| Birdemic: Shock and Terror | |
|---|---|
First promotional poster |
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| Directed by | James Nguyen |
| Produced by | James Nguyen |
| Written by | James Nguyen |
| Starring | Alan Bagh Whitney Moore Janae Caster Colton Osborne Adam Sessa |
| Music by | Andrew Seger |
| Cinematography | Daniel Mai |
| Editing by | Kim Chow |
| Studio | Moviehead Pictures |
| Distributed by | Severin Films |
| Release date(s) | October 1, 2008 (U.S. premiere) |
| Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10,000 |
Birdemic: Shock and Terror (often shortened to Birdemic) is a 2008 independent horror film written, directed, and produced by James Nguyen.[1] The leading cast is made up of Alan Bagh and Whitney Moore. An apparent homage to The Birds, Birdemic tells the story of a romance between the two main characters as their small town is attacked by birds.
Birdemic was made with no studio support, largely self-financed and produced through Nguyen's Moviehead Pictures company for a budget of less than $10,000. Though Nguyen intended Birdemic to be a "romantic thriller", according to its press release,[2] the film has gained notoriety for its poor quality, with some critics citing it as one of the worst films ever made.[3][4] After a limited theatrical release, the film gained a cult following and was picked up for distribution by Severin Films in 2010.
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Rod (Alan Bagh) is a young software salesman living a successful life in Silicon Valley when he meets up with old classmate and aspiring fashion model, Nathalie (Whitney Moore) and begins dating her. Things go well for the couple, with Rod receiving a large bonus that he uses to start his own business while Nathalie is chosen as a Victoria's Secret model. As they grow closer, the couple remains oblivious to signs of something wrong going on around them, such as unexplained wildfires and the corpses of diseased birds turning up on beaches.
After consummating their relationship in a motel, Rod and Nathalie wake up to find that their town is under attack from eagles and vultures that spit acid and explode into flames after striking the ground. Rod and Nathalie escape from the motel by joining up with an ex-Marine named Ramsey (Adam Sessa) and his girlfriend Becky (Catherine Batcha). As they leave town, they rescue two young children, Susan (Janae Caster) and Tony (Colton Osborne), whose parents have been killed by the birds.
The group proceeds to drive from one town to the next, fending off more bird attacks along the way and briefly meeting a scientist named Dr. Jones (Rick Camp) studying the phenomenon. Becky is killed by the birds, and Ramsey, in an attempt to exact revenge, tries to save a busload of tourists. As they leave the bus, Ramsey and the tourists are doused in acid by the birds and all die.
Rod, Nathalie and the kids continue to flee from the birds, driving into a forest where they briefly meet a "Tree Hugger" (Stephen Gustavson) who explains to them that the birds have only been targeting gas stations and cars, and that the attacks are the result of global warming. The quartet ultimately settles on a small beach, where Rod fishes for dinner. As they prepare to eat, they are attacked by the birds, which are suddenly -- and for no explained reason-- chased away by doves. The film ends as Rod, Nathalie and the kids watch the birds fly off into the sunset.
Da Nang-born[5] director James Nguyen's family fled Vietnam in 1975, shortly before the Fall of Saigon.[6] [7] He never received any formal training in moviemaking, but instead grew up watching the movies of Alfred Hitchcock, including his 1963 picture The Birds,[8] and his 1958 movie, Vertigo, which Nguyen considers his favorite among the director's films.[9] Nguyen went on to be a software salesman in Silicon Valley.[8] He first picked up a camera in 1999,[9] and eventually directed two movies, Julie and Jack and Replica.[10] The former, released in 2003, was a low-budget romance,[11] while the latter was never released.[9] Nguyen blamed this on the expensive storyboarding process and his casting decisions.[9]
Nguyen was inspired to write the script for Birdemic: Shock and Terror while spending time relaxing in Half Moon Bay, California,[12] and much of the filming took place in the area surrounding the community. Birdemic took four years to produce, largely due to time limitations - filming was done mostly on weekends and financed through Nguyen's day job.[9]
According to the film's website, the movie was partly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film The Birds (the film touts a cameo from Tippi Hedren, which is actually archival footage from an early Nguyen film, Julie and Jack, playing on a television)[13] and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.[13] The film was produced for a budget of $10,000, but the distributors have spent more on marketing than it cost to produce the film and purchase the rights.[14]
In January 2009, Nguyen traveled to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah to promote the film freelance, handing out flyers to passers-by from his van, adorned with stuffed birds and paper signs that read "BIDEMIC.COM" (spelling Birdemic wrong in his haste) and "WHY DID THE EAGLES AND VULTURES ATTACKED?" [sic], and renting out a local theater to screen the film.[10] Word of mouth eventually gave Birdemic attention from horror movie websites Dread Central[15] and Bloody Disgusting,[16] while the trailer was featured on the July 30 episode of G4's Attack of the Show.[17]
On February 27, 2010, Birdemic received its Los Angeles premiere at the Silent Movie Theatre,[18] sponsored by Bloody Disgusting and hosted by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim,[19] followed by a cast-and-crew attended screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas on March 2,[20] with follow-up screenings in Tempe, Arizona.[21] and New York City.[22]
Severin Films acquired the film in early 2010 and launched the Birdemic Experience Tour 2010, which showed the film in numerous cities in the United States and Toronto, Canada from April through July 2010.[23] Birdemic premiered in the United Kingdom at The Curzon Soho in London on May 28, 2010.[24]
On April 3, 2009, Moviehead Pictures self-released Birdemic on DVD, selling it exclusively through Moviehead's official website and manufactured on demand through Amazon.com.[25] In early 2010, Birdemic was picked up by Severin Films[26] with plans to release the film on home media. Birdemic was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on February 22, 2011. The DVD's special features include an audio commentary by James Nguyen as well as one by lead actors Alan Bagh and Whitney Moore, two deleted scenes, a feature on the Birdemic Experience Tour, and an episode of the public-access San Francisco TV show Movie Close Up which features Nguyen and was aired as Birdemic was still under production (the host of the show, Bonnie Steiger, later played an extra in the bus rescue scene of Birdemic).
Birdemic has been noted for its poor quality, with reviewers calling out its wooden acting, bad dialogue, amateurish sound and editing, nonsensical plot and, in particular, its special effects, consisting entirely of poorly rendered CGI eagles and vultures that, in addition to performing physically awkward aerial maneuvers (non-animated bird sprites in the background will simply rotate 360° in mid-air), spit acid and explode upon impact with the ground.[27]
On a 2009 "Best of" list, Bloody Disgusting listed Birdemic amongst its honorable mentions, calling it "the best worst film you'll see in 2010".[28] The Huffington Post referred to the film as "truly, one of the worst films ever made."[3] Variety reported that "'Birdemic' displays all the revered hallmarks of hilariously bad filmmaking: inane dialogue...miscued music, godawful sound...and special effects that simply must be seen to be believed: birds dive-bombing and exploding in red-and-yellow poofs of smoke, and clip-art eagles, crudely pasted on the screen, with only their wing tips mechanically flapping."[29] The Village Voice described Birdemic as "one more in the pantheon of beloved trash-terpieces."[30] Salon commented on the "atrocious CGI" and reported that the film had become "a cult hit among bad-movie fans."[31]
An online review from the Independent Film Channel stated that the film feels "indebted to Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space with its blend of ultra-low budget filmmaking and cuckoo bananas ecological message." [32] The Guardian and the New York Times[33] reported on the film's cult status, with The Guardian writing that "Birdemic features acting as wooden as a tree, clunky camera work...and crude special effects that reduce audiences to tears of laughter rather than terror."[34] Slate wrote that "aspects of Birdemic can seem too bad to be true...The film's artlessness comes to function as its own sort of hallucinatory art...we see the narrative space of the film breaking down and rebuilding itself constantly—bloody stitches on its forehead, bolts in its neck. This breakdown can be profoundly discomfiting and surprisingly infectious."[4] The film currently has a 2.0 (out of 10) average rating on IMDb, placing it at #47 on the IMDb Bottom 100 list.[35] Rotten Tomatoes currently gives the movie a rating of 15%.[36]
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, who hosted the Los Angeles premiere, parodied the movie on their television series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! in the episode "Crows".[37]
On the February 25, 2011 episode of The Soup, scenes of Birdemic, especially an elongated scene in which employees clap incessantly at the company's good financial news, was the "Clip of the Week".
A RiffTrax for Birdemic was released on February 22, 2011, featuring commentary by Michael J. Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame.[38] The release of their commentary was quickly followed up by recreations of seven humorous scenes from the film.[39][40][41][42]
A sequel, entitled Birdemic II: The Resurrection 3D and also to be directed by James Nguyen, has been announced for a planned release date of summer 2012.[43] The sequel will apparently be available in 3D and the plot will center around eagles and vultures attacking Hollywood, California. On October 25, 2010, the cast was announced; Alan Bagh will resume his role as Rod, with newcomers Alexandra Forsythe as Gloria and Lyle Drucker as Bill.[44]