Peter Jackson's career really took a dramatic turn with the production of "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" in 2001. A big-budget studio production, "Lord of the Rings" was a special effects laden adaptation that brought the J.R.R. Tolkien's epic books to life. It was an elaborate production for a trilogy of blockbuster movies that dominated the box office in the early 2000s — and his career hasn't been the same since. It's all very boring. 

The early days of Jackson's career, however, were truly a time of wonder. Throughout the late '80s and the whole of the '90s, Jackson turned out fascinating pieces of low-end, nauseating, gore-and-vomit-soaked shlock the likes of which the world hadn't seen before. His 1992 film "Braindead" (known as "Dead Alive" in the United State) is a masterpiece of the highest order and rightly holds a reputation as one of the goriest films of all time (be sure to sit tight for the lawnmower scene). Prior to "Dead Alive," in 1989, Jackson made the resplendently disgusting "Meet the Feebles," a filthy puppet movie that dared posit a world where the Muppets were ugly to look at, made adult films in their basement, were addicted to drugs, caught sexually transmitted infections, and threw up on stage. "Meet the Feebles" is on Tubi. 

Peter Jackson's first feature film, however, was 1987's "Bad Taste," an extremely low-budget alien invasion flick that was presented in the quality of its title. "Brain Dead" is about an invading alien force that has eaten the population of a small New Zealand town, and intends to use human meat in an off-world fast-food franchise. It turns out that Jackson and his friends kind of stumbled into making "Bad Taste" after their habit of making short horror movies for fun kind of snowballed into something unexpectedly bigger.

In a 2015 interview with Kitley's Krypt, a horror blog, several cast members of "Bad Taste" — Craig Smith, Pete O'Hearne, and Mike Minett — gathered to reminisce on the project, and what fun they had shooting it over the course of four years. "Bad Taste" began as a short film called "Roast of the Day," but gradually transformed into the feature it became. Originally, the project that was set to cost a mere $25,000, but the New Zealand Film Commission, upon hearing of the film, actually invested an additional chuck of cash. 

O'Hearne recalls the transformation of "Bad Taste" from a low-budget vampire movie called "Curse of the Grave Walkers" — inspired by Jackson's love for the Hammer Horror movies — into something else entirely.

"The boys" would all gather, they would hang out, talk movies, and shoot footage. A truly adorable interview was conducted with Jackson's mother Joan who recalls the time as being very casual, and having to prepare a lot of baked beans on toast.

Minett, meanwhile, had a very different impression, and more sharply recalls the times he and his friends would hang out and watch Jackson's childhood monster movies. For Minett, it was entertainment and something he could share with his buddies. It took him a while to see that Jackson was essentially showing off his demo reel, very much intending to continue with his habit of making horror flicks:

Minett also recalls his conversations with Jackson and his friends, and how obsessed with spooky movies Jackson appeared to be. This was all sparked by the sudden availability of home video recording equipment that was infiltrating the market in the mid 1980s. Consumer-grade video equipment inspired an entire generation of young filmmakers, and inspired already-interested young cineastes like Jackson to push forward:

The original film started pretty dull, and Minett, Smith, and O'Hearne all recall how the project mutated from a collection of random footage — mostly silent reels of Smith driving around in Jackson's car — into a short about a man being cooked and eaten by aliens, into a short about soldiers invading an old house, into a feature film about alien fast food restaurateurs. Says Smith:

O'Hearne more closely remembers the military aspect of the short, and explained that The Boys simply kept on having good ideas:

And, finally, Minett pointed out that, when Smith had to leave the production (for reasons not disclosed), he and O'Hearne had to expand their roles. That would lead to larger ideas, and eventually a feature:

The finished film is a low-budget goof full of blood, chainsaws, and vomit-drinking. It's a delight. It's on Hoopla, Tubi, and Popcornflix. Prepare yourself some baked beans on toast and fire it up.