AV Club's "New Cult Canon" - Birdemic entry

[Watchman]

Published April 7th: http://www.avclub.com/articles/birdemic-shock-and-terror,54207/

Excerpt:

...On the bad-cinema spectrum, Birdemic more closely resembles the stilted incompetence of Manos: The Hands Of Fate or the Ed Wood of Plan 9 From Outer Space than the agonizingly personal failures of The Room or Wood's Glen Or Glenda?, or the weird Italy/Utah culture clash that resulted in Troll 2. While there's an element of real passion to the film's environmental message—a message delivered less through Western Union than via a shovel to the base of the skull—it isn't a passion that's particularly revealing of its maker. As a piece of filmmaking, it's far less polished than The Room: The performances and writing are worse, the staging more awkward, the longueurs more agonizingly protracted. Yet it isn't as revealing of its creator as The Room is of Tommy Wiseau, and thus it isn't compelling beyond the scope of its staggering abuse of the medium. Viewers leave The Room with a raw impression of Wiseau's alienation from (and hostility toward) the women who have bruised him; viewers leave Birdemic knowing nothing about Nguyen that can't be broadcast through a megaphone...

What does it say about film journalism when Birdemic & The Room start getting such in depth analyses? You can pretty much give "depth" to any movie ever made, even Ice Cream Bunny, though that director lacks the promotional whoring & cult of personality developed around Wiseau & Nguyen.

Sometimes a coat hanger is just a coat hanger.

[Nergol]

He's right about The Room and Birdemic. The bottom line is that the problem with The Room is not fundamentally that it's an incompetently made film. It is, but not horribly so. The gaffes like the bad rooftop green screen, the visible boom mics, and the TV behind the couch are all relatively minor points, the directorial flubs not much worse than Kevin Smith or Richard Linklater's first films, a decent soundtrack with at least one song that was downright catchy, and the acting generally no worse than you'd see in a SyFy or Lifetime original movie (well, except maybe Greg Sestero). In the end, the problem with The Room is not that it's incompetent, but that it's bizarre.The Room is a weird movie made by a weird man. Or rather, The Room is a weird movie because it was made by a weird man, whose perception of reality and what is "normal" is not quite the same as most people's. But fundamentally, his movie does have heart and warmth... just examples of it that reflect its creator.

Birdemic, on the other hand, is just a horribly incompetently made movie. It has bad directing, bad acting (well, Whitney Moore was okay I suppose), bad effects, bad sound, bad music, bad editing, bad cinematography, and badly-spelled credits (Supporting Casts?). Sure, James Nguyen seems like a little bit of a weird guy, but the main problem with Birdemic isn't bizarreness. As the AV Club reviewer noted, the same material could have made a decent film. The main problem is that it's a bad movie made by a bad filmmaker.

[Darth Geek]

He's right about The Room and Birdemic. The bottom line is that the problem with The Room is not fundamentally that it's an incompetently made film. It is, but not horribly so. The gaffes like the bad rooftop green screen, the visible boom mics, and the TV behind the couch are all relatively minor points, the directorial flubs not much worse than Kevin Smith or Richard Linklater's first films, a decent soundtrack with at least one song that was downright catchy, and the acting generally no worse than you'd see in a SyFy or Lifetime original movie (well, except maybe Greg Sestero). In the end, the problem with The Room is not that it's incompetent, but that it's bizarre.The Room is a weird movie made by a weird man. Or rather, The Room is a weird movie because it was made by a weird man, whose perception of reality and what is "normal" is not quite the same as most people's. But fundamentally, his movie does have heart and warmth... just examples of it that reflect its creator.

Birdemic, on the other hand, is just a horribly incompetently made movie. It has bad directing, bad acting (well, Whitney Moore was okay I suppose), bad effects, bad sound, bad music, bad editing, bad cinematography, and badly-spelled credits (Supporting Casts?). Sure, James Nguyen seems like a little bit of a weird guy, but the main problem with Birdemic isn't bizarreness. As the AV Club reviewer noted, the same material could have made a decent film. The main problem is that it's a bad movie made by a bad filmmaker.

Very good points. Birdemic is made by an experienced movie maker. Nguyen has already made a few films, and is middle aged. Yet it looks and feels like a highschool production (and not by a highschooler that shows any promise, either). Whereas Wiseau is a first time filmmaker, and an adult, and The Room feels like an adult's movie.

[Starman!]

I'm still convined that Birdemic was made as a bet.

"Hey, I bet you can't make a movie so bad that it makes The Room look good."

"You're on!"

[Darth Geek]

I'm still convined that Birdemic was made as a bet.

"Hey, I bet you can't make a movie so bad that it makes The Room look good."

"You're on!"

Whoever wins, we lose.

[MSTJedi]

Watched Birdemic with the actors' commentary last night. Very enlightening. And scary. Those poor, poor bad actors. Kinda reluctant to hear Nguyen's commentary. It's amazing just how delusional some people are.

[Watchman]

Watched Birdemic with the actors' commentary last night. Very enlightening. And scary. Those poor, poor bad actors. Kinda reluctant to hear Nguyen's commentary. It's amazing just how delusional some people are.

Was it one of those circle-jerk commentaries where everyone spends the whole time praising each other, or did they have some interesting things to say?

AV Club hasn't yet published a "Commentary Tracks of the Damned" about it.

I'm still convined that Birdemic was made as a bet.

"Hey, I bet you can't make a movie so bad that it makes The Room look good."

"You're on!"

Whoever wins, we lose.

Which one's Alien & which one's Predator?

Wiseau Vs. Nguyen... where's Celebrity Deathmatch when you need one?

[Darth Geek]

Whoever wins, we lose.

Which one's Alien & which one's Predator?

Wiseau Vs. Nguyen... where's Celebrity Deathmatch when you need one?
[/quote]
I imagine that Coleman Francis would storm the ring and stomp the shit out of them both.

[MSTJedi]

Watched Birdemic with the actors' commentary last night. Very enlightening. And scary. Those poor, poor bad actors. Kinda reluctant to hear Nguyen's commentary. It's amazing just how delusional some people are.

Was it one of those circle-jerk commentaries where everyone spends the whole time praising each other, or did they have some interesting things to say?

AV Club hasn't yet published a "Commentary Tracks of the Damned" about it.

Oh, they had plenty to say about how crazy Nguyen was and how they both had to take on other duties, like make-up and quasi-producer. Very funny. They have an interviewer to keep things moving, too.

[Watchman]

Whoever wins, we lose.

Which one's Alien & which one's Predator?

Wiseau Vs. Nguyen... where's Celebrity Deathmatch when you need one?

I imagine that Coleman Francis would storm the ring and stomp the shit out of them both.

And then throw them down a well.

[Starman!]

Whoever wins, we lose.

Which one's Alien & which one's Predator?

Wiseau Vs. Nguyen... where's Celebrity Deathmatch when you need one?

I imagine that Coleman Francis would storm the ring and stomp the shit out of them both.

And then throw them down a well.

[Johnny Unusual]

Admittedly, I haven't seen either the Room or Birdemic yet (aside from internet clips), but what is appealing is not just their badness, but the fact that they are very idiosyncratic and give us a bizarre look into the minds of the creator.  It's also fascinating that these guys seem to have certain technical abilities that most people don't have but then horribly misuse them in ways they seem oblivious too.  I mean, think of the scene from Birdemic were a bunch of people clapping.  It's plainly obvious that its a bunch of different filmings of the clapping from different angles.  But it's not just that part is obvious it's the ridiculousness of the obviousness because it becomes apparent that the clapping peters out SEVERAL TIMES!

[Watchman]

I mean, think of the scene from Birdemic were a bunch of people clapping.  It's plainly obvious that its a bunch of different filmings of the clapping from different angles.  But it's not just that part is obvious it's the ridiculousness of the obviousness because it becomes apparent that the clapping peters out SEVERAL TIMES!

If you've seen enough student films*, this sort of thing isn't unique at all. The only thing unique about Birdemic is its distribution deal & Best Buy promotion. If Nguyen's gotten such lavish distribution, then some of the student films from Scottsdale Community College deserve Criterion treatment. It also has the quality of some of those dreadful direct-to-video Christian faith movies, except their technical gifts are used in the service of making environmentalism looks stupid instead.

Maybe MPI Home Entertainment or Best Buy executives caved in after some Shinjuku yakuzas arranged for their house pets to be decapitated & stuffed under their bed sheets.

*=Hell, you don't even need to see real student films, just watch the fake ones at the beginning of The Big Picture. Christopher Guest could do a movie like Birdemic in his sleep, if he were so inclined.