Dead Birds

With a film that deserved to play in theaters, horror fans will now have the pleasure of seeing what is truly a surprising film. Packed with great performances, a great hook, fantastic special effects, and a twist ending that will surely please the most jaded film buff, Dead Birds deserves a place in your DVD collection. Taking a well worn premise, Dead Birds fashions it as a period piece and deliberately builds slowly to maximize tension and frights. While not a monster fest, the director wisely and selectively trots out his beasts for the most dramatic impact. Henry Thomas gives an astounding performance and makes you question why we do not see more of him. Overall, an intriguing experience all the way to the final frames.

I can't argue about this film for one reason. it only cost me One quid to buy. Now with one pound, you can end up buying films such as " the swamp thing" or the one with the giant tomatoes or any early Nicolas Cage film. However, Dead birds is not all that bad. Don't let the title put you off or the DVD case. Sure the title and cover art is cheap but the film itself is very polished.

The film is based in the American civil war era and I rather enjoyed that as there not to many films that focus on that era. The opening is dramatic but after the first ten minutes, the film's pace slows right down. You end up having to watch a bunch of outlaws wondering around a deserted house for half an hour with very little dialogue and character development. This can put many people off but during this part, The director creates a brilliant, spooky atmosphere that is helped with great music . The camera work doesn't contribute to the atmosphere as it lacks any creativity . But visual, the film looks great.

The huge drawback is that there wasn't to many scares. You watch these men ( and woman ) wonder around the house to only be let down by cheap jump out scares. the effects are mediocre at best. The acting is great all around but it all goes to waste. You watch them do nothing for the whole of the film until the last 15 minutes. The back story of house is told in about, 45 seconds which happens in a flashback.

I can't help but feel that this film could of been so much better. The atmosphere was spot on and the acting was good but the film doesn't really do any justice. It weren't the worst film ever but either was it the best. Would i watch again? most likely not. For me it was a just a miss.

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 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.

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.