Derek fights aliens in Bad Taste, Peter Jackson’s 1987 science-fiction horror comedy. The film follows a small New Zealand defense team battling extraterrestrials who have invaded a coastal town to harvest humans as food for an intergalactic fast-food business.
Derek is played by Jackson himself, who also portrays Robert, an alien. That allowed the film to include a memorable fight between Derek and Robert, created through careful editing and shots filmed months apart. Derek later survives severe injuries, replaces damaged parts of his brain with alien tissue, and continues attacking the invaders with weapons including a chainsaw.
Bad Taste was Jackson’s first feature film and began as a short project called Roast of the Day. It was shot mainly on weekends over several years around Wellington, using a low-budget 16mm camera and homemade special effects. The rough, inventive production helped establish the splatter-comedy style that Jackson later developed in Braindead.
The other options are also Jackson films, but none centers on Derek’s battle against aliens.