Fantasia 2010: BIRDEMIC Review

[Cult goofery ensues, with this popular entry getting a most likely very busy screening at Fantasia.  Here is Rodney's take on the 'film' from our archives.]

It makes sense that comedians Tim and Eric are supporting Birdemic: Shock and Terror. The film plays like a long-form version of a sketch from their Adult Swim show. The biggest difference is that the intent behind Birdemic probably wasn't comedic. Regardless of director-producer-writer-financer James Nguyen's original intentions, this is a film where doing the wrong things yielded the right results.

Rod (Alan Bagh) is a young software salesman living the dream in Silicon Valley. When he isn't making million dollar deals, Rod is running a green tech startup and daydreaming of early retirement. His life gets even better after meeting an ambitious fashion model named Nathalie (Whitney Moore). However, life in Silicon Valley is not as idyllic as it initially seems because Rod's smooth ride on the high-tech gravy train is interrupted by the mysterious appearance of disease-carrying birds.

The plot of Birdemic is like a maze created by a blind man. Initially, the film plays like a Tech Crunch reader's fantasy with a idealistic tech entrepreneur making big bucks and romancing an attractive woman. Without warning, the movie turns into a homage to The Birds with crudely rendered CG eagles attacking everything. There is no way to predict where Birdemic is headed. Sometimes it's hard to trace a relationship between shots in the same scene or things occurring in the same shot. Things just happen.

Technical defects (audio dropouts, dialog drowned out by background noise, blown edits) in this shot-on-video film are so pervasive that they take on the appearance of a style. What the non-pro actors do with their roles and dialog, which involves lots of short exclamatory statements, startup babble and peacenik environmental sloganeering, defy description. The film's credits boast an appearance by Tippi Hedren, which is literally true, but the way her appearance is actually handled is one of the many puzzles that viewers must solve to comprehend Birdemic.

Some might wonder if this film for real. It definitely is. Although James Nguyen has an obvious sense of humor, one never gets the sense that Birdemic is a prank or put-on. What does come across is the earnest enthusiasm of someone with big ambitions and limited means. More power to him because Birdemic is a blast.