Dead Birds
(2004) 91 min.
Rated: R (gore)
Country: USA
Director: Alex Turner
Stars: Henry Thomas, Patrick Fugit, Nicki Aycox, Isaiah Washington, Michael Shannon
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
A group of robbers hold up in a creepy abandoned house during the American Civil War.
Synopsis:
During the American Civil War, a group of Confederate deserters violently rob a bank and then promptly get lost in the woods on their way to the hideout spot.
The group come across dead bodies and a preacher who doesn’t really help them with directions. They continue on following the preacher’s advice and find a plantation that looks abandoned. In the yard is a crucifix that looks more like a man than a scarecrow.
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Just as they decide to cross the corn field a creature runs past and they shoot it dead. It looks like a naked animal without fur. They look at it for a moment and move towards the house. The group feel the house is abandoned and decide to rest there.
Todd (Washington), a runaway slave, and William (Thomas), the group leader finds a door locked inside the building. They decide to leave it alone for the time being. Meanwhile, Annabelle (Aycox), who is a nurse, removes a bullet from Sam’s (Fugit), Will’s young brother, shoulder.
Will and Todd wander to the slave quarters and find a book of spells written in another language. Todd comments that it’s a spell for raising the dead.
While the group relaxes, Todd sees some bloody tracks in the house and follows them, noticing that they turn from human to paw prints.
One of the group, Joseph, goes to put the horses in the barn and water them. As he goes to fetch water from the well he hears a child’s voice asking him to help. He lowers the bucket and pulls it up, but gets pulled into the well by a hand.
After a while William is asked to help look for Joseph. They fail to find him. Will doesn’t trust Joseph and Clyde (shannon), the other of their group. He wants either himself, Todd or Sam to stay with the gold at all times.
While Annabelle is changing she sees the closet door move. She starts to search the room and checks under the bed. It’s there that she sees a boy with a creepy face. She screams which sends Will and Sam to check on her.
Sam almost faints and Annabelle and Will have him lie down in the room. While he lies there alone Sam sees the spirit of the boy. The boy tells Sam that his mother laid in this same bed when she died of consumption. Then he sees the spirit of the former owner. He explains that he “had to do it” and that he “put the children where they’ll never be found”. He said he tried to bring his wife back from the dead but claims that he was tricked and his children were changed into demons.
Meanwhile Clyde argues with Will over the money, but backs down and decides to rest in a bedroom.
Todd almost falls asleep sitting by the gold. He wakes up and starts to look around. He sees a face at the window in the thunderstorm and thinks that it’s Sam. As Todd searches around he sees the locked door that leads under the stairs and into the cellar is unlocked.
In Clyde’s room he hears someone crying. In the corner of the room a small girl is shown crying. He goes to investigate and she turns around and shows him a hideous face, sending him reeling back and falling on the bed.
Todd goes down into the basement and sees some tools laid out on a table that look like they were used in torture. He sees a human jawbone, too. Then he sees a slave woman tied down to the floor screaming. Todd tries to calm her and free her, but she is inconsolable. She claims that someone is coming and screams louder. Todd backs away as he sees her stomach rip open and a creature come out.
Sam wanders down to where Will and Annabelle are sleeping. Will sees that the gold is gone and runs off in search of it. A trembling Sam in a daze talks to Annabelle, telling her that he has a page from the book used to raise spirits from the dead. Annabelle checks Sam’s wound to see that it’s highly infected and gooey.
Sam repeats that he wants Annabelle to see what he sees. He’s possessed by the farmer. He touches Annebelle’s arm and scenes flash where the farmer is about to be tied on the cross. The townsfolk and preacher condemn the farmer’s actions and leave him to rot.
More flashback scenes occur where the farmer is taking each one of his children away. A scene flashes where a person is being flayed in the cellar of the house. Another scene where a creature nests in the barn loft.
Annabelle awakens from this vision to find Sam is dead before her. William comes back from the rain and finds his brother dead. Annabelle tells him that the house killed his brother. Todd appears and relays the story of the Farmer and his ritual sacrifices of the slaves and his own children which turned them into demon beasts. William, however, doesn’t want to leave since the gold is now missing after Todd left it alone.
Todd, determined to leave, goes to the barn, but the three discover that the horses are torn to shreds. Todd keeps hearing voices and decides to leave in the storm on foot. As he leaves he hears noises in the corn and investigates. A creature that looks like Sam emerges and scares him. Todd is thrown back and vanishes into dust.
Annabelle and Will find that Sam’s body has moved. Annabelle insists that it’s the house trying to keep them there and that they should leave. They start to make their way through the corn and come upon the crucifix in the field. Will notices the body is alive and moving. He recognizes it as Clyde and frees him. When Will removes the hood it reveals that Clyde’s mouth and eyes are sewn closed. Will is about to cut through the stitches when he sees that even Clyde’s chest is sewn closed and Clyde moves to bite at them. Annabelle kicks him, causing his head to pop off spraying pink goo.
Annabelle runs off and Will follows her, but they get lost in the storm. Annabelle cries out for him and runs around searching for him. Meanwhile, William gets paranoid and pulls out his gun causing him to shoot at the nearest rustle of corn stalks. Unfortunately, this is Annabelle who he has killed.
William stays by her side until morning and then decides to head out of the field. His dog sees him and barks at him, not recognizing him. Will runs away from the dog and out of the field where he’s shot in the heart and killed instantly.
A group of Confederate soldiers shot him. They don’t recognize him as he appears as a hairless creature. Two of the soldiers stare in wonder at the body and notice a few gold coins. They decide to investigate the house and promise their commander that they will meet back with the rest of the troops later.
The movie ends as the two soldier wander further through the corn field towards the house.
Review:
Dead Birds has a lot going for it, but also lacks in a lot of things. That may be due to low budget constraints but some of the flaws are too noticeable to ignore.
This film has a decent idea and story. I can see the genuine passion that was put into trying to tell a story here and that is commendable. The idea and setting seems original. Well, I’m sure “crazy backwoods father goes on killing spree” isn’t too original. It’s handled well here, though and told through flashback. I think the acting is also done fairly well in this film. I liked Isaiah Washington as Todd in particular.
I think this film really tries to be scary, but there are a few things that subtract from it. One is the editing of jumpscares. They’re kind of lame and it always seems to be with the sunken-eyed, pointy toothed CG effect. The movie lacks a buildup of tension so it seems to just go for the cheap scares.
The cheap CG. I understand that Dead Birds doesn’t have the budget of Lord of the Rings, but this is when prosthesis and makeup would be more convincing than a flat and plastic looking CG effect.
The last thing I thought I should mention was the written in lack of believability. What I mean by this is, the group shoots this deformed pink creature and thinks almost nothing of it. They see scary spirits and shake it off. Another group shoots a pink creature and thinks nothing of it. I mean, it’s only a few times when this happens, but it’s very unbelievable… even for a horror movie.
Overall I would say that this film is still pretty watchable. It’s not a complete waste of time. It’s definitely got a kernel of an interesting tale going on here, but I don’t think it’s something I would actively seek out and the re-watch value feels kind of low.