"birdemic: shock and terror"

well...thanks to netflix i have witnessed the SECOND WORST movie i have ever seen: "birdemic: shock and terror".   


this movie is so troubled i don't even know where to begin.  let's start with the director.  james nguyen has made 3 movies as of now and working on a 4th (a 3D sequel to birdemic).  the first was "julie and jack" which is the story of a down on his luck computer chip salesman, jack,  who's not meeting his sales quota.  through his sex crazed friends advice he gets on a website and meets julie.  after meeting julie his sales turn around and love is in the air.  the next film is "replica" about a dying computer chip salesman who gets a kidney transplant and his life turns around.  thirdly, "birdemic: shock and terror" is about a computer chip salesman, rod, who sucks at his job until he meets nathalie, a fashion model who just gets the cover to victoria's secret, and his life turns around and love is in the air until eagles and vultures start killing people, including his sex crazed best friend and diving into things making airplane sounds and exploding.


i have the feeling james nguyen was a computer chip salesman and failed and then he watched a hitchcock film and bought a camera and decided to dedicate his life to ripping off hitchcock with terrible crappy movies.  nguyen has a little technical knowledge but no actual skill or talent to make the knowledge work.  i haven't watched the plethora of interviews and discussions about his films that are on the web and i kinda don't want to.  watching this film was enough.

i could go on and on about the crap in this film but i'll leave you with a couple of clips and...good luck...

what scares you?

every time i'm asked what's the movie that scared you the most i have a really hard time trying to figure that out.  the only movies that really got to me were "psycho" (i was young and didn't wanna take showers after that for a while), "king kong" (i was very, very young and there was a thunderstorm later that night and i swore that it was kong coming to get me!!), "and "the blair witch project" totally creeped me out (the power went out when i got home and i just couldn't get the movie outta my head).

now, those are a few of the movies that effected me in a fear-like way.  there are many that i love just because they are just great movies: "night of the living dead", "the sixth sense", "house of the devil", etc...but, the one that in my mind i always go to as the movie that effected me the most in BOTH ways is "the thing".  my first encounter with this movie was a couple of years after it came out and my dad was watching but he made me go into the other room.  all i could hear was screaming, weird noises, and cursing.  i got really curious so i peaked into the room through a crack in the door and i saw a guys face stretching up to the ceiling!!  what in the name of all things holy is going on!??!  i was totally freaked out and it stayed with me for quite some time.

then, later i finally got up the nerve to watch it.  it was brilliant and creepy as hell.  i loved every minute of it.

for years though if you asked what my favourite horror movie was i would probably have said "night of the living dead".  although i love that movie over the years "the thing" has just became more and more prominent in my mind.  

the movie is almost perfect.  yes, there are some cheesy moments and the FX are dated today...but that's one of the reasons i love it.  it's so much more REAL with the practical FX.  the new re-make/re-boot/prequel looks OK but the CGI just doesn't work for me.  i don't find that creepy.

anyway...this whole blog was just to declare my love for this classic horror film...and kinda my love for the director, john carpenter, who had the greatest run of flicks in the late 70's and early 80's of any director of that time.

kurt russell as "mccready"

a stop-motion remake with GI JOE fiqures