Peter Jackson Born 21 October, 1961 Pukerua Bay, North Island New Zealand Nickname: PJ

At the age of 22, he started directing his first full-length movie: "Bad Taste" (1987). He also produced, filmed and acted in it (amongst other small roles, he plays the unforgettable role of "Derek"). This was of course a no/low budget movie with only friends and locals as actors, and it was filmed with a handheld home video camera. Little did he know that "Bad Taste" was going to become a world known cult-classic. A friend of Jackson's that was working in the movie industry, arranged for it to be played at Cannes film festival, and there it won several prizes. Jackson followed up his success with a truly unusual puppet movie called "Meet the Feebles" (1989). This didn't get as much attention as his first Project. Next up was one of the bloodiest movies ever made: "Braindead" aka. "Dead Alive" (1992). With a higher budget, he could have real actors and better special effects then in "Bad Taste". Because of the bloody nature of this film, the censors cut this one to pieces (later became avliable uncut). After this, he went on to make a couple of movies of another nature then his early work, like The Drama Movie "Heavenly Creatures" and comedy "Forgotten Silver". After that he went a bit back to his "roots" with the horror/comedy "The Frighteners", starring Michael J. Fox. Though he was back to making a horror film, this was meant for a bigger audience then his early horror movies, so this was not as violent and gory. Many people were surprised when his next project was clear, "The Lord of the Rings" triology, which needless to say became a big success..

My oppinion
Peter Jackson is another favourite of mine. My introduction to the horror/splatter genre was "Braindead" and my second was "Bad Taste". To this day, both these movies are among my favourite movies. Both these can be called horror/comedies, and very often these movies fail to be funny, but Peter Jackson's movies always makes me laugh. When it comes to SFX, he's also very good. Even the effects in "Bad Taste" is pretty good, and that's impressing considering it's his first real movie. Sadly, he's only created 3 such "crazy" movies in his career, but all of them have managed to be "over the top". Especially his attempt at making a puppet movie is incredible. I do feel a bit sad that he's gone from being a "genre" director to becoming a big Hollywood blockbuster director (The Lord of the rings), but as I'm a big fan of Tolkien's triology, I was very pleased that he got the project. I can't see any director that would have done it better. Jackson has always tried to be supportive of his native country and it's movie industry, and thus he's often (always?) done shoots in New Zealand on his movies. That's never been a bad idea, because the beautiful scenery they've got there, always look good on film. Another thing that's fun is to look for Jackson in his movies, as he usually plays a small part in his movies. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he'll be able to do with his next project: "King Kong" which is due for release sometime in 2005. Sadly, I don't think we'll see him doing any more splatter movies in the spirit of "Bad Taste", "Braindead" and "Meet the Feebles", but hopefully, I'm wrong..

Doll from Braindead	Peter Jackson and Lloyd Kaufman from Troma.	Rat from Braindead

Other Peter Jackson resources:

IMDB - (Biograpy, Filmography, ++)
DVDAficionado - (List of Released Peter Jackson DVD's)
The Bastards Have Landed - (Official Jackson Fanclub) Great site with lots of Jackson goodies, including several interviews and lots of interesting info.
The Peter Jackson Guide - (well, it's a guide to Peter Jackson...)
The Hollywoodreporter - An interview with Peter Jackson on LOTR, King Kong and New Zealand)
Google Images - (Google image search on Peter Jackson)

Sources
IMDB