Writer/Producer/Editor/Director/Actor Leigh Scott (Hillside Cannibals and Transmorphers) brings us his latest by way of Sci-Fi Channel premiere/DVD release. Flu Birds is the story of some at-risk delinquents venturing out on an innocent camping trip to learn some life lessons; little did they know it was how to survive. You see, the birds in this area are unlike any other, and they carry with them a disease. What is it? We don't know. How do you stop it? You can't. All we know is these birds are driven mad by their sickness and have an affinity for live prey. Good thing there are some young attractive people around with a predisposition for riff-raff and meddling. Maybe they can run away to a cabin in the woods and slowly turn on one another? We could be entering spoiler territory... Whoopsies!
While this might seem like your typical fare from a Sci-Fi original horror film, there are some good times to be had with this old bird. The direction is competent, and some of the main players are actually capable of carrying a scene. Clara Carey (TV's Jericho) lends an air of credibility to most situations, and Brent Lydic (Headless Horseman) as Gordon "Hip Hop" lightens things up with his comedic timing and random ramblings, such as "gangsta is in your heart."
The action and gore are sufficient and one might even say excessive for the Sci-Fi Channel, and yeah, sometimes the limited budget really shows. At points you will see a computer rendered bird swoop out of the sky to attack one our heroes only to have that CG morph into a man in suit. Or look closely enough and you might find a poor man's Taylor Kitsch, of this fall's X-Men Origins and Friday Night Lights fame, brooding and overacting his way to survival.
But, apart from those few missteps, the action is fast and the tension and dramatics sometimes boil over into comedic territory, which creates for a potentially good Saturday night in with some friends and some drinks.
What can you say about the film? It's billed as The Birds meets Cabin Fever, while it may not touch Hitchcock or share the same amount of fun as Cabin Fever, Flu Birds is...the best film about gigantic disease ridden birds who terrorize a group of delinquent teenagers on a camping trip I have ever seen.
Flu Birds premieres on the Sci-Fi Channel this Saturday the 23th at 9 p.m. and will be available on DVD the 30th of September. Click here for DVD Details.
Review by: Greg MacLennan
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