Happy 24th Birthday, DEAD ALIVE!

No, that’s not a typo. Peter Jackson’s epic zombie gore fest Dead Alive celebrates its 24th birthday today! Originally released in New Zealand as Braindead in 1992, Dead Alive crossed the oceans to premiere in America on February 12th, 1992. Has it really been 24 years? I can hardly believe it myself!

Peter Jackson, you say? Yes, that Peter Jackson: the same director who brought you the big budget Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. But while The Fellowship of the Ring cost about $93 million to produce, Jackson made Dead Alive with a mere $3 million dollar budget. They must have spent half of that on fake blood!

The New York Daily News calls Dead Alive “The goriest fright film of all time.” It’s hard to disagree. If you’ve never seen it, you can’t even imagine how gory it is. Hint: At one point, the hero wades through a zombie horde with a lawnmower slung across his chest. Intrigued? You need to see this movie to believe it!

Despite some very positive reviews (88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), Dead Alive didn’t exactly kill it at the box office. The film only managed to recoup about $250,000 of its $3 million budget in the U.S. It bombed in theaters, but strong word of mouth from gore hounds and hard core horror fans helped turn Dead Alive into a cult classic.

Dead Alive isn’t available to stream on Netflix or Amazon and unfortunately it appears the DVD and Blu-ray are both out of print. That’s the bad news. The good news? There’s still a fair number of copies out on eBay. Some are even listed at prices that won’t take a lawnmower to your wallet.

Happy 24th birthday, Dead Alive! What’s your favorite scene? Let us know in the comments!