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Preparing for a special birthday party, a man's attempts at controlling the situation are undone by a series of incidents that threaten his proposal plans which are even further hindered by the realization that a cult is actively using the hotel for their own means forcing him to stop their plans as well.

This was intriguing enough if somewhat problematic genre effort. Among the better aspects found here is the strong central setup that provides this one with the kind of quirky and offbeat energy it thrives on. With the majority of the first half presents the celebrated birthday party that goes from one awkward setup to another as he tries to go about making everything right for his girlfriend in front of her family as they celebrate the occasion with a lavish extravaganza filled with high-end drinks, food, and live entertainment, this sets the stage for what's going on quite nicely. As everything happening here is a direct result of his meek personality misconstruing everything and getting into bigger confrontations against the high-society demands on her parents throwing the party, this gets carried out the longer he's together with others there as the night starts getting strange including unexpected power-outages, mysterious guests gatecrashing, and the gradual intrusion of the cult which leads into a mind-blowingly over-the-top finale. The main thing with all of this is the pacing is so egregiously off that it becomes maddening waiting for something to happen. This is far more in the vein of a quirky black comedy than outright horror for the majority of its running time as we see him wander around the party trying to make things right by his girlfriend so that he can potentially propose to her at the celebrations, yet instead of being scary or funny, it becomes somewhat grating. With his somewhat irritating voice for these scenes and the prominence of his part of the film, this can make for a very tiring and frustrating experience as much as the extravagant length. There's little reason for this to be two hours with the different tidbits and subplots at play here all bringing the running time of this one to a longer degree than it needs to. Along with the low-budget nature of everything, these all manage to bring this one down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

You may have noticed that the reviews for this movie or either really high or really low. This is weird in almost good weird way. First start off by saying that this is a very cool looking movie, it's shot well, but it's visually intriguing and artistic. You can tell it's low budget, but they make up for it in uniqueness and atmosphere.

This movie would be a lot more enjoyable if English isn't your first language I think, but if English is your language, I recommend watching it overdubbed in another language with English subtitles. I know that sounds crazy but let me explain.

The acting in this movie isn't great, mainly because Corey Feldman takes his character too far. He plays this really shy and nervous nerdy guy, but to the point where he's acting in a way no human would ever act. That alone is enough to make this movie frustrating. Even the scenes where he's talking to his girlfriend, and his friend, it's like he's talking to people he's never met in his life. It really makes you dislike him and everything that's happening, but there are so many little things that you will like and you keep watching.

The other thing I noticed was the way the characters talk to each other and what they're saying just doesn't work. And it's not necessarily the writing that's bad, because the premise is interesting enough, and quirky enough. This is a Spanish movie, filmed in Barcelona, Spanish director, and a lot of the actors and extras are from Spain as well. I think if I had watched this in any other language I would've loved it, but in English it's annoying.

It's not so much what they're saying but how they're saying it, and Corey Feldman's delivery. If you could find this overdubbed in any other language with English subtitles I say go for it. I would love to see someone remake this, literally anyone, but preferably someone remake it in another language.

First: I'm sorry for my English. I've seen this movie at the Sitges Cinema Festival, it was included at the Official Section. Filmed in Barcelona in English language, this Spanish production have only one set: a claustrophobic hotel that reminds me Barton Fink or David Lynch murky world. This is a very low budget film but the production effort it's a truly work in progress. Weirdy tale with a weird star: Corey Feldman, the wonder (and forgotten) boy starring The Goonies, Stand By me, etc..., it's here a truly one man show. The action is set in Baltimore, and tells a story about an eerie hotel, a crazy birthday and a satanic sect (in H.P. Lovecraft way) purchasing the arrival of the beast. Despite its frenetic tempo (think of Scorsese After Hours), this movie is very boring. The story is poor, the screenplay bad, and the result is awful. The acting is good but no one has a really good play. Only the setting is fine, also the cinematography and the sound effects. Not much, as you see. The footage, almost 2 hours, is excessive and the film conclusion is very disappointing. Eugenio Mira, the young director, could have told us this story in a very short film. It's a waste about this movie. A good idea, a freaky show, but an awful movie. 2/10

Welcome to Feldman's next career move, doing horrible Jerry Lewis impressions while pretending to have a sleeper hit movie as a comeback actor. I have no doubt that every 10 star review on this movie was written by the same crew he pays to flatter him daily.

Five minutes into this movie will give you an accurate understanding of the low grade trash you're about to subject yourself to for however long you watch.

Cut rate Corey aside, the script and acting is very trying on the patience. I get the distinct feeling those movie is another in a long line of Feldman ego projects. He's not a musician, he's not a guitarist, he's not a playboy, and he's definitely no longer an actor. He's sad. Corey is a sad desperate boy desperately seeking your approval.

There's not much that's really redeemable here, just cringe worthy performances that were either coerced or were done by sycophants too hopeful that even bad publicity is good publicity.

Watch it to see Corey, but don't expect to be even neutral afterwards about what a waste of time this is.

In this movie definitely didn't happen what I was expecting (since I didn't read the summary).

The leading actor is darn good, even though u have to get used to his very unique type of cringy personality he's portraying. Some of his lines are pretty funny.

The events in this movie get out of hand at one point and in the end it had me leaving with the thought: "Okay... Did the world really need this movie ?! On the other hand, it really does have something about it."

So, maybe watch it, but don't be disappointed if it just leaves you shaking your head afterwards. The plot really is something else.

I don t believe much of the reviews seen here, i think that they are written by the crew of the movie. In Sitges, 2 years ago, all the crew was in the cinema during the movie: they were the only ones to applaud, to clap their hands and to "like" the movie. I've seen thousands of movies, and this one was the one that disappointed me the most and bored me the most on a cinema. It s boring, no implication at all from the viewers and ultra long, so you want it to end but it never happens. You spend all the movie time expecting for some climax but that never happens. As a friend, a lover of cinema, a huge fan of fantastic and horror movies, don t waste no minute in this garbage.

Corey Feldman overacted throughout the entire movie to the point it's almost infuriating, if it weren't so excruciatingly dull. His use of ridiculous "spirit fingers" and weird body language was the only comedy in this movie, not sure why it's classed a comedy/horror. It seemed as though he was trying to imitate Jim Carey but failing miserably and looking like a stiff weirdo. The plot was all over the place and impossible to follow. The entire movie jumped around, leaving the viewer completely perplexed for no reason. It leads you to believe that all the frustration you've suffered should lead to a big ending, but it ends up lacklustre, confusing, and uneventful. The set was beautiful, but otherwise this movie was by far the worst I've ever seen, and I've watched Blue Valentine.

I also got to see the movie at Sitges and I am perplexed. I agree with my Italian counterpart on the "love or hate" stance but I believe that the movie still has to grow on us all. The tempo is awkward but it's compensated by the brilliant sound and camera movements that keep us inside the movie's technique, something I believe Eugenio Mira intended for when he made the movie. I would say once again that it is too soon to judge "The Birthday" when, for now, it is heading to be a cult movie, indeed similar to Donnie Darko (my all time favorite), that has still to be seen and compared to similar movies that are trying to grasp a new style of cinema that young filmmakers are trying to institute in the new millennium. Last but not least, I want to point out that the actors are great specially taking into account the fact that the movie was made on a low budget in Spain. Corey Feldman makes me wonder why he disappeared for a decade from mainstream movies ( "The Birthday" looks like one of them, anyway...) but I believe that with this movie he has a made a great comeback playing a role that suits him well and that probable only he could represent. Check it out dudes! THE cult movie of the year (and it's only just started!)

"The Birthday" is not the celebration of cinema I was hoping for from Corey Feldman.

In fact, he's the only reason it gets any stars with his goofy New Yorker speech pattern like a Jerry Lewis reject.

WTAF was anyone thinking signing onto this stinking pile of garbage.

Let's not go all "Emperor's New Clothes" on this just because it was shown at a film festival and Jordan Peele's name was involved in getting it seen in the USA.

This movie is over 20 years old, which explains why now 53 year old Corey looks so young.

It's not comedy, and it tries too hard at horror.

If Demonic Cult rebirths is your thing, then just watch the last 15 minutes, otherwise forget about it.

Made in Spain at the turn of this century with an eclectic cast it was never released stateside, until now.

Somethings are better left in limbo.

Avoid like the plague or Covid-19.

I know it's a cliche, but it's 2 hours of your life you will never get back.

The Birthday starts out promising enough, set in 1987 with ironic 80s teen heart throb Corey Feldman. I'm assuming this was the first joke, and we are on a roll, right? Especially since he's cast in this flick as a goofy, clueless nerd who somehow ended up with a beautiful rich girlfriend despite being a little slow, a lot shy, and working in a pizza parlor. Good start.

Unfortunately, it never goes anywhere. I do not like this style of humor. What might be laugh out loud funny to some people is painfully annoying to me. I empathize too much with the main character struggling through his partners fathers birthday party, while she appears to not care about him in the slightest. A mind bendingly irritating elevator music rendition of 1950s hit Its My Party almost caused me to lose my sanity about an hour and fifteen minutes in. Oh, did I mention that this garbage is also LONG? The movie - which is essentially about nothing - drags on and on, with constant social anxiety and rejection as the only reoccurring themes.

I didn't even mention the acting style yet, did I? You have to see it to believe it. It is like the director intentionally forced everyone to perform as if they were high school students in the spring play through the drama department. I am guessing this is another hilarious joke that went right over my head.

I've watched over 10,000 movies, and this is my very first review. To start, let me clarify that this isn't a horror film-it's a poorly executed thriller with no real antagonist to focus on. Watching this acting "masterpiece," it felt like Corey Feldman finally met his match in Erica Prior. The unbelievable acting consistently pulled you out of the experience with every line. If this was an intentional casting decision by the filmmakers, then it truly shows that one bad apple can spoil the bunch. And when that second apple starts to rot, this is the result.

The film's twist failed to provide any emotional payoff, as there was no real attachment to the main character or the others introduced. The random characters added nothing to the plot, serving only to push a disjointed story that lacked any coherent direction. The side players being self-absorbed only added to the annoying mess that they were playing a stereotypical rich person and deliberately ignoring everything that happened around them . Getting the felling that everyone was deliberately ignoring everything happening around them , it just didn't hold any believability or accountability.

The movie could've wrapped up in the first 15 minutes when the man should've caught on to the clues about his female companion, but instead, it dragged on, pulling the viewer out of the experience at every turn. The acting was one step below The Room, and that's saying a lot-especially given these were paid actors. Having them all meet their end would have brought more gratification

On the bright side, the cinematography was solid, with a hotel setting that could have been the perfect backdrop for a well-crafted art film. Unfortunately, the failed attempt to keep the audience engaged ruined the the back drops. In short, don't expect anything more than a cringeworthy display of overacting.

* I updated my review from 2008 to when i just saw it again in 2023

In 2004, Corey Feldman made a movie called The Birthday, in Spain. It never made it to America besides a few film festivals.

Jordan Peele had a film festival this week at the Walter Reede Theater and he wanted to close it out with this film. This was essentially the US world premiere, almost 20 years later.

I had seen this movie probably a decade ago thanks to the internet, but it was a crummy German dvd rip and it really lost a lot of its detail and sound design. This screening was a 35 mm print and it looked and sounded amazing.

Corey and the director Eugenio Mira were both in attendance to speak briefly before the start and to have a 25 minute Q&A after the film ended.

The film itself is about a man named Norman (Feldman) who is attending a birthday party for his girlfriend's father at the hotel he owns. What starts out as a relationship plot slowly over time deviates into something more sinister. Throughout the movie, there is a building undertone of dread and mystery as the soundtrack drones on with weird ambient noises that sneak up on you from the background.

About a third of the way in, things start to get weird. Unfolding slowly is the real plot, involving a religious cult who believe that the beast that will usher in the end of the world is being born in that hotel that night.

I don't want to go too much further into the plot, but the last 15 minutes or so are so visually and aurally intense and there is so much chaos going on all at once. It reminded me a lot of some of David Lynch's work. Seeing it in the theater really brought out the sound design, which was one of my favorite parts of this movie.

Feldman is at his best here. He plays the character with a tinge of comedy, channeling Peter Falk (during the q&a, he claims he was doing a Pacino impression from Dog Day Afternoon but I'm not gonna agree). He's got a weird voice that is ridiculous at first but after two minutes I couldn't see him playing it any other way. He plays the opposite of his usual cool and confident characters as a meek nebbish pushover. This characteristic is a major part of the plot as he tries the entire movie to get his girlfriend aside to have a serious talk about their relationship but he's constantly being ignored.

The film has plenty of weird stuff going on, strange characters throughout and a lot of comedy at the expense of the weird. Feldman plays out a lot of slapstick comedy in this film and it works well. The entire film is set inside the hotel so you see the same sets over and over again but you never get bored of the scenery.

Feldman and Mira spent a good amount of time answering questions about the film after the film ended. A bunch of good stories were told and it was being filmed. Perhaps that footage will make it to a BluRay release at some point in the future.

Highly recommended.

I saw the movie at the SITGES FILM FESTIVAL 2004 in Spain (if you notice some noisy mistakes I really sorry… but I'm an Italian guy!!!) and I'm afraid this movie is not gonna be very successful at the box office… mainly because of his WILD NATURE!!!

I mean, I don't know how the guys who made such a THING like this are gonna sell it… but I'm afraid is not an easy task. THE BIRTHDAY is the kind of movie that you LOVE or you HATE!!! And that's great, from my point of view.

Leet's see. You can like it or not, but this movie is EVERYTHING but disappointing. You can't expect what's gonna happen, and I'm not talking about the plot… it's more about the APPROACHING. Actually, If you read the synopsis, you think you're gonna see a straight to video flick (specially when you discover that COREY FELDMAN is in it!!!) but, man… THE BIRTHDAY is a UNIQUE cinematic experience. I'm serious!!! I'm not a film geek!! It's incredible how fast you forget you're supposed to be seeing a "genre movie". The characters (Corey Feldman is GREAT in this one!!!), the length of the shots (the movie follows the real time policy), the sound design (oh my GOD!! You really have to HEAR the last 20 minutes of the movie!!)… everything is… different. Specially in the first half, where NOTHING IS WHAT YOU EXPECT. We exclusively see just what Corey's character sees but, besides that, we agree or not with his decisions. And that's the most exciting thing about this movie.

THE BIRTHDAY starts with a "PeterSelleresque" Corey that stumbles with everything and everybody he finds across his path… and at the end of the movie, he's a HERO. But you don't notice this evolution. It's like when you're living with your parents at home for years: you don't realize they are getting older until you take a look to some pictures of the family album … because you've been growing with them. That's the magic of this movie, from my point of view. The real time policy never goes against the movie. Man, we all spend a lot of time watching BIG BROTHER on TV… and I can assure you that THE BIRTHDAY delivers a more… intense and thought provoking experience, at least.

I must say that sometimes is hard to follow, and I understand that some people get lost, specially with the speed the different dramatic tones change. Sometimes you think you are seeing a black comedy… some other times you'd swear Corey Feldman is the guest star in a TWIN PEAKS episode… and some other times it smells like a JOHN CARPENTER movie!!! It's weird… and exhausting. The atmosphere of the movie owes his flavor to David Lynch (The girl in the movie has a lot to do with Laura Palmer), the Coen Brothers (It's easy to think in BARTON FINK'S hotel) and, Paul Thomas Anderson (specially PUNCH DRUNK LOVE, with a very similar main character).

I think I have a better example: The best and the worst you can say about this movie is that it could be a Brian De Palma movie, with outstanding scenes driven by a "bigger than life" cinematic passion… but weirdly disturbing as a whole. RAISING CAIN, SNAKE EYES & FEMME FATALE are good examples. That kind of De Palma movie, where the director explores his obsessions with TOO MUCH passion… forgetting he has to deliver a "movie". A good one. But I'd never say THE BIRTHDAY is not a good movie… it's a TERRIFIC experience. My opinion.

Well, I don't know what to say. There's something about this movie, no doubt about it. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I hope to see this one in a big screen soon. Happy Birthday!!!

I had the opportunity to see this wonderful film at last Sitges Film Festival. It is not an easy film, in fact, it is dammed to be misunderstood by the big crowds and the old fashion film reviewers. This movie is something really weird in the Spanish cinema, you can tell by seeing 2 seconds of it, that its director knows about cinema, he knows how and where put the camera and fills the screen with lots of details .

One of the things that I loved the most from it was all the homages to the biggest 80s classic films (Gremlins, Back to the future,etc.)

The birthday, besides its multiple good things, its far from perfect, it is way too long (almost two hours)and one of the main characters in the second half is really disturbing and was near of taking me out of the movie.

Eugenio Mira is a filmmaker to keep an eye on, he just made the geek film of the 2005 (Donnie Darko is one of the films that comes to my mind when thinking about The birthday).

If you are able to check out this film in a festival, don't miss it, you won't be disappointed!

Please don't listen to people that cannot appreciate "self-indulgent cinema" Yes, people sometimes make movies for themselves, and the people that happens to be like them (i.e.: me!) will enjoy those ultra-personal productions to a higher level.

This movie takes you away from the very beginning, it IS a surrealistic Lovecraftian tale and to see Corey Feldman in a new, refreshing role was a bit awkward, which only added to everything else.

I saw this at the Fantasia festival in Montreal and was flabbergasted, on the edge of my seat, smiling or mouth wide open until the end where I burst into applause.

Watch out for the "deaf" scene: it's pure sonhorrific genius!

This is one of my new favorites. This is my first review of a movie at IMDb, which I am compelled to write after seeing The Birthday at the first annual Fantastic Fest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It was the U.S. debut of the film and the director was even in attendance, but the theater wasn't even particularly packed. It makes me sad that this amazing film may never get even a proper art house run in the United States.

This film is quirky, campy, unique, super-fun, with a hypnotic and seriously creepy atmosphere. If you're used to traditional Hollywood fare, you might find it a bit puzzling, but give it a shot anyway. I've seen tons of genre films, and The Birthday is one of the most UTTERLY UNIQUE and refreshingly inventive films I have ever seen. It's unpredictable and keeps you guessing, the casting is inspired (the believability Corey Feldman brings to his peculiar but lovable character amazed me), and it uses the perfect mix of horror and comedy. This is a crowd pleaser, and some of the most fun I've had in years. I don't know how many times the audience broke into wild applause, and I nearly went deaf when the entire theater went nuts for the ending.

I should say that I saw the edited version of this film. It's intended to be a real-time 117 minutes, but they cut out 20 minutes of less intensive material, which made me feel a little cheated. I guess there's always the DVD. In sum, this is one hell of a fun movie, and I would highly recommend giving it a chance.