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Plot: A group of Confederate soldiers hole up in an abandoned plantation after robbing a bank and find themselves at the mercy of supernatural forces.
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:July 20, 2008
Man, this movie was really stupid. It was one of the stupid-scary movies that you just laugh at the whole time.
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MCT:April 14, 2008One of the best horror movies I have seen in a while. most of the civil war horror movies are cheese filled. this one isn't. it was really very very good. had me yelling all sorts of thing that i can't say here out of shock. that's a good horror movie. I suggest everyone see it.
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MCT:February 21, 2008
This was a very good movie, visually creepy. Not the kind of creepy that makes you scared of something afterwards. I didn't really like it as much the second time I watched it though.
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MCT:January 27, 2008
Dead Birds is average. Nothing more, nothing less. It has it's creepy moments, but overall it's mediocre with okay acting, cheap thrills, and a poor plot.
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MCT:January 6, 2008
Very good movie, visually creepy. Not the kind of creepy that makes you scared of something afterwards. I didn't really like it as much the second time I watched it though. One time thing I suppose?
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MCT:November 13, 2007
Lots of blood in the begining, okay effects but ultimately dry and lacking tension for the main part. It does have some good bits, like the ending.
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MCT:November 9, 2007I started watching this and then quickly remembered that I had already seen it a few years back and I didn't feel like watching it again so I turned it off.
These facts show two things. 1: its not a memorable movie and 2: even that doesn't encourage me to watch it again.
I don't remember much at all, I don't remember how the "supernatural forces" are and what they do, and I don't care because I do recall not being very interested in this.
Evidently its very mediocre, hence it deserves a mediocre score. -
MCT:November 3, 2007
a totally average horror with a different take on the genre. this time it's some bank robbers (they're not confederate soldiers as it says on here... they may have been at one time but it doesn't actually state that anywhere in the film) holed up in an abandoned house where the ex owner did some spells and brought some demons into the world rather than bring his dead wife back to life. i liked the actual creatures in it and it was sporadically creepy but at times pretty slow and drawn out. it's almost as if the director was trying to drag it out so he'd get an hour and a half runtime out of the thin plot
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MCT:October 26, 2007Another direct to DVD movie that shouldn't have been. Great atmosphere and some very creepy moments.
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MCT:October 23, 2007My parents used to lie together in this bed, this is where my mother was when the comsuption took her
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MCT:October 13, 2007
The film goes at a slow pace with a confusing plot but is more of being atmospheric & suspenseful.Just needed more action but the effects are good. -
MCT:September 24, 2007
The first hour about put me to sleep. If you like "loud music boo" scares, a very confusing plot, and a slow moving movie then check it out. It was unique but could have been so much better.
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MCT:September 21, 2007
Set around the time of the American Civil War a gang of Confederate thugs (we never do find out if they are soldiers or deserters) rob a bank, killing everyone in the process. They leave town with the intention of heading down to Mexico in order to split the loot and then go their separate ways, although that plan changes slightly when they decide to spend the night in an old plantation house which is on the other side of a large cornfield (that you just know if going to crop up again in the film (pardon the pun)).
As the gang make their way through the cornfield they are spooked by a hairless creature that attacks them, they seem to think that the creature is a hog (although it looks like no hog that I have ever seen). Not deterred they still decide to spend the night in the house as a thunderstorm is rolling in. Then as time goes on they come to realise that not all is as it seems in this innocuous looking shelter and they soon begin to think that staying there may not have been a good idea.
Dead Birds was recommended to me a little while ago and I decided to rent it out to see what it was like. And whilst its title is misleading I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the film, it is by no means perfect but it is far from being a complete lemon. On one side the film is fairly original in that it is set during the American Civil War, and in that whole setup looked good to me, the uniforms and the war-weary look in the people?s faces all went to create a world that seemed believable and convincing, (to me at least). But it also follows standard genre conventions in that we have a creepy house, complete with a large cornfield that is spooky by day, let along by night and we have people that go off by themselves to look around therefore putting themselves in danger although in fairness I would say that whereas in some films you find yourself asking ?why did you do that? when you know that a character has wandered off by themselves so that the story can set itself up for their demise, in Dead Birds the actions seem natural and not forced, that of course makes them that much more believable that someone would act in a certain way.
The cast, whilst not A-list stars have other projects under their belts, although I will have to say that I didn?t recognise many of them, we have Henry Thomas (William), Patrick Fugit (Sam), Nicki Aycox (Annabelle), Michael Shannon (Clyde), Mark Boone Jnr (Joseph) and Isaiah Washington (Todd). These are the people that make up the gang. One point that struck me as odd within this setup was that these story is set within the American Civil War and the characters are for the most part Confederate Soldiers but Todd is a black man, now with the setting of the story being what it is the story surrounding Todd and how he is with the group is never explained. He is portrayed as being of equal level to the rest of the team which is great if it were a modern day tale but in the context of time seems wrong for this movie, this, for me, stood out like a sore thumb. Perhaps they should have been union soldiers then that part of the story would have made more sense.
Whilst not outstanding I would say the all of the actors performed well within the limits of the dialogue that they were given, Washington as Todd in particular seemed to take to his role a little more naturally and I felt that William (Thomas) was in many ways too weak a leader, especially a character like Clyde (Shannon) who struck me as being a little more aggressive.
Another point surrounding the gang is that in most films we have characters that we are meant to feel for, we want them to survive, But the characters in Dead Birds are a bunch of murdering bank robbers. This is shown to us during the bank robbery right at the beginning. It is not as if they were forced to kill everyone, they did it with a sense of enjoyment. this alienated me from the characters somewhat as I actually wanted them to be on the receiving end of something bad. I cannot believe that the writers never actually thought of this aspect when drafting out the scripts, they never mentioned it on the extras. Although at the time of writing this I have not watched the commentaries yet so perhaps it will be revealed on there.
However even in spite of these negative points, I liked the film, sure the story may have run a little too slow for some of you hardcore horror fans out there, and I guess for me I did think that pacing was a tad slow on occasion, as there seemed to be a lot of searching going on and not enough visuals on the supernatural elements. But it didn?t spoil the film to the point where it is unwatchable.
The score of the film does stand out and does a splendid job in ramping up the suspense level a notch or two, this allows you (on the most part) to look past the pacing issues. When I watched this it was quite late at night and the speakers were well used in setting up all the creaks and noises going on, including the Sub channel which gave us a nice rumbling bass.
I think as Alex Turner?s debut feature film he has done a great job in creating a spooky ambience. There is some nice camera work that make for some pleasant visuals, which combined with the sound effects and score make for enjoyable if flawed film.
This review is also posted (by me) at www.digitallard.com -
MCT:July 23, 2007
This film was ace confusing in some places but i would watch it agen my b it will make a little more sence .
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MCT:July 15, 2007
Very creepy. Quite gory as well, it is a little difficult to grasp the plot at some points and there was not alot of character development, but that doesent stop this from making you check under the bed and the loft in the barn for haggard face screaming mongrel demon children.
Justins Best Bit: The creature in the barn loft... -
MCT:June 26, 2007
WHAT A FREAKY MOVIE...very twisted I found too..I had to watch it 5 times to understand what the ending meant...It is like silent hill with the twisted part..But other then that it was a good movie..
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MCT:May 27, 2007
I was confused while watching this movie, most of it made no sense, even in the end. The freaky faces were cool though.
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MCT:April 25, 2007
Creepy, gory and surprisingly not totally dumb. Dead Birds comes close to being actually excellent thanks to its smart mix of story and scares. A good horror rental.
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MCT:March 31, 2007
This movie was far too slow for me, and took far too long to get to the good stuff. So by the end of the movie I didn't really care about the "twist".
It did have some good "atmosphere" music and of the small amount of special effects that there were those were pretty good.
Overall not a scary movie... -
MCT:March 27, 2007i had never heard of this movie and saw it on mthe shelf at the video store so i rented it. I can honestly say that it is one of the better horror movies i've seen in a while.
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MCT:March 17, 2007
From out of nowhere this movie was surprising, original, scary, and I can't wait for them to make more movies.
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Dead Birds Recent Reviews
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Comments
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Synchronizationposted 297 days ago -
I quite liked this one, although you only saw one dead bird in it, and it was for a second. The title was misleading.
I actually rented it by accident, and then found it was really quite good!posted 419 days ago -
