Dead Birds (2004)

In the wonderfully bloodthirsty opening to Dead Birds, a gang of ruthless criminals hold up a bank, killing everyone inside and getting away with a fortune in Confederate gold. They travel to a deserted farmhouse, where they intend to spend the night, before travelling to Mexico to share their ill-gotten gains.

But, in the tradition of many a horror film, this particular house is home to some hideous demons, unleashed by the owner in a black-magic ritual gone wrong.

Director Alex Turner is content to take his time building the tension and setting the mood, and this is perhaps his undoing; by the time he is ready to unleash the demons and let the horror truly begin, the audience has had to sit through far too much chatter from the thieves and watch their aimless wandering around the spooky old house. A few effective shocks (using pretty good CGI FX) are thrown in to liven up the proceedings, but it just isn't enough – even a few more gory moments do little to improve matters.

After a promising start, I thought I had discovered a real treat. Alas, it turned out to be nothing more than a so-so affair.

Fmovies: Last night I was at the World Premiere of Dead Birds at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was during Midnight Madness which deals with Genre (Sci-Fi, Horror) movies. The Director, Writer and principal cast were in the theatre, and had a Q+A session after the picture's completion.

Being a Horror fan, I was definitely looking forward to the movie. The special effects, gore, make-up and cgi were all very well done, especially for such a low-budget film. It's also got a nice feel and look to it. The costumes and locales were effective, as it took place in the Civil War era.

I found certain parts of the movie a little slow at times, but overall I liked it. There certainly aren't very many Horror-Westerns around, and this is one of them.

In 1863 during the American Civil war a group of outlaws rob a bank in small town in a quick and very bloody shootout. After the successful job they take refuge in a deserted plantation house. Where, they would ride out to Mexico the following morning. But there is something not quite right about this abandon estate, because they start encountering terrifying and strange visions that have something to do with the horrific past of the house.

I remember there being a whole lot of buzz around this film over a year ago. I actually got caught up in it that when I found a copy and I bought it, but sadly I was far from impressed when I finally watched it. I did not hate it, but more so disappointed. So when I was going through my collection looking for something I had not watched for a while, the film definitely caught my eye and I thought who knows maybe I'll have a change of mind. Well, that was most the definitely the case here, although it did not entirely blow me away, but I did a back-flip on my initial thoughts. Watching it late at night also helped me into it even more.

Director Alex Turner's indie flick "Dead Birds" is an slow-burner, period horror story that effectively cooks up an bone jarring atmosphere and some unnerving visuals. It's simple as that - because the film's only real purpose is to raise the hairs on your skin. From Peter Lopez's densely, active to sometimes quite faint score and gloomy and very saturated colour scheme that saps the life right out of the picture. Very depressive and glum fit's the description accurately. It reminded a lot of the ghost films in the last few years, especially the crop that has flooded the Asian market. But while it has that slow and subtle build up of inspiring dread like those particular films, it also gives us some grisly violence and sadism. I found some of the sudden deaths to be rather spine-tingling and the hypnotic cinematography help's the eerie location take shape. The ghosts and demons are damn right freaky and grotesque in detail and make-up. Maybe at times it did go a bit over board in the CGI department and even so with some quick editing, but still the images have a lasting affect.

Simon Barrett's story plays it out rather leisurely by giving you a piece of the puzzle here and there. It drops off many small hints to what's about to come, which makes the plot a little more complex than I initially thought - since it disguises them incredibly well. Some things are left up in the air and never truly expanded on, but I guess that's just the supernatural for ya. But saying that it still follows some conventional patterns like that of individuals cracking under the pressure and doing the mistake of going off alone, a stormy night breaks through and an isolated house that has a tragic history in the middle on nowhere. But the most common one is things that go "boo!" in the night. The way the story is structured you're just waiting for something big to breakout. The characters are by the books with some decent performances by Patrick Fugit, Isaiah Washington, Nicki Aycox and Michael Shannon, though I thought Henry Thomas was rather bland as the leader. The script is so-so, but at least it keeps it rather tight and sticks close to the people than that of heading off into another direction. The film only goes for just over 80 minutes, so it doesn't seem to overly drag. The production is rather lustrous with convincing period detail from the costumes to the backdrop.

I just guess

Dead Birds fmovies. Seem to be a fair amount of people out there with less than complimentary opinions of this movie... Speaking frankly as an avid fan of the genre, 'Dead Birds' scared the living sh** out of me!

Director Alex Turner has made a near perfect example of what modern horror can and should be, but he didn't do it alone. The chilling original screenplay by admitted Ring fan Simon Barrett is well paced and stylishly captured by Steve Yedlin's camera work. I look forward to seeing more from Yedlin who adds layers of visual trickery to Dead Birds by making the most effective use of shadow I have seen in years. When combined with convincing performances from the cast all this makes for a great film sure to creep you out.

Then there is the 5 seconds of Dead Bird footage I personally feel should be remembered right alongside Janet's shower scene... but I don't want to spoil it for you. Suffice to say if it fails to freak you right the F out, check your pulse - you might already be dead!

If anyone else enjoys Dead Birds half as much as I did, let others know and lets get this movie the attention it deserves!

I just watched the film at the Toronto international film festival (during the midnight madness screening), and I didn't know what to think going into the film.

So the plot goes like this. A bunch of civil war renegade/criminals rob some confederates for gold, and then venture to a hideout place (huge abandoned mansion) that was recommended by someone. But something is wrong with this place... something very wrong.

The movie is similar to the lines of an Evil Dead style horror film. People go into a house, something is wrong with the house. Many conventional elements happen within the film as well, and some interesting ideas come as well. There were some jumps, but unfortunately there could have been more, and it could have been more suspenseful with a bigger payoff.

The problem that I found with the film, was the character development. there was some substance with each character, but they didn't expand on much of it. They didn't expand too much of about the monster / villain the film either. It was kind of a let down. Defiently compared to another low budget horror film, that I just saw at the festival (Creep).

With such a low budget, the special effects were great. The film has a decent look to it and the music was fantastic. Overall, I had a good time, but if it was in a normal theater, it would be a huge let down. 6 out of 10.

In terms of production value, the film looks great. It's got better actors than most horror flicks and the FX and monsters are good. It also has a good creepy vibe to it and some good scares. The problem is, the script doesn't really go anywhere after they get to the house... Its basically a series of creepy scenes where the cast dwindles as we go along, but you don't really have a sense of escalating tension.

The first half worked fairly well, but it doesn't change much as it goes along. We get some backstory as we go that wasn't that creepy to me, and its also pretty clear they didn't know how to end it. The ending they have just doesn't work at all.

My biggest complaint though is the soundtrack which is way too repetitive and is basically a ripoff from the Shining soundtrack.

Its okay if you want to get some decent scares, but its not going to blow you away.