When I first heard about James Nguyen’s horror flick BIRDEMIC: Shock and Terror, about a northern Californian town plagued by homicidal birds, my first thought was: I MUST GO. My second was, Is there ANY possible way I could write about this for Audubon? In a word, yes. But not because BIRDEMIC involves avian species. It carries an environmental message that director Nguyen practically beats viewers over the head with. Take, for instance, the character of the chagrined ornithologist who, despite the avian horror inflicting NorCal's suburbanites, is more concerned with global warming's effects on the birds' brethren. He stands at the end of a dock pining over a dead bird lying in the scrub as the movie's two protagonists run toward him, attempting to escape torture-by-talons.
I'm not sure I even understand the film's resolution, though admittedly, I didn't invest much thought in it; it's best left to interpretation. But my take on the story's moral was this: Maniacal birds suck big time, but humans suck even more when they tussel with the planet's health--and Mother Earth WILL have her revenge as she sees fit.
If reading about BIRDEMIC has whet your appetite for more, er, alternative films, then check out our July-August issue where we review two other flicks with eco-themes. And for a more extensive list of top environmental movies, see Alisa Opar's roundup here.