Movies: 'Birdemic: Shock and Terror'

"Birdemic: Shock and Terror" made a splash at Sundance this year, where writer/director/producer/financer James Nguyen reportedly drove around Park City in a van covered with fake birds and blood in a relentless act of DIY self-promotion. Only thing was, his movie was rejected by the festival. If you watch the trailer online you will know why. Once you get past the hilariously awful narration, stilted acting and lame romance-plot setup, that's when the birds show up to reap ... shock and terror, I guess? The word's been out on the interwebs ever since that this haplessly titled movie (what the hell is a "birdemic" anyway?) is the next in a long line of so-terrible-it's-great movies, a la "The Room" and "Troll 2." The effects would look out of place in an original Nintendo game; the birds look as if they were literally cut-and-pasted onto the film negative, like something out of an early "South Park" episode. Some have speculated Nguyen intentionally made the movie awful to cash in on this current cult-movie phenomenon, but one only needs to check out the many interviews with the first-time filmmaker to realize this is most likely another case of huge ambitions meeting minimal talent. I hope it is the genuine article, because I hate that kind of cynicism in movies (cringe: a sequel is already in the works), but mostly I just can't wait to laugh my ass off.