Meet The Feebles [1989]

1989

This was Richard and Tania's first feature film and also the first time that they had the opportunity to work with Peter Jackson and Wingnut Films. This was possibly one of the more bizarre periods of their working careers, as any of you that have had the pleasure of watching this film will appreciate.

They worked out of a dilapidated railway shed for a year, firstly manufacturing the puppets under the leadership of Cameron Chittock, and then shooting what has since been hailed as one of the sickest pieces of film-making ever. Meet the Feebles was a daily onslaught of fluffy toys and body fluids that one critic has described as, "Muppets on acid".

This was Peter Jackson at his most inspired, shooting from the hip, and at the height of filming he could be found running through the Wellington undergrowth with a Bolex in one hand and a Vietnam mongoose on the other, yelling indiscernible quasi-Vietcong dialogue at the top of his voice. Filmmaking doesn't get better than this.