History Film / Birdemic

* OnlySaneMan: The man who tries to rob Rob for gas is probably the only person who displays any hint of survival instinct in an apocalypse situation. [[LaserGuidedKarma Not that it helped him]].

A sequel, ''Film/Birdemic2TheResurrection'', was released in 2013. An Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for a third installment, titled ''Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle'', was launched with a goal of $600,000. It raised $596. Nguyen then attempted a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign but only managed to raise $230 of the $200,000 goal. Despite those setbacks, filming began in May 2021.

* {{Fanservice}}: Nathalie in her underwear (and earlier, Mai (the "Imagine Peace" girl) in a bikini).

* GainaxEnding: [[ExaggeratedTrope Oh Jeez.]] [[spoiler: just as some eagles are about to kill the heroes, some doves show up out of nowhere, and somehow convince the eagles to just fly away with them.]]

Made with [[NoBudget around $10,000]] and vigorously promoted by Nguyen through means including driving a minivan blaring bird noises and adorned with stuffed birds, fake blood and paper signs (some of which [[TyopOnTheCover mis]][[EpicFail spelled]] the film title) around the Sundance Film Festival[[note]]In case you're wondering, the festival rejected the film[[/note]], the film was shown at a couple festivals in 2008 and 2009 (including ''Sundance''!), and then had a small theatrical run in 2010.

The film was released on DVD and UsefulNotes/BluRay in February 2011, but was [[ColbertBump introduced to the wider world]] by [[Creator/TimAndEric Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim]] of ''Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob'', and has since become infamous for its SoBadItsGood nature.

Made with NoBudget and vigorously promoted by Nguyen by means including driving a minivan blaring bird noises and adorned with stuffed birds, fake blood and paper signs (some of which [[TyopOnTheCover mis]][[EpicFail spelled]] the film title) around the Sundance Film Festival[[note]]In case you're wondering, the festival rejected the film.[[/note]], the film was shown at a couple festivals in 2008 and 2009 (including ''Sundance''!), and then had a small theatrical run in 2010.

It was released on DVD and UsefulNotes/BluRay in February 2011. The film was [[ColbertBump introduced to the wider world]] by [[Creator/TimAndEric Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim]] of ''Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob'', and has since become infamous for its SoBadItsGood nature.

A sequel, ''Film/Birdemic2TheResurrection'', has been released. In 3D! And yes, it's even worse than the first movie.

An Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign was attempted in for ''Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle'' in 2016 for $600,000. It raised $596. Nguyen then attempted a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign but only managed to raise $230 of the $200,000 goal. Despite those setbacks, filming began in May 2021.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: In California, all cars can be converted to hybrid or full electric. However, it's '''expensive'''. So Rod's hybrid Ford Mustang was plausible (if missing the point of a muscle car like a Mustang).

* ActingUnnatural: An unintentional example – early in the movie, Alan Bagh, who plays Rod, was [[PerformanceAnxiety hyperconscious of the camera being on him]] and apparently couldn't walk naturally on camera and ends up looking like he's made of wood. Then he starts talking, and it becomes apparent that everything about him is wooden.

* {{Corpsing}}: Whitney Moore, the actress playing Nathalie, can't keep a straight face.
** She giggles when she talks to Dr. Jones, for whatever reason.
** She also corpses when first getting the hangars in the infamous scene.
** She is also laughing during the scene where she and Rod are dancing. One could guess that Rod was being funny if you ever saw his mouth move. Judging by her dancing, she clearly wasn't taking it seriously.

* IncestIsRelative: There's hints of this in the song "Hangin' Out With the Family," which chronicles a '''family gathering''' where "...the brothers can't wait to hook up" and "...grandma gets to prancin', to make sure, the fellas, don't try any glancin'!"

A sequel, ''Film/Birdemic2TheResurrection'', has been released. In 3D! And yes, it's as terrible as the first movie.

Made with NoBudget and vigorously promoted by Nguyen by means including driving a minivan blaring bird noises and adorned with stuffed birds, fake blood and paper signs (some of which [[TyopOnTheCover mis]][[EpicFail spelled]] the film title) around the Sundance Film Festival[[note]]In case you're wondering, the festival rejected the film.[[/note]], the film was shown at a couple festivals in 2008 and 2009, and then had a small theatrical run in 2010.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: A meta-example. Nguyen managed to get this turkey shown at Sundance in 2009, and assumed the crowd loved the {{Anvilicious}} {{Glurg}}, when they were ''laughing'' at it. [[invoked]]

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: A meta-example. Nguyen managed to get this turkey shown at Sundance in 2009, and assumed the crowd loved the {{Anvilicious}} speeches, when they were ''laughing'' at it.

** Rick thinks "a day without sex is a day wasted." (This character was reused from the other film by Nguyen, ''Film/JulieAndJack''.)

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: After the birds attack, Nathalie doesn't even mention her mother, much less the fact that she's probably dead. [[CosyCatastrophe Or perfectly fine and safe in her house.]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: "From writer/producer/director/visionary James Nguyen The Master Of The Romantic Thriller[[note]]Read: a guy who had directed two movies before, which could loosely be called romantic thrillers but cannot even loosely be called proof of "mastery" of the genre[[/note]] comes the story of a sexy lingerie model (Whitney Moore) and a successful software salesman (Alan Bagh) on a weekend getaway to a quaint Northern California town. But when the entire region is attacked by millions of homicidal birds,[[note]]Read two dozen badly done superimposed CGI birds, while ''real'' birds go about their business ignoring the human characters[[/note]] their picturesque paradise becomes a winged hell on earth. Can mankind now survive the avian onslaught of BIRDEMIC? Hollywood legend Creator/TippiHedren of Hitchcock's ''Film/TheBirds'' co-stars[[note]]Meaning appears in ''archive footage''. From ''Nguyen's [[Film/JulieAndJack other film]]''. On a ''television screen''. For ''one scene''.[[/note]] in the global cult movie phenomenon that Videogum says might end up being the greatest film of all time!"[[note]]They were being sarcastic.[[/note]]

* EasyEvangelism: All it takes is one viewing of ''Film/AnInconvenientTruth'' to convince Rick to be more eco-friendly. Rod and Nathalie listen to at least two speeches about the dangers of global warming and accept what they hear without question.

* OnlySaneMan: The man who tries to rob Rob for gas is probably the only person who displays any hint of survival instinct in an apocalypse situation. [[LaserGuidedKarma Not that it helped him.]]

* StalkingIsLove: Most models aren't charmed by ''tech salesmen'' following them around. Granted, Bagh's bad acting makes him seem creepier than he might be, but his behavior is still odd. And during their first conversation, she seems to be humoring him while trying to get away, right up until the point that she hands him her business card.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Did you know eagles could hover in midair like hummingbirds? According to WordOfGod "Global warming has caused them to be mutant, toxic, and flammable. That's why, when they take a kamikaze drive, they explode, and when they drop [[{{Squick}} bird fluid]] on some of the cast, they get burned." Genetics and evolution don't work that way outside of ''ComicBook/XMen''. There's also the spontaneous combustion. Even bombardier beetles don't explode when falling. They also [[StockSoundEffects sound like Stuka bombers]] when they dive, which is a fairly impressive biological feat.
* AsYouKnow: At the end of their double date, Rod helpfully points out to the others that the movie they just finished watching was ''Film/AnInconvenientTruth''. It's shoehorned into the dialogue so awkwardly that it's clear Nguyen was desperate to name drop it, and couldn't afford to do anything more subtle, like show them walking out of a theater with the title on the marquee. Considering the film was shot two years since ''Truth'' had a theatrical release, Nguyen obviously couldn't afford to borrow a theater and put a title and poster on the marquee.

* BigEater: Rod drives to a diner to have breakfast, then goes home and has a second breakfast before driving to work.
** They also drink huge amounts of water. When the birds attack and they first stop, they get a 24 pack of water. At the next stop, they get 2 gallon jugs of water. That wasn't enough apparently, because they had to stop a short while later to get water from a stream. All of this is in the same day. To be fair, hoarding water is a reasonable reaction to a natural disaster.

* BrokenAesop: The kids are supposed to look bratty for wanting a happy meal, rather than the food Rod had cooked, but likely would have gotten poisoned from the unprepared fish Rod had cooked. Considering it consisted of unprepared fish cooked with seaweed Nathalie randomly found on the beach and according to ''Birdemic 2'' it '''killed''' Susan (the little girl), finding a [=McDonald=]'s not being attacked by gif birds would be the better solution.

* ContrivedCoincidence: It turns out Rod's best friend and Nathalie's best friend are dating. This has absolutely nothing to do with how they meet.

* FanService: Nathalie in her underwear (and earlier, Mai (the "Imagine Peace" girl) in a bikini).

* SpaceWhaleAesop: If you contribute to global warming, the polar ice caps will melt, pine beetles will breed out of control, and ''[[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers angry, exploding animated .GIF birds will attack you]]''.

* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: It takes half the movie for the eponymous Birdemic to appear.

* EasyEvangelism: All it takes is one viewing of "Film/AnInconvenientTruth'' to convince Rick to be more eco-friendly. Rod and Nathalie listen to at least two speeches about the dangers of global warming and accept what they hear without question.

-->'''[[Podcast/RiffTrax Kevin]]:''' ''(seeing Nathalie)'' What were people's complaints about this movie, again?
-->'''Bill:''' Well, that the acting, dialog, special effects, script, sound editing were all really, ''really'' terrible.
-->'''Kevin:''' Yeah, it ''is'' pretty great, isn't it?!

* HalfwayPlotSwitch: The first half of the movie is a romance, while the second half is a horror movie, mirroring ''Film/TheBirds''.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Ramsey wishes people could "just give peace a chance", but his van is filled with loaded pistols and assault rifles even before the birds attack.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Rick and Mai are basically non-celebrity versions of Music/JohnLennon and Music/YokoOno with the SerialNumbersFiledOff. A white male/Asian female couple who strongly resemble the famous couple physically could be chalked up to coincidence, if not for the part where Mai spends most of the film wearing a shirt with the URL for [[http://imaginepeace.com/ Yoko's website]]. Bonus points for Danny Webber, who plays Rick, being a TV music composer.

* PrimaDonnaDirector: Production videos show that James Nguyen is quite the "my way or the highway", abrasive director, which might explain why so much cringe-worthy dialog remains in, as he's seen angrily telling people to read the script as is. He then [[http://www.sugarraydodge.com/2016/08/birdemic-director-james-ngyuen-attempts.html attacked]] the maker of a parody of ''Birdemic''.

** Cameron's Pub (where the bar date with Rod and Nathalie took place) has actually received a small popularity boost from the film, and has even held a Birdemic Fest with James Nguyen and "Just Hanging Out" singer Damien Carter.

** Rod and Ramsey fire wildly at a double-decker bus where survivors have decided to take refuge.[[TooDumbToLive The survivors stand at the windows and wave wildly instead of trying to hide]].

*** Both movies start out as romances, then change into horror films at the halfway mark.

*** The male lead is named in honor of Rod Taylor, the actor who played the romantic lead in ''Film/TheBirds''. Nathalie's name could also be a reference to the actress who played the female lead of that movie – Nathalie "Tippi" Hedren.

*** A shot of Tippi Hedren interacting with birds is visible for a moment on a television, from ''Film/JulieAndJack''.

* YouNoTakeCandle: Ramsay introduces his girlfriend by pointing to her and saying "girlfriend Becky."

Made with NoBudget and vigorously promoted by Nguyen by means including driving a minivan blaring bird noises and adorned with stuffed birds, fake blood and paper signs (some of which [[YouMakeMeSic mis]][[EpicFail spelled]] the film title) around the Sundance Film Festival[[note]]In case you're wondering, the festival rejected the film.[[/note]], the film was shown at a couple festivals in 2008 and 2009, and then had a small theatrical run in 2010.

An Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign was attempted in for ''Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle'' in 2016 for $600,000. It raised $596. Nguyen then attempted a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign but only managed to raise $230 of the $200,000 goal.

** They also drink huge amounts of water. When the birds attack and they first stop, they get a 24 pack of water. At the next stop, they get 2 gallon jugs of water. That wasn't enough apparently, because they had to stop a short while later to get water from a stream. All of this is in the same day.