A big part of what makes Birdemic so fun is the fact that it is totally not self-aware. Like The Room, this movie was made by a man who truly believed in his vision and wanted to see it through to the end. He wanted to make a cross between a horror movie involving birds, and a message on the importance of dealing with global warming. This clashes considerably with the final product, and the resulting contrast is hilarious.
The birds are clearly photoshopped into the scene. They often look like animated GIFs clearly edited into the scene, often flying completely in place, or not moving with the background. When a bird flies right past a man and apparently bites his neck, it simply looks like a photoshopped bird flew right past him, followed by the man stumbling about and collapsing to the ground with a strangely realistic neck wound.
The behavior of the birds is totally illogical. They divebomb and explode? Then later, they fly into a car and merely crash into the windshield and die. Weren't they literally exploding before? And they apparently can spray people with acid urine that burns their face and kills them. Mostly, they just fly at people and attack them. What causes this? Apparently, global warming, as we're told by a man who lives in the woods.
The story takes itself seriously, attempting to portray how people would try to survive in such an apocalyptic scenario, as they try to scavenge for food, rip each other off for high amounts of money, or rob each other for supplies. It's a nice idea, and it had me wondering how such concepts would work in a movie I could take more seriously.
But ultimately, it's a hot mess due to the stranger aspects of the plot, the bad acting, and the ridiculous special effects. All these clash with the movie's clear attempts to be serious, only making it hilarious.
The sequel, sadly, misses the point. For the sequel, director James Nguyen was given a bigger budget by a producer, but was apparently told to turn his film into an intentional comedy. The result is a self-aware parody that exaggerates and/or mocks aspects of the original, which I just didn't find as much fun. When you're telling the audience the whole time that it's just a joke, that rubs me the wrong way. I prefer the original.
Hilarious, corny, and unlike the sequel, honest
A big part of what makes Birdemic so fun is the fact that it is totally not self-aware. Like The Room, this movie was made by a man who truly believed in his vision and wanted to see it through to the end. He wanted to make a cross between a horror movie involving birds, and a message on the importance of dealing with global warming. This clashes considerably with the final product, and the resulting contrast is hilarious.
The birds are clearly photoshopped into the scene. They often look like animated GIFs clearly edited into the scene, often flying completely in place, or not moving with the background. When a bird flies right past a man and apparently bites his neck, it simply looks like a photoshopped bird flew right past him, followed by the man stumbling about and collapsing to the ground with a strangely realistic neck wound.
The behavior of the birds is totally illogical. They divebomb and explode? Then later, they fly into a car and merely crash into the windshield and die. Weren't they literally exploding before? And they apparently can spray people with acid urine that burns their face and kills them. Mostly, they just fly at people and attack them. What causes this? Apparently, global warming, as we're told by a man who lives in the woods.
The story takes itself seriously, attempting to portray how people would try to survive in such an apocalyptic scenario, as they try to scavenge for food, rip each other off for high amounts of money, or rob each other for supplies. It's a nice idea, and it had me wondering how such concepts would work in a movie I could take more seriously.
But ultimately, it's a hot mess due to the stranger aspects of the plot, the bad acting, and the ridiculous special effects. All these clash with the movie's clear attempts to be serious, only making it hilarious.
The sequel, sadly, misses the point. For the sequel, director James Nguyen was given a bigger budget by a producer, but was apparently told to turn his film into an intentional comedy. The result is a self-aware parody that exaggerates and/or mocks aspects of the original, which I just didn't find as much fun. When you're telling the audience the whole time that it's just a joke, that rubs me the wrong way. I prefer the original.