A group of confederate deserters during the American Civil War robs a bank for gold, an event that doesn’t go as smoothly as they planned. Trying to find a place to rest for the night, they come upon an old abandoned mansion located by a corn field. Entering the field they see a strange-looking scarecrow which they believe to be the corpse of a real person…and as if that wasn’t enough to realize this place is no good and should be avoided at all cost, they also come upon a hideous-looking deformed creature, which they shoot upon sight. But oh well, they still have to spend the night somewhere, so they enter the old mansion anyway, and soon find out that awful things have happened here which will also impact everyone who sets foot at the place.
Dead Birds is a Western horror film from 2004, directed by Alex Turner. The first part of the movie builds up pretty well, with tension and an admirable creepy atmosphere. This is also helped by a good cast: Henry Thomas (ET), Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous), Michael Shannon (Man of Steel), Mark Boone Junior (Memento), Isaiah Washington (Ghost Ship) and Nicki Aycox (Jeepers Creepers). The first half of the movie is very much an ongoing build-up of expectation and dread as we know things are wrong and that stuff will happen, and when they do there are some effective scenes and even a little bit of gore once we see the demonic creatures and the dead bodies.
Later on, it does unfortunately start to drag a bit, and there are more hints and suggestions as to what has happened and is happening, rather than any proper explanation, which makes the story feel a bit tangled. Which is a shame, as the setting, visuals and atmosphere are spot on. Just a little bit more clear focus on the background story and maybe more perceivable explanations for what is happening could have increased the tension for the last half of the movie as well. The mystery behind the mansion and its grounds involves a story of black magic, demonic possession, human sacrifice and the occult, which should have been offered more details and scenes than it eventually did. And maybe some more gore…since when these scenes do occur, they actually look pretty good.
Now, regarding the title: I couldn’t spot more than one dead bird, though…so I wondered what that title is supposed to mean. Upon doing some research, I found that “Dead Birds” has a meaning that in the Dani language refers to weapons and ornaments recovered in battle, and a more poetic meaning that people, because they are like birds, must die. Dead birds are also considered to be symbolic of discontentment, grief, failure and hopelessness, and seeing a dead bird is some kind of bad omen. So there’s many ways to perceive the title, which makes more sense once you put it in context with the plot of the movie.
While by no means any masterpiece, and perhaps a little dated now (especially the CGI effects), this low-budget horror film has still got some creepy scenes and good atmosphere.
Director: Alex Turner
Writer: Simon Barrett
Country & year: USA, 2004
Actors: Henry Thomas, Patrick Fugit, Nicki Aycox, Michael Shannon, Muse Watson, Mark Boone Junior, Isaiah Washington, Harris Mann, Melanie Abramoff, Donna Biscoe, Brian Bremer, Russell Durham Comegys
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt0377749/
The New South Wales State government plans to recycle the huge amounts of trapped water in a network of abandoned train tunnels. However, these plans suddenly come to a halt, and publicly no one is ever told why. Rumors are spreading, like how homeless people using the tunnels end up going missing. This brings a young journalist, Natasha, to start an investigation into what she thinks is some kind of government cover-up. She and her crew decide to enter the tunnels and look for answers, but after being refused entry by a security guard, they do of course find an alternative entrance into the place. While exploring the tunnels, they start hearing strange noises through the audio headphones, and when one of the crew members go missing they eventually realize that they might not be alone in these deep, dark tunnels.
The film starts off with a quote from Jack the Ripper that says “The Jews are not the men to be blamed for nothing.” Then we see some silent and grainy black and white documentary footage of the September 11 attacks, as we hear a little girl’s voice saying “Just you wait a little while, the nasty man in black will come. With his little chopper, he will chop you up!“
The movie starts off showing a scene with a woman alone in a room, who is attacked by something neither she nor we can see. She gets hanged in the stairways, and a black envelope drops to the floor. We then fast forward to a year later, when a group of friends (Sid, Kira, and Harris) have attended a funeral and decides to go drinking afterwards. Drunk and stupid, they decide to do something silly that can only be brought on by drunken stupidity: they first break into the Crescent View Cemetery. Their original plan was to just say their final goodbyes to the recently departed, but Sid finds a black envelope amongst some of the flowers on the grave. Inside is a poem which urges them to be joyful and to dance upon the graves. And of course, since they’ve already gotten quite sloshed by now, they think this sounds like an excellent idea in order to celebrate life. And so….they start dancing on graves…
I have to be honest and say that I didn’t give a rat’s ass about this when I heard they were going to make yet another film in this dead horse of a franchise, when they haven’t been able to make Leatherface great again since the 2003 remake. This is also the second attempt to make a new sequel to the original after Texas Chainsaw 3D, if you even remember that one.
