Bad Taste - Television Tropes & Idioms

Frank: "Just remember, we're only authorized to use violence when there's a threat to the planet Earth."

Barry: "And the Moon."

Frank: "Yeah, and the Moon."

Bad Taste is first film made by the oscar winner Peter Jackson. It's a splatter movie about a bunch of aliens working for intergalactic fastfood company, who massacrie the town of Kaihoro for the meat of its inhabitants.

However, one of the townsfolk manages to send a distress call and Astro Investigation and Defence Service sends out The Boys to investigate. The team consists of four members: Barry (the Straight Man of the group), Frank, Ozzy (a trigger-happy duo), and Derek (a sociopath with a slight drooling problem). Hilarity Ensues as The Boys clash with the aliens; Derek goes berserk, a charity collector Giles is abducted and The Boys have to clean up the whole mess.

Notable for being shot with a shoestring budget during weekends in period of four years.

Bad Taste contains examples of:

Absurdly Sharp Blade: Derek's chainsaw.
Acting for Two: both Derek and Robert are played by Peter Jackson, which makes the scene where Derek tries to torture Robert to reveal why the aliens are here all the funnier.
Alien Lunch: The vomit gruel.
Aliens in Cardiff
An Arm and a Leg
An Axe to Grind: One of the alien mooks attack Barry with an axe.
Baa Bomb: Ozzy tries to destroy the aliens headquarters with a RPG. He misses and hits a sheep instead.
Badass:
Derek: "I'm a Derek. Dereks don't run."
Bald of Evil: The alien leader.
Bloody Hilarious: For the record, some VHS versions came with barfing bags.
Bond One-Liner: Given by Ozzy when he shoots one of the mooks on the head.
"That cleared the sinuses!"
Bound and Gagged: Giles when he is captured by the aliens.
Brain Food: Robert is shown happily eating the brains of one of his own.
Bring My Brown Pants: They're not brown enough...
Chainsaw Good: Derek's weapon of choice.
Cigar Chomper: Frank.
Cold-Blooded Torture: It involves a hammer, a bayonet and a foot.
Comedic Sociopathy: Ozzy!
Frank: "Yeah but you know what the rules are. When we work undercover we have to remain faceless."
Ozzy: "Oh I get it, just in case we kill a lot of innocent people!" (Cocks gun)
- Also, Derek shows a little too much joy torturing Robert (the alien he captured) and at the end when he'a cutting aliens up with a chainsaw
Cool Car: Derek's Beatles-mobile.
Conveyor Belt of Doom: Happens when the alien leader rolls back the house-ship's grass and is stuck on it.
Creepy Basement
Cruel and Unusual Death: Derek going through boss alien's head and coming out his rear with his chainsaw.
Distress Call: Doomed Kaihoro sents one in the opening.
Distressed Dude: Giles.
Does Not Like Shoes: One of the alien mooks moves barefooted.
Dressing as the Enemy: Frank dresses as one of the mooks during the infiltration.
Drop the Hammer: After hearing one of their own being tortured by Derek, bunch of aliens grab sledgehammers and rush to the rescue.
Efficient Displacement: At one point Derek saws a hole shaped like himself on the aliens headquarters' wall.
Evil Chef: One of the aliens who looks suspiciously like Peter Jackson during his Lord of the Rings years.
Eyepatch of Power Worn by one of the alien mooks.
Flipping the Bird: As seen on the cover (at least, the original cover. later versions added a second finger). Giles, also flips Robert off at one point.
- A little harder to notice is one of the aliens flipping off the protagonists as they make their escape in a car.
Fun with Acronyms: Astro Investigation and Defence Service. Lampshaded in the movie:
Ozzy: "Wish we'd change that name!"
Ghost Town: Kaihoro.
Groin Attack: Ozzy knees one of the post-transformation aliens on the groin.
Half the Man He Used to Be: One of the aliens after Derek runs him over with his car.
Hat Damage: Derek's hat (that keeps his skull together) is shot off by a stray bullet, and he's immediately sent into spasms.
Heroic Sociopath: Derek before his cranial trauma and Ozzy to some degree.
Human Aliens: for all but the last 20 minutes of the movie, the aliens look like regular humans
I Am A Humanitarian: One of the boys is forced to in order to maintain his mole status. He finds it quite tasty.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy
Impromptu Tracheotomy: Barry kills Roberts by throwing a machete on his throat, pinning him into a pillar.
The Infiltration: The Boys start one when they set out to save Giles.
Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: At one point Ozzy encounters one of the aliens, who puts its dukes up. Ozzy attempts to follow the suite, but is interrupted by Frank.
Machete Mayhem: The alien chef attacks Ozzy and Giles with a machete during the big shootout.
Made of Plasticine: The aliens; lampshaded with the line "They sure go to bits easy!"
Meaningful Name: Kaihoro means "Foodtown" in Māori.
Mugged for Disguise: Happens to one of the aliens when The Boys inflitrate their headquarters.
My Car Hates Me
Off with His Head!: One of the aliens gets his head ripped off (and his spine along with it) when Frank steals his costume.
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Two of them, both provided by Derek.
"Eat lead, sucker!"
"Suck my spinning steel, shithead!"
Prop Recycling: One of the alien masks can be seen in Meet the Feebles.
Psycho Party Member: Derek after falling off a cliff.
Railing Kill: Ozzy kills the alien chef by throwing him over a railing.
Refuge in Audacity
Psychopathic Manchild: Some of the alien mooks, including Robert.
Shout Out:
- "There's no glowing fingers on these bastards."
- When The Boys wonder the aliens have hid their spaceship, Ozzy proposes that perhaps they came in a telephone booth.
Slashed Throat: When the Evil Chef threatens Giles with a throat slice motion, Robert tries to mimic him and accidentally cuts his own throat.
Sliding Scale of Comedy and Horror
Staggered Zoom: Done after Ozzy kills the alien chef and he turns to see that Giles was abducted while he was occupied.
Take That: Which no one outside New Zealand will get. Derek doesn't think the aliens destroying Auckland would be so bad.
To Serve Man: Aliens work for intergalactic fastfood company Crumb's Crunchy Delights, who wants to add humans to their menu.
Transformation Sequence: Happens when the aliens decide to bail out and ditch their human disguises.
Use Your Head
Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Derek's attitude toward aliens.
Vomit Indiscretion Shot
Weaksauce Weakness: After falling off from a cliff, Derek's head becomes very vulnerable and if it's hit Derek is sent to spasms. Even a hit from a pinecone.
Who You Gonna Call?: The Boys, that's who.