And mutated, mad-as-hell-and-I’m-not-going-to-take-it-anymore birds of prey are angry with non-solar paneled homes. Did you like this post? Why is your film so fucking awesome? Here she relays how “you have to know the rules in order to break the rules” in order to make “the be-all, end-all worst of the worst Z-grade films in film history.”, [before we begin: have you heard about our subscriber drive? Fan Favorite “Hangin’ Out With My Family” Song Now Available In Severin Store! James Nguyen is 44-years-old. Though filming was arduous (it took 7 months of weekends),  let it be known that neither stars of the film, Whitney Moore and Alan Baugh, would change a thing about Birdemic as they confessed to the audience during Q&A. She searches for sci-fi romance adventures aboard her blog, The Galaxy Express.

Film scholar Robin Wood makes the following comparison: “A Hitchcock film—and The Birds is a particularly good example of this—is more analogous to a poem than a novel: Hitchcock focuses the attention and perceptions of the spectator, controls his reactions through the rhythms of editing and camera movement as a poet controls those of the reader through his verse rhythms; and his films derive their value from the intensity of their images—an intensity created and controlled very largely by context, by the total organization—rather than from the creation of ‘rounded’ characters.”, film still of Tippi Hendren in 'The Birds'. Anyway, you can find Julie and Jack on Netflix, but here’s an in-depth review (Via B-movie Heaven) if you can’t even wait that long. But, as he said recently, “if it was perfect, in every angle and the visual effects and everything, maybe it wouldn’t be where it is today.”, Since “Birdemic” was discovered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival — where Mr. Nguyen brought it anyway and showed it in bars after it was rejected by the festival’s selection committee — it has become a cult hit on the midnight movie circuit. But that’s not the case here. So that’s Birdemic: Shock and Terror in an avian nutshell. Then please take the time to rate it (above) and share it (below).

Birdemic: Shock and Terror boasts a few other elements worth mentioning—elements worth their weight in gold, I might add. “I was sitting next to James at the screening,” he said, “and he was giddy, shaking with laughter and high-fiving me: ‘This is the best, I did it.’ ‘What are you laughing at?’ ”, (Asked about the Los Angeles screening, Mr. Nguyen said: “A few people there, they were laughing at my movie. James Nguyen is attempting to get Mystery Science Storybook removed from both Amazon and Blurb! Along the way, “Birdemic” received encouraging notices from the G4 geek-culture television series “Attack of the Show,” the horror movie Web site bloody-disgusting.com and even ew.com, the Web site of Entertainment Weekly. Thank you so much for being here!”. Having experienced Birdemic: Shock and Terror, as well as the illuminating Blu-ray bonus features, I realize that Mr. Nguyen categorizes this film as a “romantic thriller,” yet despite the astute Hitchcockian elements, the film struck me as more of a science fiction romance film. “It’s like a really weird-looking kid, where you just go, ‘Wow, he’s just cute.’ There are elements to his face that don’t work in any other place but on that face.”. Gabe Delahaye, senior editor of the satirical pop-culture blog videogum.com, which has tracked the bewildering progress of “Birdemic” since July, said the film was remarkable for how its aspirations in no way align with its results. To be sure, Birdemic is a deliriously bad movie, which makes it the best worst film. Heather Massey is a lifelong fan of science fiction romance. Frankly, it builds more tension for when the titular birds finally make their illustrious appearance much later in the film. These scenes continue for more than a minute, until the ambient noise is punctured by menacing screeches. I’d be hard-pressed to remember much about the average RomCom a week after I’ve seen it, but there are scenes in Birdemic: Shock and Terror that are going to stay with me throughout the decade. In 2001, he produced and directed Julie and Jack - a romantic thriller about love and spirituality. Director James Nguyen is the founder of Moviehead.com, an online movie theater. Nguyen performs the pomp and circumstance of “ARE YOU READY?”, pumping his audience up for the spectacle they are about to witness. Intensity of images. Birdemic shows that they are still ways to connect with an audience without ascribing to that ideology. The movie, Mr. Husney said, looked “like a Super Nintendo game,” adding, “It was, like, the funniest thing I had ever seen in my entire life.” More fascinating was Mr. Nguyen himself, a Silicon Valley software salesman whose family fled Vietnam in 1975 before the fall of Saigon and who grew up in the United States enthralled by movies like “Somewhere in Time” and Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet.”, “But romance alone is not enough for me,” Mr. Nguyen said. Birdemic: Shock And Terror is basically about a guy, a girl, and their epic battle with the deleterious effects of global warming. And he has tasseled penny loafers. Larger-than-life auteur Alfred Hitchcock releases his 55th feature film, The Birds, which is then to remain his most abstract, irrational, and indisputable masterpiece among his other canonical films in his oeuvre. diaCRITICS is a project of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN).

Apparently waving them wildly in the air is kryptonite to malevolent birds. Acting, Directing, Writing, Editing, Sound, Special Effects, Music, Narrative, Story, Cinematography, Mise-en-scene.

This is a bold move on the director’s part. The air is thick with irony and self-awareness as the queue of hipsters wraps around the block of The Silent Movie Theater. 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’re intending to subvert. 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. Unknowingly perfecting imperfection is key. He had spelled it ‘Bidemic,’ without the R.”, Intrigued, Mr. Husney met Mr. Nguyen at a sparsely attended “Birdemic” screening. They’re just happy to eat the meal that was provided to them.”. James Nguyen is a “Moviehead.” A“Master of the Romantic Thriller™” (The trademark is his doing). Mr. Wareheim compared Mr. Nguyen to filmmakers like Tommy Wiseau, whose byzantine drama “The Room” has also become a hit midnight movie, and Mark Borchardt, the frustrated horror director profiled in the documentary “American Movie.”, “What they really care about,” Mr. Wareheim said, “is that they’re going to be recognized and people are going to watch it, and people are going to talk about it, even if it’s bashing them. I’m trying to imagine following the kids of Nightmare on Elm Street as they attend school, discuss homework, watch some TV, and do some chores… only to have a Freddy Kruger finally show up 40 minutes into the movie. The year is 1963.

Not only that, but they sound like Messerschmitts and EXPLODE upon impact! I still wonder about what this could mean about the cinematic experience in general. I can say this without the sarcasm tags: this film is more memorable and entertaining than many higher budgeted films I’ve seen recently.

Thank goodness Severin Films released this with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray disc so I could hear every dropout with crystal clarity. After an introduction by the head programmer, Nguyen makes his way to the front of the theater as the audience cheers him on. Our founding editor and publisher is Viet Thanh Nguyen. Attend the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival. SF-wise, Birdemic: Shock and Terror tackles issues like global warming and nanotechnology applications in solar power panels. : A Review of James Nguyen’s ‘Birdemic’ Mar 9, 2011. As the masses eagerly wait for doors to open, we are each given the following by staff members: a wire hanger and a piece of paper with the following printed instructions.

The man is endearing, enthusiastic, and above all, wholly grateful. It’s a type of existential horror that Schreiber writes about and, like any horror story, there’s a feeling of dread that what haunts us will continue despite the story’s ending. It is a serial-killer film called “Peephole: The Perverted.”, A Cheesy Horror Turkey Becomes a High-Flying Cult Hit. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), © 2020 Macmillan | All stories, art, and posts are the copyright of their respective authors, The Shock And Terror Of It All. It is sometime around midnight on Fairfax Boulevard in Hollywood.

Then,  bat-shit crazy birds appear without warning and inexplicably attack and kill the populace. If all of the above doesn’t combine into one tasty sci-fi romance morsel, I don’t know what would.

[1] Haus (1988), The Human Centipede (2009), The Room (2003), Plan 9 From Outer Space (1958), just to name a few. First of all, the film features such iconic characters as “Tree Hugger,” “AK-47 Ex-Army Dude,” and “Old Guy on a Bridge.” You have to see these gurus in action to believe them.

This film shares many of the same themes and plot devices as James Nguyen's earlier film Julie and Jack. (What? “But I did go to what you’d call the film school of Hitchcock cinema.”.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But above all, he is a self-professed Hitchcock savant. James Nguyen’s, ‘Birdemic: Shock and Terror’: Our new, crazy movie obsession. 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.

A homage to The Birds, Birdemic: Shock and Terror’s premise is simple, much like its predecessor. And develops it. (And not just because I have to write a review for it.). New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. p. 64. He sticks out his hand and greets me with a genial handshake. She lives and works in Los Angeles, where she is a graduate student of Cinema and Media Studies in the Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media at UCLA. Feathered out-of-towners pester passers-by in James Nguyen's “Birdemic: Shock and Terror.”.

Our Privacy Notice has been updated to explain how we use cookies, which you accept by continuing to use this website. Birdemic 2: The Resurrection is the sequel to James Nguyen's abysmal film, Birdemic: Shock and Terror, a film that is allegedly an homage to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.This film focuses on Rod's friend, Bill, who is an indie film director trying to make a film. Nguyen tells me during our pre-screen chat that he never went to film school.

Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. Speaking of action, Birdemic: Shock and Terror demonstrates the true versatility of coat hangers.