Birdemic: Shock and Terror has made a splash in the underground community of masochists that enjoy atrocious cinema. With a tag line of "Why did the eagles and vultures attacked?" people have mistakenly believed this is the newest "so bad its good" title. As evidenced by the midnight screening I attended, these people are or will be very disappointed. The incompetence on display here is remarkable. Director James Nguyen has no idea of simply techniques like: writing a coherent story, including sound in every shot, knowing when to end shots, or incorporation of special effects. Nguyen is a Vietnamese immigrant and had no training of any kind in filmmaking. He was apparently inspired to create this film due to his affection for The Birds.
The film opens with an extended driving sequence where the camera hovers at an odd angle for no reason. It is tilted slightly to the right for almost eight minutes before anything at all happens. It's almost a loving homage to the opening of Manos: The Hands of Fate, which was also directed by someone who had no idea of how to make movies. After this unbearable sequence, we are introduced to the main character, Rod. He works for a technology company and has apparently earned stock options. He notifies us of his success about every ten minutes and uses it as a way to pick up an attractive fashion model named Natalie. This was the first role for both actors and they are so artificial in their delivery, it's as if Nguyen told them to eliminate any emotion their characters should have experienced. Whitney Moore, who plays Natalie, appears to have a little bit of acting ability. She at least smiles sometimes.
The first half of the movie contains no bird attacks. This is the "romantic" part of the movie, if you could call it such. Nguyen insists calling his movie a "romantic thriller" instead of a horror movie. For seemingly no reason at all, eagles and vultures interrupt the couple while they have sex without removing their clothes. These creatures are floating GIF images and hover over the screen. They are so poorly incorporated into the live action that they never actually give the presence of third dimensionality. They are stuck to the frame until the next scene begins. This is amusing for about five minutes and then becomes monotonous, not only because of the repetition of seeing the birds but also because a looping chirp plays whenever they are on screen. We later learn the birds are attacking because global warming has somehow affected them. I honestly cannot recall what the explanation was in detail because I had difficulty hearing it. Nguyen didn't use anything to amplify dialog, so you will strain to hear what characters are saying most of the time.
Birdemic is an unusually bad, bad movie. It's a lack of imagination mixed with a lack of technical competence only made worse by a runtime of an hour and a half. If that wasn't enough to ensure its infamy, promotional material listed it as "Bidemic". It's actually worse than the TV sequel to Hitchcock's film that was later disowned by its director.
Not Recommended
The film opens with an extended driving sequence where the camera hovers at an odd angle for no reason. It is tilted slightly to the right for almost eight minutes before anything at all happens. It's almost a loving homage to the opening of Manos: The Hands of Fate, which was also directed by someone who had no idea of how to make movies. After this unbearable sequence, we are introduced to the main character, Rod. He works for a technology company and has apparently earned stock options. He notifies us of his success about every ten minutes and uses it as a way to pick up an attractive fashion model named Natalie. This was the first role for both actors and they are so artificial in their delivery, it's as if Nguyen told them to eliminate any emotion their characters should have experienced. Whitney Moore, who plays Natalie, appears to have a little bit of acting ability. She at least smiles sometimes.
The first half of the movie contains no bird attacks. This is the "romantic" part of the movie, if you could call it such. Nguyen insists calling his movie a "romantic thriller" instead of a horror movie. For seemingly no reason at all, eagles and vultures interrupt the couple while they have sex without removing their clothes. These creatures are floating GIF images and hover over the screen. They are so poorly incorporated into the live action that they never actually give the presence of third dimensionality. They are stuck to the frame until the next scene begins. This is amusing for about five minutes and then becomes monotonous, not only because of the repetition of seeing the birds but also because a looping chirp plays whenever they are on screen. We later learn the birds are attacking because global warming has somehow affected them. I honestly cannot recall what the explanation was in detail because I had difficulty hearing it. Nguyen didn't use anything to amplify dialog, so you will strain to hear what characters are saying most of the time.
Birdemic is an unusually bad, bad movie. It's a lack of imagination mixed with a lack of technical competence only made worse by a runtime of an hour and a half. If that wasn't enough to ensure its infamy, promotional material listed it as "Bidemic". It's actually worse than the TV sequel to Hitchcock's film that was later disowned by its director.
Not Recommended