SYNOPSIS
Peter Jackson’s third feature-length film is a bizarre black comedy–sort of a screwball NIGHT OF THELIVING DEAD, with plenty of graphic violence thrown in for good measure.
While spying on her son and his date on a trip to the zoo, Lionel’s domineering mother (Elizabeth Moody) is bitten by a vicious Sumatran rat monkey and consequently starts manifesting some rather peculiar behavior, attacking all those unfortunate enough to get in her way and turning them into zombies. Poor Lionel (Timothy Balme) is forced to hide her victims in his basement in order to conceal his mother’s grotesque affliction from his love interest, Paquita (Diana Peñalver). But soon his mom’s zombified entourage starts to rebel and becomestoo much for Lionel to handle. In the raucous finale, Lionel takes on a whole army of the undead (plus the occasional unruly bodily organ) with his trusty lawnmower and finally confronts his mother in an all-out Oedipalextravaganza.
