Birdemic 2: The Resurrection

Birdemic was an absolutely terrible film! Some people consider it to be so terrible that it's kind of fascinating in its own special way. No one expected a sequel, especially considering how poorly received the movie was and how preachy it was. But, with the compelling box art this movie got, and the $40,000,000 budget, you've got to think, they could make this work! It might actually be decent! But no. This movie... managed to be WORSE than the first one! I wasn't aware this was possible but hey, I guess if you give it your all, anything can end up being absolutely diabolical. And that's exactly what they did! With this movie's huge budget, how they didn't seem to learn or improve on ANYTHING, I can only assume that this was done purposely bad. The first birdemic movie was cute, a failed attempt at an amateur movie which you're just... fascinated by. However, Birdemic 2... has no excuse. This is just... sad.

I am a HUGE fan of the first Birdemic. It changed me. Never had I seen such an honestly sincere attempt at film go so hilariously wrong. I recommend it to anyone who loves so-bad-it's-good movies, it's so awesome.

Birdemic 2 isn't the perfect sequel to Birdemic, but it's still pretty damn entertaining. Rest assured that the sincerity of the first movie is still there, as is James Nguyen's heavy-handed touch (the main character, now a Hollywood movie director, is still a placeholder for Nguyen himself). The dialogue is just as insane (all the clumsy writing trying to explain what happened since the first Birdemic was definitely my favorite thing in this film). The graphics are still so awful they leave you clutching your sides. And characters are introduced and then immediately forgotten about, just like in the first movie. The magic is still there.

In fact, many of the elements of the first Birdemic have been reproduced in the sequel. Indeed, the story follows much the same arc as the first, with events occurring in the same order. I get the strong sense that Nguyen saw this as an opportunity not just to tell a new Birdemic story, but to essentially remake Birdemic; to do it the way he would have done it if he had had money and a crew the first time around. So some might look at this as a cheap attempt to just copy the first movie to capitalize on its success. And perhaps that is what happened.

But I'm going to give Nguyen the benefit of the doubt, because he does add a lot of new elements to this movie, and this is where Birdemic 2 really shines. I don't want to spoil anything, but the new things he throws in are insane and absolutely hilarious. In fact, strangely enough, the bird scenes were my least favorite part of this movie (and they were my favorite in the first) because they started to get rather repetitive. Fortunately, there is enough wackiness going on that it doesn't bog down the movie too badly.

So no, I wouldn't say it's the perfect sequel to Birdemic. But it's pretty damn awesome. The heart is still there, and the clumsy tie-ins to the first and the new stuff makes it totally worth the money I paid for an online copy. This is definitely a movie I'm going to watch a hundred times over, just like the first Birdemic. Like I said, it feels like Nguyen tried essentially to remake Birdemic but bigger and better this time. I'm not sure if you need to have seen the first Birdemic to really enjoy this, but there's a lot of silly tie-ins which you can only appreciate if you've seen the first, so I'd recommend it.

Let me start by saying, I am a huge fan of the original Birdemic. I've seen a lot of bad movies. Battlefield Earth is pretty bad. The Room is pretty bad. Manos, The Hands of Fate is pretty bad. Birdemic trumps them all.

And now we have a sequel. Believe me, I was excited to see this. So very very excited, which no one I know understands. But whatever, I know what I like and I like crap. Unfortunately, this movie does not deliver. I'm sorry, but there it is. The major problem you've got here is that this movie is trying way to hard to be as terrible as the first one, and that effort completely ruins it.

It's like William Hung on American Idol. You just can't believe it and are mesmerized by how awful it is. But then he just keeps doing the same thing over and over, milking it for fame and money once he realizes people like that he's terrible. Yes, I'm comparing this movie to William Hung. And yes, like poor Will this sequel has hit the point where it goes from being amusing to just being annoying.

Birdemic failed in essentially every way a movie could fail. The acting was horrible, the camera work dismal, the script was ridiculous, the sound work utterly terrible. I could run out of synonyms for 'bad' just trying to describe the first movie. And that, friends, is what made it great. Here you have a work of art lovingly created by someone and thrust out into the world, and you just cannot believe anyone could create something so awful.

Now imagine that experience, but now it's completely obvious they were trying to make something that awful on purpose. The magic is gone. Birdemic 2 is not so much a sequel, as it is the EXACT same movie but with better sound and camera work. The plot is the same. There are many scenes that are EXACT recreations of scenes in the first movie. In short the movie is, quite obviously, trying to pander to fans of the first movie's unintentional success. It's like watching someone absolutely terrible on American Idol, but then realizing that they're just trying to be terrible on purpose to get attention. It's not the same. The magic is gone.

And, to be honest, decent camera work and sound kind of kills the hilarity. Plus I like Whitney Moore better with long hair...

I tried watching it for free on Youtube and I still feel like I got ripped off.

Let's start with the highs: None. This is not a "so bad it's good" movie like the first Birdemic. It's a "so bad it's bad" movie.

Lows: Everyhing. All the unintentional mistakes from Birdemic 1 are now intentional in Birdemic 2. This proves just how much of a moron James Nguyen is. You can't expect to have the same level of charm by intentionally repeating your mistakes. It was funny the first time, from the terrible audio, to the coat hangers, to the idiotic birds, that had a level of humor and charm to it that you just can't repeat. I hate this movie with a passion. I loved Birdemic 1. 2 just ruined the franchise for me.

Verdict: The worst movie I've seen all year. Definitely on my top 10 most hated list. This is absolute garbage. Get Birdemic 1, Trolls 2, The Room, whatever, just stay clear of this movie.

This movie was poorly thought out, badly executed, and terribly acted. The cast was bored, the crew was incompetent and they recycled the plot of and characters (including bridge scientist and Tree Hugger) which I guess is green...

Having said that, the 'special' effects are less 'special' than the original. The CGI birds occasionally interact with the world around them and are not fixed to the spastic camera. Also the driving scene has been replaced with a somewhat shorter swagger walk scene.

This is not a movie to watch sober, or alone. I spent so much time correcting my typos. This movie is still not as bad as Actium Maximus: Alien Dinosaur Wars.

The existence of Actium Maximus is the one reason this movie got 2/10... We have seen rock bottom and this is not it.