Birdemic 2: The Resurrection (2013)

This is a very low budget self serving production.While making an Indie film, horribly computer generated birds attack, apparently due to global warming. The acting was bad, the script terrible, the sound echoes, the camera equipment reflects in windows, the dialogue trite, and the CG special effects cheap. I believe this was all by design to make a campy production that comes off more as a bad film than a good camp film.Parental Guide: No f-bombs, brief sex, nudity (Bunnie Barrerras, Amber Hay-Beerfest, Cara Provenza)

One of the actresses says it: "Bill, you're a terrible shot". They fire and fire and fire and fire and fire and don't hit a single bird for the longest time. And this is inside a closed building. How did these huge birds get inside the building. And why in the world would any of these people, shooting a movie, have guns? And MULTIPLE of the people standing around had guns. And let's wave an umbrella at them. That will help. And when they hit the birds, they disintegrate! The just blow up without leaving any blood of bodies hanging around.That's just one small bit of a horrible movie. Shy in the world is there no negative rating on this site. The birds just hover. They don't attack anyone. Just hover and seem mean but never dive down and do anything. Oh, wait, they figured out now to dive now. Evolution in action!! Oh, here's an idea, let's use Ju Jutsu on them.This is so bad it is not even good. The birds are still flying but they just stop shooting and the birds disappear. Here's an idea. Don't shoot and they will disappear in the first place.How awful. Really a waste of time unless you want a travelogue of the Universal back lot.

The first "Birdemic" movie was horrible, and while "Birdemic 2: The Resurrection" definitely had a major step up in production value, editing and sound, then it was still a complete waste of time.Much similar to the first movie, the storyline is laughable and unfathomably stupid. Prehistoric vultures and eagles emerge from tar pits in Hollywood and start a murderous killing spree.Right, well that was basically the storyline, nothing impressive here, and noting believable.But wait, it gets better. The birds were equally horribly animated as in the previous movie, giving the audience a laugh at how awful the CGI is, and not being even remotely believable for one second. And while we are on the birds, then I was impressed with how they exploded in a red mist when they were shot by guns, but also how they never left behind any dead bird bodies as they died, and most impressively the fact that they could sound like diving airplanes and explode in a horribly CGI animated column of fire when the birds struck a solid surface.The people in the movie were definitely using proper Hollywood guns, because they never reloaded their guns and apparently had infinite amounts of bullets in the magazines. It was just so bad to witness.But it wasn't just all birds in the movie, no... There was also a complete and utterly horribly animated jellyfish that was attacking a pair of kicking legs, that was supposed to be underwater. I use the word "supposed" here, because that scene was so fake in every aspect that my eyes almost started to bleed. And to top it off, there were these laughable surfacing air bubbles sounds. Not even a dead person would be fooled into thinking that it was for a second underwater.And as if badly animated jellyfish wasn't enough, then there suddenly were zombies in the movie as well. Are you kidding me? Zombies? And they were in the movie for about less than 5 minutes.I didn't know that dead people still breathed, but I was proved wrong. Pay attention to a guy in dark clothes who dies on a street somewhere around the middle of the movie; during a close up on him you can clearly see the chest heaving as he breathes.If you have had the misfortune of suffering through the first "Birdemic" movie, then you are in for the same kind of wooden acting, horrible script and equally poorly executed dialogue in "Birdemic 2: The Resurrection". And not even the actors and actresses believed they were being attacked by these poorly animated birds.I am at least giving the movie a thumbs up for the major step up in the editing, sound and production value in general, but it didn't add anything to increase the enjoyment of this movie. As such, "Birdemic 2: The Resurrection" scores a mere 1 out of 10 stars, just as the previous movie.

A few years ago, director James Nguyen's infamous "Birdemic: Shock and Terror" swept popular culture. (Well, at least in some circles) An attempt to emulate films like Hitchcock's "The Birds" whilst delivering a contrived environmental message, "Birdemic" became an icon in the word of "so bad, it's good" entertainment. (You know, those films that are so dreadful, they become unintentionally entertaining and hilarious) With it's bizarrely poor direction, robotic acting, laughable production values and special effects, and an almost painful script, it was almost literally a perfect storm of awfulness. And yet it was so... so... funny!So when I heard that Nguyen was working on a follow-up, I became excited. I was hyped to see more of the trademark awfulness that has plagued all of Nguyen's work. But then I realized something: The first film had become iconic. And it was clear that James Nguyen understood it's appeal was related to how unintentionally goofy it was. I quickly understood that this follow up was likely going to be TRYING to be bad. It was going to make an intentional effort to be silly and of a poor quality. And that almost never works. You just usually can't re-catch that lightning-in-a-bottle if you're trying too hard with the follow-up.But I gave this film a chance. And I am happy to report that for the most part, despite it's self-referential nature and obvious self- awareness, this film still does more-or-less deliver the chuckles and belly-laughs that the first supplied. Albeit, not as often and not as heartily.We follow a group of four leads, primarily focusing on Bill (Thomas Favaloro), a Hollywood director trying to make his big comeback after his second film failed to live up to the heights of his first effort. With the financial help of Rod (Alan Bagh) and Nathalie (Whitney Moore), two returning characters from the original film, he is able to move forward with his dream project, "Sunset Dreams." He soon meets Gloria (Chelsea Turnbo), an attractive waitress and struggling actress, and is smitten with her. After casting her in the lead roll of his film and finally consummating a romantic relationship, Bill, Gloria, Rod and Whitney suddenly find themselves under the attack of a new Birdemic. But this time, it's different. The birds are actually ancient, pre- historic birds brought back to life by a toxic red rain (presumably caused by pollution)... And they aren't alone. The same rain has also managed to raise the dead, supplying zombies and other obstacles for our protagonists.This is honestly a hard film to analyze in many ways. I can't say for sure which of the performances are genuinely good or bad, due to the fact that the production is self-aware, and thus many of the actors are in on the joke this time. The same applies to the effects and writing- it's just too hard to say which scenes were done seriously, and which were done intentionally tongue-in-cheek. Whereas the first film was a clear effort to make a decent film that just backfired spectacularly, this one alternates between trying to be an honest sequel, and trying to be a piece of self-parody from scene to scene. (Although I do believe that more often than not, it's intentionally self-aware.)All I can say is that analyzing the performances and the various aspects of the production is a moot point here. Instead, I have to speak of this film in broader strokes.And in the broadest sense, I do think this sequel fundamentally works. Despite its self-awareness, which does rob a bit from the laughs, there is still an overabundant sense of incompetence that lends a lot of humor. And I have to be honest in admitting that there is a certain charm here in seeing the film make fun of itself and of its predecessor. The original was so joyously bad, that just re-visiting these characters and seeing them point out how silly they are... it just works for me. Though it never is able to reach the sheer brilliance of the first film, nor is it able to match the tremendous laughs it supplied... this sequel does do a decent, serviceable job of giving fans of the original more of what they want. It may not be perfect, but by god, this movie is TRYING. It wants to entertain fans. It wants you to love it. It wants audiences to laugh. And I admire that. Even when this film wasn't working, I was still grinning, because this... film... tries.And if you want me to be REALLY honest... After seeing this, I hope we will one day get a "Birdemic 3."I am giving "Birdemic 2: The Resurrection" a pretty-good 7 out of 10 for its entertainment value. Grab a hanger for protection, pop it in with some friends, and get ready to chuckle!