by Michelle Strozykowski

Created on: April 14, 2008

The Lord Of The Rings trilogy has elevated Peter Jackson to the vaulted position of New Zealand's (perhaps the world's?) best known and most widely loved film director. Just how a director formerly most admired for his comedy horror schlock pictures Braindead and Bad Taste has orchestrated such a monumental achievement is nothing short of astonishing.

A son to Bill and Joan Jackson, Peter was born on October 31st, 1961, in Pukerua Bay on New Zealand's North island. He was a cinema obsessed kid, happy shooting elaborately concocted films, populated by friends and family, on his Super 8 camera. As he matured, the obsession grew. Jackson took low budget film-making to its logical conclusion, building himself dolly tracks and - according to friend and collaborator Costa Botes - even a crane and a steadicam, in order to achieve his self-financed films. This dedication to his art eventually generated interest from the New Zealand film commission, who provided Jackson with enough money to complete his first film Bad Taste. The result was a gory comedy about aliens harvesting humans for their intergalactic fast food restaurant.

Bad Taste (1987) took Jackson to the Cannes film festival, where it began the immediate acquisition of a cult following. It was also incredibly well received in New Zealand, where homegrown talent was something of a rarity. Jackson earned himself the title 'sultan of splatter', which he defended valiantly with the feature film Braindead.

Braindead (1992) was a zombie flick made with a (still modest) budget of $3,000. Nevertheless, the additional cash allowed Jackson to produce a much more polished piece of work. He also makes a fleeting appearance in this film, as the morticians assistant. Hitchcock style cameos from the director went on to become quite a common feature of Jackson's films.

In between completing Bad Taste and gaining funding for Braindead, Peter Jackson helmed a gross-out comic satire called Meet The Feebles (1989). Starring evil puppets, Meet The Feebles served to further expand on Jackson's appetite for demented comedy horror.

Jackson was slowly building himself quite a profile in the film business, and began attracting offers from Hollywood. Many international debutants find such attention hard to resist, but Jackson knew his own mind, and preferred to remain in New Zealand. A decision which has panned out pretty well for his homeland. Certainly since Lord Of The Rings, the impetus for many an eager viewer has been to one day

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