When Maddy Stern discovers her father has gone missing during a routine birdwatching excursion, she and her college pals trek out into the wilderness to find him, only to end up in a wealthy... Read allWhen Maddy Stern discovers her father has gone missing during a routine birdwatching excursion, she and her college pals trek out into the wilderness to find him, only to end up in a wealthy scientist's desolate ranch aviary, where they encounter a pair of giant, hungry terror bi... Read allWhen Maddy Stern discovers her father has gone missing during a routine birdwatching excursion, she and her college pals trek out into the wilderness to find him, only to end up in a wealthy scientist's desolate ranch aviary, where they encounter a pair of giant, hungry terror birds believed to be extinct for centuries.
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Watchable, but just barely. Take away the incessant whining and you would have a decent 1950's large animal movie worth six stars. But with all the whining, four stars is generous.
Dumb adults and funny, smart-arse cute teens (of whom, my favourite might well be constantly sniping Taylor - Lindsey Sporrer - the silliest of all) hog too much of the running time when what we really want to see is some decently rendered birds pecking some poor blighter to death. This being a fairly family 'friendly' ScyFy project, there are no profanities and nothing too shocking.
My score is 6 out of 10.
Overall, this one was quite fun for what it's trying to do. One of it's better features here is the fun setup that emerges here to have the birds get loose in the facility. The idea of the facility being based to study the creatures in secrecy after being discovered on the expedition, out in the middle of the woods and filled with plenty of security and secrecy serves as an appropriate launching pad for what's going on here. The scientists' discovery of the site results in a fantastic attack scene that gives this one the impetus for its true plotline of having the kids coming to look after him and get caught up in the same mess he did. Likewise, with them completely unaware of their existence and no one being forced to explain why these creatures are still alive so we're spared that kind of useless padding that typically fills these kinds of films. That also brings up the series of fun attacks by the killer birds which is rather enjoyable throughout here. The initial attack by the birds while being released from their transport vessel makes for a strong opening here, and the fateful attack that brings the kids into the storyline has a modicum of suspense with the desire to get him out of their corral before the creatures get to him. Later on, when the group arrives and the realize the creatures are there really starts this one going with a relentless series of attacks and encounters that builds up the pacing far more than before. With attacks and chases throughout the corral as well as interference with the other guards attempting to kill them without getting their hands dirty and trying to force the birds to actually deliver the killing blow which is a rather unique tactic, giving off some great action of the dwindling survivors trying to get off the ranch. As these provide enough gore to stay interesting during this section and showing off the great design of the birds, these here are what make this one enjoyable. There are some issues with this one. One of the biggest issues with this one is the rather unnecessary padding that is quite prominent in the first half of the film. There's plenty of subplots in this one, namely the series of arguments over the ethical treatment of the birds and what's going to happen to them following the accidentally killing of the father in the compound which is completely overbearing and mishandled with the way he disregards everything like always in these kinds of films. As is the case with the constantly-complaining sorority queen that joins them on the expedition to look after her boyfriend that has no business being out there or a subplot featuring some stranger following them for retribution after insulting him as these two plot-points make this one take longer than necessary to get to the creature action. The birds are distractingly CGI but it's not detrimental which is perfectly fine for this kind of film and really amount to its only real flaws.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
Did you know
- TriviaPhorusrhacids colloquially known as 'terror birds' are an extinct clade of large carnivorous flightless birds that were the largest species of apex predator in south America during the cenozoic era.
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Color