Monday, April 19, 2010 Bad Movie Report, Part 2

"When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer." - Hans Gruber

Luckily for us bad movie fans, there are always going to be new worlds to conquer. Especially as advances in technology make it easier and easier for budding auteurs to create and distribute their masterpieces. And thus we come to a little slice of cinemagic known as Birdemic: Shock and Terror! Let's watch the trailer!

That weird sensation you're feeling is your neurons misfiring.

Birdemic is the brainchild of James Nguyen, a computer software salesman who made this rip-off homage to The Birds on a budget of $10,000. When the film was turned down by the Sundance Film Festival (quelle surprise), Nguyen decided to promote his film by driving around the fest in a minivan decorated with stuffed birds, fake blood, and homemade signs. The stunt must have worked, for word of mouth on the film started to build. Eventually, Severin Films picked up the DVD and distribution rights to Nguyen's epic, and the usual arthouse screenings in LA and Austin followed.

The BirdemicMobile prowls Park City. The name of the movie is misspelled on at least one sign.

Birdemic's James Nguyen has a lot in common with The Room's Tommy Wiseau. Both men self-financed movies that they wrote, produced, and directed themselves (though Nguyen has opted to stay behind the camera). Each created a film that is surprisingly personal; the hero of Birdemic is a computer software salesman, and it's obvious that The Room is based on an incident in Tommy Wiseau's own life*. Both men remained completely oblivious to their films' faults until after they were embraced by the cult movie crowd. And finally, like Tommy Wiseau, Nguyen apparently doesn't care that his movie has become a laughing-stock as long as it brings him some degree of money and fame.

However, there are some very important differences between the two directors. Wiseau paid his cast and crew on time; there are allegations that Nguyen didn't pay most of his people at all. And as creepy as Wiseau may be, I haven't heard any rumors of pending sexual harassment suits coming his way.

Still, I'm all for separating the art from the artist in this case. Birdemic looks too good to spurn on moral grounds. I mean, just take a gander (ha!) at the second trailer floating around the intrawebs. It appears to have been put together by Severin Films and has a distinct "wacky" edge to it. Despite that it still manages to give us a bigger, better taste of Birdemic's awesomeness.

Birdemic: Shock and Awe is scheduled for June 18th and 19th at the Music Box Theater. I am so there. To see if Birdemic will be playing near you, my imaginary reader, consult the list of screenings found here.

If this were a Syfy movie, it would totally be called "Birdemic: Shock and Caw"

*The "they'll be sorry when I'm dead" ending is a giveaway. And you know those odd little plot points that are introduced and never referred to again? The breast cancer, the drug deals, the problems at the office? I'm convinced Wiseau included them because similar events occurred during the time that his "Lisa" was cheating on him. The Room is Wiseau's attempt to chronicle, and perhaps exorcise, a traumatic event from his own life. This would also explain why there's two fumbling altercations between Johnny and Mark at the party - the throwdown actually happened that way. Get back, Jojo.