official Birdemic music video<\/a> by a horrorcore band named Chamber of Pudd (I\u2019ve never heard of them either).<\/p>\nDreadful.<\/p>\n
After an introduction by the head programmer, Nguyen makes his way to the front of the theater as the audience cheers him on. The man appears elated, glowing, and red in the face\u2014blushing from such unexpected fervent adoration. Or perhaps it\u2019s because of the Tecate he\u2019s been drinking. Nguyen performs the pomp and circumstance of \u201cARE YOU READY?\u201d, pumping his audience up for the spectacle they are about to witness. Before sitting down, he tells us one last thing, \u201cWhat I want the most is for my movie to make you all think, really think, long after it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has been days now since I\u2019ve last seen Birdemic<\/em> and I am indeed still thinking about the film. (And not just because I have to write a review for it.)<\/p>\nA homage to The Birds, Birdemic: Shock and Terror<\/em>\u2019s premise is simple, much like its predecessor. Boy and girl meet. They fall in love. Then, \u00a0bat-shit crazy birds appear without warning and inexplicably attack and kill the populace. More or less. There is an \u00a0adage in film school: you have to know the rules in order to break the rules. What is meant by this is that you must first understand the significance of narrative construction, style, and other film forms and how they operate as a formal system if you\u2019re intending to subvert. Within the first ten minutes of Birdemic<\/em>, James Nguyen breaks every single rule regarding cinematic formal expectations, conventions, feeling, and meaning. The brilliance lies not in his intentionality, in the Godardian sense, but in his sheer ignorance of the concept and principles of film form and his brazen execution despite said ignorance. The reasons that B-horror films typically achieve cult status is because they\u2019re so bad, they\u2019re good. \u00a0To be sure, Birdemic <\/em>is a deliriously bad movie, which makes it the best worst film. Here is a list of what is terrible about Birdemic and what makes it great.<\/p>\nBAD:<\/p>\n
Acting, Directing, Writing, Editing, Sound, Special Effects, Music, Narrative, Story, Cinematography, Mise-en-scene.<\/p>\n
GOOD:<\/p>\n
Acting, Directing, Writing, Editing, Sound, Special Effects, Music, Narrative, Story, Cinematography, Mise-en-scene.<\/p>\n
In order for a B-horror movie to become a cult classic favorite, the listed contents of the Bad and Good must be one and the same. Unknowingly perfecting imperfection is key. Just to expound somewhat on said bad and good elements in Birdemic, the free-for-all editing is perhaps the most egregious with its superfluous frames, meaningless\/aimless footage featuring abnormally long takes (this is not European art house cinema, by the way), incalculable unrefined shot- reverse-shots, and utterly skewed rhythmic, spatial and temporal relations. I would need to write a dissertation length piece to fully cover all the elements of what makes Birdemic truly awful and truly memorable and enduring in its re-watchability.<\/p>\n
Though filming was arduous (it took 7 months of weekends), \u00a0let it be known that neither stars of the film, Whitney Moore and Alan Baugh, would change a thing about Birdemic<\/em> as they confessed to the audience during Q&A.<\/p>\nWhat I love most about this film can be summed up in one word, and it happens to be the same word that James Nguyen provides as an answer (the best answer I have ever heard from a director) to one audience member\u2019s probing and appropriate question:<\/p>\n
\u201cJames! Why is your film so fucking awesome?!”<\/p>\n
His answer? Simply and impossibly:<\/p>\n
\u201cSincerity.\u201d<\/p>\nJames Nguyen with Whitney Moore and Alan Baugh of 'Birdemic' at Cinefamily<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n_<\/p>\n
[1] Robin Wood, Hitchcock\u2019s Films Revisited<\/em>. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. p. 64<\/p>\n[1] Haus<\/em> (1988), The Human Centipede<\/em> (2009), The Room<\/em> (2003), Plan 9 From Outer Space<\/em> (1958), just to name a few.<\/p>\n– Michelle Ton<\/a> has most recently blogged for diaCRITICS on the New Voices from Vietnam film series<\/a>. She lives and works in Los Angeles, where she is\u00a0a graduate student of Cinema and Media Studies in the Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media at UCLA.<\/p>\nBirdemic <\/em>can be watched through\u00a0Netflix<\/a> or ordered from Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\nDid you like this post? Then please take the time to rate it (above) and share it (below). Ratings for top posts are listed on the sidebar. Sharing (on email, Facebook, etc.) helps spread the word about diaCRITICS. Thanks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Don’t try looking up Birdemic\u00a0in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention!” This warning comes from\u00a0diaCRITIC Michelle Ton, a graduate student of Cinema and Media Studies in the Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media at UCLA. Here she relays how “you have to know the rules in order to break the rules” in order […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,98],"tags":[132,204,252,401,1599,661],"yoast_head":"\n
Shock and Terror!: A Review of James Nguyen's 'Birdemic' - DVAN<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n