The Birthday

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

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!

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.

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.

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.