DVD Corner

Birdemic 2: The Resurrection DVD Review

“Birdemic 2: The Resurrection” is as deliciously bad as the first film.

The story: While in pre-production on their collaborative film project “Sunset Dreams,” Rod, Nathalie, Bill, and Gloria find their work (and lives) interrupted when red rain causes eagles (and two cavemen) to rise from the dead from the LaBrea Tar Pits. As you’d expect, the eagles begin to terrorize Hollywood and cause murder and mayhem everywhere they go.

After “Birdemic 2: The Resurrection” was announced, I was both excited and concerned. On one hand, I was excited to see a follow-up to one of the best bad movies ever made, but on the other hand, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for this sequel to be a forced and self-aware cash-in. Thankfully, writer/director/visionary James Nguyen’s sequel is every bit as bad, entertaining, funny, and bizarre as the cult classic original.

If you’re critiquing “Birdemic 2: The Resurrection” on a purely technical level, it’s an utter disaster. The dialogue is stilted, the F/X are comically bad, the acting is as bad as ever, the cinematography is inept, the sound f/x are horrific at best, the editing is clumsy, and the music is pure cheese. With all of that said, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Many critics and film viewers dismiss “bad movies” as being unwatchable and that’s a real shame. Some of the worst movies out there (“Plan 9 From Outer Space” and “The Room” for example) have something that a fair number of movies lack- passion and entertainment value. Say what you will about writer/director James Nguyen as an artist, but he has a cinematic vision that no one else does and he goes all out in trying to entertain audiences. Take “Birdemic 2: The Resurrection” for example. Where else are you going to see a film that contains boning cavemen, excessive clapping, an out of the blue CGI giant jumbo jellyfish scene, eagle kicking, zombies, a screenwriter named Will, Coke products coming out of a Pepsi machine, and a global warming message? Nowhere, that’s where.

Now, some fans of the first film may say that this sequel is more or less a self-aware retread and that’s partially true. Nguyen definitely tries to follow a similar structure to the first film, but I’m not sure it’s all that self-aware. Sure, Nguyen throws in some amusing gags, a Hollywood spoof plotline, and includes fan favorites like musician Damian Carter (among others), but he also incorporates a lot of new strange elements that could only come from his mind (see the cavemen and Jellyfish). He may have a bigger budget and a producer to work with this time around, but make no mistake about it, this is still mostly a sincerely made guerilla Nguyen film.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: Widescreen. How does it look? I don’t think anyone is expecting Roger Deakins esque cinematography here. It looks like a low budget b-movie as it should.

Audio Track: 5.1 Surround. The sound quality is all over the place, but the track can’t be blamed for that. That’s just the way it was done!

Extras:
* “Birdemic 2: The Resurrection” trailer.
* Interviews with Thomas Favaloro, Alan Bagh, Jeff Gross, James Nguyen talk about auditions, the first film, the process of making the sequel, characters and cast, the “Jaws” set, etc.
* “Behind The Scenes” contains footage of the jovial James Nguyen directing scenes.
* Not one, but two commentary tracks. The first track is a talkative solo track by writer/director James Nguyen while the second track is a laidback and joke filled cast commentary by producer Jeff Gross, Alan Bagh, and Thomas Favaloro. While Nguyen is always worth listening to, the cast commentary is more entertaining.

 Overall Thoughts: I’m not ashamed to say I put “Birdemic 2: The Resurrection” in my top films of 2013. For the sheer entertainment value alone, this sequel deserved to be on that list. It may not be getting the attention first film did, but it should. Hopefully, we will see a third “Birdemic” film in the near future.

February 4, 2014 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Birdemic 2: The Resurrection DVD Review