Birdemic 2: The Resurrection is a 2013 American romantic thriller-horror film directed and story & screenplay by James Nguyen and produced by Jeff Gross. It's the sequel to Nguyen's 2010 film Birdemic: Shock and Terror. This film, as with its predecessor, has been considered one of the worst films of all time and features mainly self-referential humor about the reception of the previous film. Taking place two years after the first Birdemic, the film follows another mass bird attack caused by global warming, this time in Hollywood.
Birdemic 2: The Resurrection | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | James Nguyen |
Screenplay by | James Nguyen |
Story by | James Nguyen |
Produced by | Jeff Gross |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Bobby Hacker |
Edited by | Joe Pascual |
Music by | Michael Gordon Shapiro |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Chill |
Release date |
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Running time | 79 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Bill, an independent film director, discovers waitress Gloria in a Hollywood eatery and casts her in the lead role of Kim in his new film, Sunset Dreams, which is financed by his friend Rod, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and Rod's girlfriend, Nathalie. Shortly into production of Sunset Dreams, a toxic rain falls on Hollywood which causes preserved killer birds and cavemen to emerge from the La Brea Tar Pits and zombies to come to life in a nearby cemetery. Bill, Gloria, Rod and Nathalie make their way around Hollywood with a dwindling band of survivors, fighting off the various threats before the birds eventually cease attacking and fly away.
Birdemic 2 was announced in April 2011, along with news that Bagh would reprise his role from the first film.[1] Production began on February 4, 2012.[2] Nguyen included long scenes of dancing in order to satisfy fans of his first film, who he said wanted romantic content; Nguyen himself sees the film as a romantic thriller. Nguyen was influenced by concerns about global warming, which he said was the cause of the bird and zombie attacks in the film.[3] The film was shot in 3D, which Nguyen said he mastered during shooting.[4] Shooting in 3D slowed down production, but Nguyen said he believed it would bring more people to the sequel.[5]
A tie-in video game was released in October 2012.[6] Starting on April 16, 2013, Chill.com exclusively offered the film via video on demand for 90 days before it was released to other services.[7] It was released on DVD in October 2013.[8]
Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote, "Nguyen's partial self-awareness of his new movie's camp value ... only makes it an effortful, half-understood in-joke rather than the guiltily pleasurable unintentional joke that was Birdemic: Shock and Terror."[9] Rod Lott of the Oklahoma Gazette wrote, "What keeps Birdemic 2 from reaching the first film's level of fun is Nguyen's penchant for treating this go-round like a greatest-hits reel."[10] HorrorNews.net rated it 0/5 stars and called it the worst film of the year.[11]
In a 2016 Vice interview, Nguyen said that he is hoping to eventually make Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle, which would be his last film.[12] In October 2016, an Indiegogo campaign was raised in order to finance the third film of the series. The funding was eventually closed, with only roughly $596 out of the desired $500,000 raised.[13] Despite this, it was announced in March 2021 that production on the third installment had begun[14] with a planned release in late 2022.[15] The poster for the film was released on November 19, 2021 through Moviehead Pictures’ official Twitter page.[16]