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Written by Gregg Shapiro
Jul 14, 2011
Birdemic
‘Birdemic: Shock and Terror’
Revenge-seeking, throat-slashing, eyeball-gouging eagles and vultures wreak havoc on a Northern California town in the name of warning humans about the dangers of climate change in writer/director James Nguyen’s low-budget, pseudo-romantic thriller “Birdemic: Shock and Terror.” Bad sound and editing, non-existent production values, video game-quality animation and amateur acting helped “Birdemic” achieve midnight-movie cult status. But there isn’t any time of day that’s appropriate to watch this disaster of a disaster flick.
Ambitious software salesman and start-up green technology businessman Rod (Alan Bagh) runs into former high school classmate Nathalie (Whitney Moore), a model whose fashion shoots take place in a strip-mall photo studio. As their romance blossoms, Mother Nature has a meltdown, leaving flocks of seagulls and crows dead on a San Jose highway and providing a heat wave in winter.
Soon the animated birds’ attacks begin. Primitively rendered eagles and vultures do kamikaze dives into gas pumps at filling stations. Rod and Nathalie barricade themselves inside a sleazy motel room. Teaming up with fellow motel guests Ramsey (Adam Sessa) and Becky (Catherine Batcha), they make a break for it in a mini-van, which happens to be stocked with a machine gun and other weapons. Along the way, they rescue kids and come across a scientist who attempts to make sense of it all.
It’s difficult to find the most horrifying aspect of “Birdemic,” although the acting by Patsy van Ettinger, who plays Nathalie’s mother (and makes Edith Massey look like Meryl Streep), is a strong contender. Blu-ray special features include Nguyen’s audio commentary, deleted scenes, the “Birdemic Experience Tour” featurette and more.
‘H.R. Pufnstuf’
Sid and Marty Krofft must have had access to some first-rate drugs. Their Saturday morning television series, including “Lidsville,” “Land of the Lost,” “The Bugaloos” and “Sigmund & the Sea Monsters,” were as trippy as a kid could get in front of a TV without shrooming. “H.R. Pufnstuf,” which aired on NBC between 1969 and 1971, combined British Music Hall/vaudeville style song-and-dance numbers with slapstick comedy, not-so-special effects, psychedelic puppetry, bizarre costumes and pop culture references.
Jimmy (the late Jack Wild, fresh from his success as the Artful Dodger in the movie version of “Oliver”) and his talking gold flute Freddy are lured to Living Island by the evil Witchiepoo (Billie Hayes). Once there, he is rescued by H.R. Pufnstuf (Lennie Weinrib and Roberto Gamonet), the gentle lizard/dragon mayor of the island. But that doesn’t deter Witchiepoo and her hench-monsters, Orson the vulture and Seymour the spider, from regularly terrorizing Jimmy, Freddy, Pufnstuf and the various inhabitants of Living Island in pursuit of possessing the talking golden flute in every episode.
Silly and unsophisticated, even for a Saturday morning, still, it’s better and less mind-numbing than “Pokemon.” A collector’s edition of the three DVD “H.R. Pufnstuf: The Complete Series” (Vivendi) set includes an H.R. Pufnstuf bobblehead. DVD extras include an unreleased episode of “Horror Hotel” (starring Witchiepoo) from “The Bay City Rollers Show” and a vintage “H.R. Pufnstuf” music and coloring book that can be downloaded onto your computer.
