about a young man named Lionel whose life takes a turn to the worse when his overbearing mother is bitten by a rat-monkey of Sumatra, infecting her with a strange disease that rapidly turns her into a hungry zombie that starts infecting every unlucky fellow that she comes across. If having a zombie mom wasn't enough of a problem, Lionel also has to deal with his opportunistic uncle Les and hide his deadly secret from his girlfriend Paquita.

It is a {{Squick}}tastic gore fest. Intentionally hilarious in all its splattery glory. That's probably all you need to know.

* ChainsawGood: '''''Lawnmower BETTER.'''''

* BlackComedy:It's essentially a BoyMeetsGirl story...with demonic zombies and a MyBelovedSmother.

* AndShowItToYou: Happens to one poor girl at the party when [[spoiler: the zombies break out of the basement.]]

** Although [[ReturnOfTheLivingDead cremating a zombie isn't always the best idea]].

* MadeOfIron: Selwyn takes a lot of punishment over the course of the film and doesn't come out any worse for wear.

* {{Homage}}: The explorer foolishly [[Film/KingKong brings a deadly primate back from Skull Island]].

* ShoutOut: In addition to the reference to [[Film/KingKong Skull Island]], there's a Literature/SherlockHolmes story that mentions "[[NoodleIncident the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared]].

* LudicrousGibs: The last third of the film is much, much bloodier than the earlier scenes. And then Lionel [[UpToEleven|gets hold of the lawnmower...]]

* MarketBasedTitle: It is called ''Dead Alive'' in the US. See Name's The Same below.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: They're a combination of the [[PlagueZombie Plague]] and [[FleshEatingZombie Flesh-Eating]] variants. Their limbs or even ''entrails'' can develop minds of their own, they can have babies, and [[spoiler:after a while, may even mutate into these bloated and inhuman monsters.]]

* RefugeInAudacity: [[Film/BadTaste Almost]] [[Film/MeetTheFeebles everything]]. However, zombie nurse making love with zombie priest and then having a zombie baby is wrong on ''so many levels''.

* ChainsawGood: '''''Lawnmower better.'''''