An Open Letter To Peter Jackson (Please Come Back)

I know Bad Taste took you four years to make, but you are older and wiser now and have a wealth more experience. You could make another trilogy in the time it took you to make this one movie! For a debut movie it is a slice of manic, blood soaked brilliance. Whilst it isn't a film many would cuddle up with on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon, it is clear that you show some real talent from the off and know just to where to draw the line between comedy and sheer gross out horror, but often step over that mark just to show the audience that you can. Showing audiences that you weren't scared to mess with codes and conventions, your next outing was Meet The Feebles.

What can only be described as Sesame Street on crack, this film is one of the lesser known films within your body of lesser known work. I think this is a travesty! Everyone should be able to watch (and hopefully enjoy) this dark comedy at least once in their life, because it shows that you weren't afraid to take something that most audiences would associate with their childhood (puppets) and turn it completely on its head; into something dark, seedy and just a bit twisted.

This is the Peter Jackson I miss. Where is the close to the bone darkness and humour in your later work? I know you had to stick to the source material with Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but I would love to see a welcome return to form with another tour de force all out splatter movie like you used to make.

Maybe you could do a Raimi, and go back to Braindead (or Dead Alive to our American Friends), and remake it with a bit more money, much like Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. Although that could ruin the charm and cult status of your original work; whilst it worked for Raimi, I don't know how you could improve on Braindead.

I wouldn't want a completely computer generated hoard of zombies, using all the technology from Weta. The use of practical effects in your old movies is really what made them. It added to overall feel of them and really showed the passion you had for the craft as you were willing to spend all that time and effort in creating the actual effect that you wanted because you had the physical capacity to do it.

Not that your foray into computer generated effects wasn't a success. You managed to get one of the last full on acting roles out of Michael J. Fox before he moved into television and voice acting, and whilst it was a shame he had to move away from film roles, you allowed him to go out with a bang; albeit one covered in ectoplasm!

The technology that you needed for this film allowed you to create Weta and thus Lord of the Rings came into being, so I'm not saying what you did after this was a mistake. It is just, like I said earlier; you shouldn't forget your roots.

Personally, I don't think I would have been as excited for any of your other movies, if I didn't know about your back catalogue of work, but I think that is because each time I hear you are thinking about making a new movie part of me is hoping that you are going to come back with another splatter filled masterpiece. It is comforting to know that you haven't completely forgotten where you came from because in King Kong you have a crate containing a Sumatran Rat-Monkey, which is a nice little nod back to Braindead.

I know that going back to these types of movies isn't going to give the critical acclaim that you have become so accustomed to, but surely it can't hurt to make maybe one more film in the genre that allowed you to get to the status where you are today!