MovieChat Forums > Dead Birds (2005) Discussion > Is it really that difficult?

Is it really that difficult?

posted 19 years ago by Cacophony_of_Silence
19 replies | jump to latest

Okay. I'll give some people credit, it is a bit hard to figure out. However, if you've watched enough movies in the genre (including those that are bastardized and writted for the teenie bopper crowd so they can cop a cheap feel when their girlfriends hop in their laps screaming). It wasn't that hard to figure out. Let's try it from the beginning.

Group of civil war vets rob a bank and kill people. Henry Thomas accidentally kills a child. They escape to an old farmhouse en route to Mexico. The gang isn't too incredibly stable, and that's obvious when the two mutanists (mayhap too strong a term, but it gets the point across) start plotting.

When they finally reach the house, they end up shooting a creature. They don't know what it was exactly (if you watch, you learn that they are demons later on). However, they note that it has been skinned. How many people have seen skinned animals. They don't always resemble their former selves, just so you all know. A creature can become easily unidentifiable once skinned.

Anyways, gang moves on, goes in house, sees footprints. Creepy atmosphere ensues. Okay, stock for a horror film, right? Here comes the sex scene. Wait! What's this!? You don't see anything. Could it be, a director who is more focused on story than sex? Surely not in the horror genre. You jest, yes?

Anyways, so yeah, eventually, after learning something is wrong, via more possession, you learn what. Basically, in an attempt to save his wife, an old man misread slave voodoo rituals (not uncommon, people are rather stupid when grieving) and unleashed a horde of demons. Okay, so horde may be a bit intense, but you get the picture. In order to keep his secret, he hid the demon possessed family members. However, he was found out by the townspeople, and lynched. What a way to go.

So, house is abandoned, left to for the demons to run rampant within. The house is off limits for everyone in the town, they want nothing to do with the evil that is housed within. Good idea if you think about it. Anyways, you learn about the horrid demon children via flashback. You also learn how the gang came to the house in the first place.

Todd was not able to be possessed because of the gris gris he wore. Anyone who knows anything about voodoo should have recognized that. It protects him in a way. However, since they can't turn him, they torture him, and banish him.

In essence, the movie isn't that hard to follow though. If you know anything about the genre, it is fairly easy to figure out people. It wasn't a bad movie either. It wasn't glamorized beyond all sanity. It wasn't full to the brim of cheesey, yet biting, dialogue. It was an artistic approach to a film genre that has become nothing more than bloody softcore in recent years. I think it was good. Then again, that's just my opinion, and like the rest of you, I'm entitled to have that opinion.

I know it was long, but I'm done now. Sorry if I bored you.

"I'm strangely comfortable with it." Connor in the Boondock Saints

[–] wolf_rahm 19 years ago

That made perfect sense. Though I didn't understand some things when I watched it, like, why Todd suddenly disappears, I thought it was an awesome and scary movie anyway.

[–] vickiedrayson 19 years ago

well strangely comfortable, thank you for that very interesting review of the film. i watched it the first time and totally didnt get it at all. now, thanks to you it all makes much more sense, i am an avid fan of weird and wonderfull horror- supernatural films, and really wanted to enjoy this film. i felt rather let down by the end of it just because there were a few elements i didnt understand about the whole film. now i feel the need to watch it again, just because its all a bit more clearer now. thanks, great help.

" when there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth "

[–] Cacophony_of_Silence 19 years ago

No problem. Glad that someone looks for that special something called a plot. I miss that element in a lot of newer movies. Glad I didn't offend...

"I'm strangely comfortable with it." Connor in the Boondock Saints

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] monkeysontoast 19 years ago

Ok, I didn't liek this movie at all. My not liking it has nothing to do with parts of it being confusing...I just found it be a dull movie with a crappy script. Too bad too...it had a great premise.
Anyway...what I don't get is...why we saw Henry Thomas as a person...but the soldier's who shot him saw him as the demon? He didn't turn into one when they shot him...they never saw HIM at all. They jsut saw the dfemon leaping out at them. From our perspective, we see him running through the corn, and once he's out of the corn, he stops, because he see's the soldiers. At what point does he become a demon/pink thinger? (which looked like giant skinned dogs)

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[–] Cacophony_of_Silence 19 years ago

All of them were posessed. They just don't know it. Anyways, if you watched closely, inside the house, when Henry Thomas walked past a window, it wasn't him in the reflection, it was one of the creatures. He was running, he knew he was running, but to the soldiers, he wasn't a human, he was something else. We don't see that until the end though, because we see Henry as he thinks he is.

"I'm strangely comfortable with it." Connor in the Boondock Saints

[–] snazzy_pink 19 years ago

Yeah, I noticed the window thing. So...all of them were possesed, so they could see each other in human form, but no-one else could? That is also why the dog attacks him, right?

What was that freaky thing in the stables? I had no idea what it was or what in the hell it had to do with the story, but it scared the *beep* out of me. It looked different than the rest of the family.

"You have to live Plan A. Anything else belittles the importance of life." - Vin Diesel

[–] junkmaillover678 19 years ago

What I want to know is, who kept the corn planted? If the original family died some time ago, why are the dead corn stalks still standing?

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] DirtyGrainius 19 years ago

You did a perfect job describing it mate. I can't believe more people didn't realize the "gris-gris"(classic) situation with Todd, especially since he identifies the voodoo necromicon right near the start of the film, not to mention then obvious necklace kissing. Guess folk mussa thought rosarys came in bags back in them thar days. Job well done.

[–] lucas_bgn 19 years ago

Originally posted by Snazzy Pink
That is also why the dog attacks him, right?

correct, you could also see that even if he pulled out his gun to shot the dog, he couldn't shot because he didn't have a gun ;)

But then, how did he shot anabelle? because before the scene he shots her, in the house in the reflection of the window, you see that he already was a demon..ehm, or maybe he did still have weapons etc, ya, thats how it was, his body structure was still as a human, it was just after he killed anabelle and spent the night in the corn field which he completly turned into the demon form.

Remeber that they killed a demon during the day and when they got to the house, they saw footprints, Todd also saw footprints that turned into a demon footprints, so the footprints belonged to the demon they killed in the beginning.

So people gets turned into demon during the night and when its morning, they have completly turned into demons.

[–] dawatcher 19 years ago

'But then, how did he shot anabelle? because before the scene he shots her..'

I guess the same reason that the soldiers found gold coins next to his 'dead body' ...probably an illusion. Remember the dialog about them being here all along and were mistaken for ghosts and were here just to toy with us? Kind of like robin goodffellow. They probably were turned as soon as they 'killed' that demon at the start.

[–] Diaboliqa666 19 years ago

I liked this movie, I can't tell you why exactly, but on that list would be the complete lack of nudity - I am so sick of watching horror for it to just be an excuse to remove some bimbo's shirt....but I am off point.

My question/ point is did the killing of the child at the start of the movie mark William in someway and that is why when all the others dissapear, are blown into dust and shot he is the only one alive and the one who is turned into the demon thingy??

Also, as a side, I do believe they should have left the two deleted scenes containing the dog in the movie, I then understood why that one guy whistled when he heard the dog barking/howling in the corn.

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[–] dally1713 19 years ago

that almost makes sense, strangelycomfortable, but if todd wasnt able to be posessed, shouldnt he have seen his group as the demons they were? and also if the group was posessed, but they saw each other as people, shouldnt they have seen the other demons as the people they were also?

maybe i just dont 100% understand that part.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Scott_Parton 19 years ago

I agree about the deleted scenes featuring the dog, they should have been left in. It would have made more sense in the final scenes. Why the hell should they have to cut up a direct-to-video release anyway for time purposes?

Enjoyed the movie overall though.

[–] frightfan 19 years ago

Although this movie is refreshing in it's unabashed non-trendiness, it does suffer from plot holes. StrangelyComfortable can try to fill them in if she wants to but to me, that is the film-makers' job. This film tries to be a puzzle, but doesn't have all the pieces. To me, that just doesn't cut it. Now, I sort of like this movie anyway, because the scary stuff was downright unsettling at times. That counts for something these days. But it didn't draw my attention away from the fact that the story was incomplete.

2.5 out of 5

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And that's the kind of day it is here in the mind of... FRIGHTFAN!

[–] Cacophony_of_Silence 19 years ago

Strangely Comfortable happens to be female. I should know, I'm her, and I just checked to make sure. *giggles* It is kind of vague. I have friends who practice Vaudaun though, so I get to take up some of their knowledge. Just wanted to correct the assumption of my gender.

"I'm strangely comfortable with it." Connor in the Boondock Saints

[–] kanona29 19 years ago

the whole movie is explained thru the link provided. Someone else posted it already but apparently noone read that thread...lol

there were alot of things that nobody in here would have guessed or realized....i think this movie is very interesting...only seen it once. now i need to rewatch it to catch everything i missed!

it all makes sense now! :) go to the link below for answers to all of your questions

http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_3871.html