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SXSW 2005: Monki & Edison feast upon DEAD BIRDS!
Hey folks, Harry here with another brief report from Monki & Edison... Here ya go...
Good day to you Harry. It’s Edison here, writing in a ghost review of FEARLESS FREAKS for Monki, and I’ve got my own review for DEAD BIRDS.
Monki, while on a top secret assignment, was detoured to Long Island, tried to hitch hike a ride back from a couple of millers, but they had to drop him off in a peach grove. Before losing transmission, he sent me this report:
FEARLESS FREAKS. He enjoyed it, but for a documentary, there wasn’t a clear overall story arc. There were too many “Behind the Music” ups and downs. The Flaming Lips seem like nice guys, but the drama seemed forced, manufactured. The movie never really got solid footing.
And now for my take on:
DEAD BIRDS. This is the story of a band of Civil War era bank robbers that heist a few bags of gold from the U.S. Mint. They go on the run to avoid getting caught, and hole up in an old farm house in the middle of Nowhere, Alabama. Pretty soon scary things start to happen, and you may be able to guess the direction of the rest.
I really liked DEAD BIRDS. This movie isn’t for everyone. But if you like horror movies that have an old fashioned ghost story feel to them, give this one a chance. The performances from Henry Thomas, Patrick Fugit and the rest of this ensemble are all capable, the direction is surprisingly good, and the effects even have their moments. What I really noticed was the sound. You can’t have an effective horror flick without the right sounds and these people got quite a bit of it right. This isn’t a perfect film, or even a terribly original story (The ending may be the biggest let down, can we stop using the same twist to end every scary movie since 2000?). But, for horror fans, this is a fun little gem that might pack enough thrills to be worth your time. Apparently, this movie is available now on DVD.
Edison’s Score: inspiration: 76% perspiration: 89%
Until later. Sourced in Texas.
- Edison
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So then, the protagonist has been dead the whole time, or what? Ah well, I saw this on DVD, so I might give it a rental.
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really pretty cool!
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I rented this the other night after reading several positive reviews. It does move slower than the lame majority of horror films out there (it's called developing a plot) and the director wisely develops tension throughtout the movie. Henry Thomas did a great job in the lead role and all of the actors were well-cast. It is out on DVD now and I highly recommend it to any and every horror movie fan out there.
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Please stop posting these echo-chamber SXSW chats.
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Mar 19, 2005 2:09:15 PM CST
OK, this post is boring, so let's discuss the dead child/teddy b
by mister man
OK, they finally found the poor kid in Florida. So what's the first thing people do??? They set up some kind of freakish alter, and surround it with STUFFED TEDDY BEARS! WHO is going to play with those bears??? WHY teddy bears?? Is this the white-trashing of our society?? Are they buying them all at Wal-mart?? I was in NYC right after 9/11, and I'll be damned if people didn't start putting TEDDY BEARS at the various make-shift memorials. What the fuck is it with teddy bears??
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yeah, right, pretty good performance in this...euh...cool flick!
I hope I'll be able to see 11:14 soon! -
...though that's not saying much. Ring Two will be horrifying for anyone who has never seen any type of cinematic footage at any point in their life. Dead Birds has two or three solid jolts and overall it's entertaining in an enjoyably bad kind of way.
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