After painstakingly restoring archival war footage from Britain’s Imperial War Museum for his upcoming documentary THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD, acclaimed filmmaker Peter Jackson has announced that he's interested in re-visiting his early films for the same brand of cinematic polish. This news is bound to excite fans of Jackson's early work, which includes his 1987 debut BAD TASTE, as well as 1989's MEET THE FEEBLES. The first is a gore-tastic offering which focuses on the disappearance of a small town's population after being replaced by aliens that crave human flesh for their intergalactic fast-food chain. Meanwhile, MEET THE FEEBLES is a puppet-populated musical comedy featuring multiple animals and insects as they experience the sleazier side of show business while working on a variety show.
“I’ve decided to go back and do this to my old films — the first four I made, which I own but never re-released,” Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve done some tests on Braindead, where we took the 16mm negative and put it through our World War I restoration pipeline — and s–t, it looks fantastic!”
In addition to BAD TASTE and MEET THE FEEBLES, Jackson also told the outlet that he's toying with the idea of applying today's modern tech to his 1994 biographical crime drama HEAVENLY CREATURES starring Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet and Sarah Peirse, among others. According to Jackson, the trilogy of films could serve as “a nice little box set — the early years! The naughty years!” He then added that BAD TASTE is assuredly the project that would benefit the most from a digital facelift. After all, that movie is rough business by today's standards, though I'm sure that those who enjoy the film's crass approach to alien invasion would welcome a slicker looking version.
“I knew it was a precious thing, but I didn’t have anywhere to put it, so I shoved it under my bed,” he remembers. “Then when I finally got the funding to do the finished Bad Taste film, there was damp mold and mildew all through the bloody neg, and you can sort of see it in some shots. So I’m looking forward to tidying that up! Even if it’s just removing the mold from Bad Taste, that will be a very good thing to do.”
Jackson's next blockbuster, MORTAL ENGINES, starring Hera Hilmar, Hugo Weaving, Jihae, Robert Sheehan and Leila George, will be rolling into theaters on December 14th. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic world where cities ride on wheels and consume each other to survive. Amidst all the mayhem, two people meet in London and try to stop a conspiracy.
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