Zombie 5: Killing Birds

A lot of people say this movie isn't part of the "Zombie" series ("Zombi 2," "Zombi 3," "Zombie 4: After Death," "Zombie 5: Killing Birds," or more accurately "Zombie," "Zombie 2," "Zombie 3," and "Zombie 4," respectively.) However, given that it was later given the dominant title "Zombie 5" (despite it being the fourth film in the series) over "Killing Birds," I do see the connections between this film and the two Lucio Fulci "Zombie" ("Zombi 2" and "Zombi 3" or "Zombie" and "Zombie 2," respectively) movies and Claudio Fragasso's "Zombie 4: After Death"/"Zombie 3." This one was filmed about a year before "After Death" was released, and what happened, I think, was that the Italian backers of the film panicked and decided to have bits and pieces of the screenplay rewritten to tie in with the "Zombie" movies-- if you watch the film as closely as I did, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. About a quarter into the movie the seemingly dominant avian theme is thrown out the window in favor of a supernatural thriller/undead slasher type film. So, what's "Zombie 5: Killing Birds" about? Well, I'll tell you...The movie begins sometime after or perhaps during the Vietnam War, a war veteran returns to his home in the swampland boondocks of Florida, bearing a gift for his wife, only to find her in bed with another man. He proceeds to go on a killing rampage, murdering his wife, her lover and an elderly couple with a baby (but not the baby) in cold blood before the birds in his enclosed porch in fanciful cages begin to shriek with terror and birds descend from the sky and pluck out his eyes. We move ahead about twenty-some years to a college where a Doctor Green (played by a real life Doctor named John H. Green) is helping a college student named Anne investigate the dwindling species of a rare bird. She assembles a team of five other people to go and seek out the last few people who have seen the bird, the only known living witness of this rare creature being an elderly, blind war veteran played by Robert Vaughn, named Doctor Fred Brown. The trip's benefactor, Doctor Green hires a driver named Brian, who drives them deep into the Florida marshes. One of the students is named Steven, and when Steven and Anne go to Doctor Brown's house and meet him, they begin to suspect things are decidedly not as they seem as the man, a gentleman, albeit an uncouth recluse, seems to be hiding something. They leave Doctor Brown and venture deeper into the marshes where they discover an ancient pickup truck that seems to have been in a state of neglect for decades. The nerdy girl in the group, Jennifer, opens the door of the pickup truck and a corpse falls out. Their own van is in need of some repairs to the team takes up shelter in an abandoned house-- that just happens to be the site of the murders at the beginning of the movie.Brian and the inexplicable computer geek of the group, Rob, get a generator in the basement running and get the lights on in the house. Rob carries around what must be an eighty pound laptop (circa 1987) and uses it to make Vector-graphics based pornography because as he explains to Steve earlier in the movie "It's what puts bread on the table." Meanwhile, the jock-type jerk of the group, Paul and the loose girl of the group, Mary quickly find a bed to copulate in, and that's when the weirdness starts. As they engage in intercourse, Steve begins to hallucinate, he has a rather surreal vision of Anne being crucified to the wall of one of the rooms near the empty aviary (which is full of empty birdcages in which the birds at the beginning of the movie were seen going insane), after that, Mary begins to hallucinate and then all hell breaks loose when Jennifer gets killed by a zombie and the bodies start piling up like meat on the scale at the deli.I don't want to give too much else away about the film itself, if you really want to know, you either will buy the film or you already own the video. The film is of Italian design, as are all the films in the "Zombie" series, but where the first three in the series are all connected by certain directors, writers and actors, "Zombie 5: Killing Birds" is connected by a thread, in that, as I already stated, it went into the production the year before "After Death" was released and I believe that the film's two directors, who are primarily known for being pornographers (perhaps echoed by Rob's computer animations in the film) saw an opportunity to cash in on the success of the "Zombie" films and had parts of a preexisting screenplay rewritten or even parts of their finished film reshot in order to tie in with the "Zombie" series. But how does it tie in with the "Zombie" series? Well, for starters, it features zombies-- a lot of people are claiming that zombies don't show up until the last ten minutes of the film, which is a common misconception, as there are plenty of zombies seen throughout the course of the movie, but it's only in the final ten minutes of the film that full-blown zombie chaos occurs. The zombies in this movie are far closer to the kind of zombies first seen in Fulci's "Zombi 3" ("Zombie 2") and later expanded upon in Fragasso's "Zombie 4: After Death" ("Zombie 3"), that kind of zombie being agile, quick, unusually intelligent and not necessarily flesh eating. Following in "After Death"'s footsteps, the zombies are of a more supernatural origin than they're portrayed as being in the first two films (although a case could be argued for or against the supernatural origin in the first and second films, especially the first with the prominent voodoo theme being prevalent in all of them). As well as capitalizing upon the "Zombie" franchise, "Killing Birds" also takes nods from the "Evil Dead" films, particularly seen in Steve's big hallucination sequences when doors open as the camera chases an unseen force around the house in an almost "Looney Toons" fashion à la "The Shining."The make-up effects in the movie range from brilliant to dreadful, the more prominent being the latter. Most of the zombies seen in the film are so heavily decayed that the make-up artist must have been confused by what direction to take them in and rushed the process in the end leaving much to be desired. That said, some of the gore effects are extremely well done, the beheading of one of the characters towards the very end of the film comes to mind, as does another character getting his hand caught in the spinning gears of the basement generator in another scene earlier in the movie. The same can be said of the special effects, some of them are absolutely gorgeous, especially considering the budget, others have no excuse to be so poor. The best effect in the movie by far is the scene where one of the characters is completely immolated by fire and runs screaming into the darkness-- it looks very real, probably because it IS real. I don't think they could even afford a fire-retardant suit so they just doused the actor in kerosene and lit him on fire and yelled "ACTION!" But then there's the overlay birds, which are the 1980s equivalent of dangling a bat on a string in front of the camera and calling it a dragon. But what it all comes down to in the end is, is it worth watching?The answer, surprisingly, is yes. It acts somewhat as a 'prequel' to the rest of the "Zombie" movies, perhaps even giving a viable explanation for the zombies' presence on Earth. They're referred to as "lost souls" who "feed on fear," and they seem to travel in and out of different planes of reality, inter-dimensional tripping and gateways between the human mind and the Gates of Hell itself. If you make a few free associations, one can be lead to assume that these creatures' presence opened doorways around the world which caused the zombie outbreaks seen in the first and third films in the series, the second film being a scientific take on everything, yet in the end ultimately being taken over by the hoodoo voodoo magic of the living dead seen in every film in the series. While the movie has an incredibly heavy "Scooby Doo" feel to it and it takes on the basic structure of your garden variety slasher film, it is better than say, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" or "The Sum of All Fears." Did I like the movie? Yes, I liked a lot.Like I've said in my reviews for the other three movies in the series, Shriek Show does an excellent job with the DVD, here. The artwork on the cover is gorgeous, as is the disc for the film itself inside a standard keep case. There aren't many special features to write home about, except for a ten minute interview with Robert Vaughn about his role in the film and some of his other films, like "Teenage Caveman" and "Battle Beyond the Stars." There's a "picture gallery" which is just a few shots of some one-sheets for the movie set to music from the film's score. Then there's four trailers, "Zombi 2," "Killing Birds," "Black Demons" and "Flesh For The Beast." Now, I watched all the trailers, but as soon as the trailer for "Flesh For the Beast" (a movie completely unrelated to "Zombie 5: Killing Birds!") was over, a THIRTY FIVE MINUTE LONG DOCUMENTARY on the making of "Flesh For The Beast" began to play. I'm not sure if this is a glitch on the DVD I got, like, maybe it's a misprint or something or a goof, but a thirty five minute documentary about the making of this completely unrelated movie plays after you watch the trailer for it. It's just weird and I'm not sure why it's on there at all. That's all the special features on the DVD. I'm a little disappointed there were no subtitles as the actress who portrayed Anne speaks with a heavy German accent and they didn't bother to dub her the way they dubbed some of the Italian actors in the film who probably spoke their lines phonetically. I digress.If I were to try to look for a message in the movie, I'd say it's that the Vietnam War was just bad for everyone, but that's something said in so many movies, already. Maybe you want to think of it as a movie about heritage, legacy, bloodlines and family, all themes loosely portrayed in the film. It can be whatever you want it to be, I guess. It's not a zombie film you need, but one you deserve. All in all, "Zombie 5: Killing Birds," or, as it is by its proper title, "Zombie 4," is a movie that probably isn't going to satisfy everyone and is for completionists and die-hard fans of Italian horror or Robert Vaughn. But for the low price, there really isn't a reason not to own the movie if you're an avid horror movie fan and/or DVD collector. If you see it, pick it up, it makes for a good way to pass some time on a rainy Wednesday afternoon with your friends over a few drinks and some Chinese food.

Some times i wonder if these zombies are after the students or the guy after coming back from the war.

HEY....I HAVE TO DISAGREE WITH THE OTHER REVIEWS HERE. I PURCHASED 'KILLING BIRDS' ABOUT A YEAR AGO AND TOTALLY ENJOYED IT FOR MANY REASONS. FIRST OFF...YEA, IT ISN'T A ZOMBIE MOVIE..AT LEAST NOT LIKE 'ZOMBIE' OR 'DAWN OF THE DEAD'...BUT AS YOU KNOW, WHEN SEEKING OUT OBSCURE AND LOW-BUDGET MOVIES, THE STUDIO WILL USUALLY TAG THEIR FLIC WITH A VERY POPULAR AND COMMERCIAL BRAND NAME. (the Howling, Witchcraft,etc) to DRAW IN VIEWERS...IF YOU'RE AN AVID HORROR/sSCI-FI fan...well,then YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS BY NOW..? WHAT IS ALSO VERY 'KOOL' AND STILL HAS ME SEARCHING THE MOVIE ARCHIVES HERE ON AMAZON..IS THAT I'M FINDING HUNDREDS OF FILMS THAT I'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE...THANX TO THE WONDER OF DIGITAL MOVIES! I GREW UP IN THE 80S AND I'M A TOTAL RETRO-FLASHBACK 80'S DUDE! BUT NOW, I'M WATCHING AND STUDYING ANYTHING I CAN GET MY HANDS ON........THIS BRINGS ME TO MY 'DISCOVERY' OF SOME OF THE ZOMBIE SEQUEALS. TO ME...SORRY GUYS, 'THE KILLING BIRDS' WAS AN AWESOME RARE FIND....THIS WOULD OF BEEN ONE OF THOSE MOVIES ON VHS THAT I WOULD HAVE PROBABLY 'BURNED' UP IN MY VCR PLAYER...LIKE 'CHILDREN OF THE CORN, JUST BEFORE DAWN, NIGHT OF THE COMET...THE FUNHOUSE!!' 'KILLING BIRDS' LOOKS, TASTES AND SMELLS LIKE A 1980 CHEEZE-FLICK. FIRST, IT DOES THAT OPENING 'PROLOGUE' OF A HORRIBLE HAPPENING...THEN...FLASHES SEVERAL YEARS LATER TO A COLLEGE CAMPUS TO INTRODUCE THE BLAND KIDS. THE BOYS ARE VERY SOFT AND THE CLOTHES VERY..the GAP..?..matter of fact, tHE ENTIRE MOVIE HAS THIS REALLY NIFTY HAZE TO IT...EVERYTHING IS VERY PASTEL AND THE KIDS QUIET AND SOFTLY SPOKEN...(think..THE KINDRED..ELM STREET...VALLEY GIRL...APRIL FOOLS DAY,DEFINATELY!!) why wasn't this movie on our VIDEO SHELVES in the 80's.....?....who cares...I FOUND IT NOW. THE MOVIE ALSO MADE ME THINK OF 'EXQUINOX'..'SLAUGHTERHOUSE'..'BLOODY NEW YEAR'...AND A EVIL-DEAD RIP OFF CALLED 'DEMON WIND'. IF YOU KNOW ANY OF THESE LITTLE LOW-BUDGET MOVIES...AND MAY HAVE LIKED THEM..THEN YOU MAY 'ENJOY' 'KILLING BIRDS'...OR AT LEAST, GET A WARM,COZY FEELING INSIDE FROM WATCHING AND REMEMBERING HOW 'SIMPLE' IT WAS TO TELL A DECENT STORY WITHOUT CGI AND BUCKETS OF BLOOD.....MATTER OF FACT, THE 'PACE' IS DEFINATELY SLOW..BUT AFTER REALLY WATCHING THIS MOVIE..IT SUDDENLY HIT ME 'HARD' THAT THE MOVIE'S UNDER CURRENT WAS SORT OF LIKE EARLY JOHN CARPENTER....'KILLING BIRDS' SIMPLY BUILDS AND BUILDS WITH ECHOES OF 'ERRIE' CHIMES AND ALSO ACTUALLY USES WHITE SMOKE AND FOG TO CREATE IT'S ATMOSPHERE. THE PLOT IS SIMPLE..BUNCH OF KIDS GO ON AN OUTING TO GO...BIRD WATCHING...(FOR REAL!)..IN THE FOREST..STUMPLE APOND A DEAD BODY AND END UP STRANDED IN AN ISOLATED HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF 'EVIL DEAD' LAND....THE 'TEENS' MOVE THRU THE MOVIE IN SUCH MELODRAMATIC FASHION, WALKING IN AND OUT OF DREAM-LIKE SITUATIONS..THAT YOU WILL EITHER GO WITH..(LIKE AN OLD GHOST STORY)..OR NOT..IF YOU 'WANT' FAST PACE AND LIGHTNING LIKE SPEED THEN OF COURSE THIS ISN'T FOR YOU.....I HOWEVER, CHEWED IT UP...ESPECIALLY WHEN THE 'PREPPIE' KIDS ARE TRAPPED IN THE VAN..AND THE 'DEAD' START TO CLOSE IN ON THEM....THE CUTS ARE QUICK, THE PRETTY KIDS BREATHING AND SWEATING HARD..THE 'HALLOWEEN' LIKE TECHNO MUSIC IS PLAYING WITH GLEE AND HUGE BRIGHT WHITE LIGHTS OF FOG SURROUND THEM...(echoes of THE FOG and PRINCE OF DARKNESS)...of course, nothing in my eyes come close to CARPENTER or TOBE HOOPER'S THE FUNHOUSE..(my all time wet-dream favorite!!)...BUT I GUESS I JUST ADMIRE VERY LOW-BUDGET FILMS THAT MAKE A 'BUCK' STRETCH AS FOR AS IT GOES. I ALSO LOVE THE CONCLUSION WHEN THE LAST 'KIDS' LOCK THEMSELVES IN THE DUSTY ATTIC AND THE MUSIC PLAYING REMINDED ME OF 'ANGELS' OR A CHORUS HUMMING...SORT OF LIKE A VERY,VERY LOW-BUDGET DARIO ARGENTO.....LOVE THIS SCENE...THE QUICK CUTS OF THE FRANTIC KIDS SEEM TO MELT BACK AND FORTH WITH THE MUSIC...CREATING ONCE AGAIN A VERY DREAMY 'NOT OF THIS' EARTH KINDA ATMOSPHERE..OH YEA..AND NOT THAT IT REALLY MATTERS, BUT THE LAST SURVIVING PRETTY BOY HAS A 'CONNECTION' WITH THE BIRDS..OR 'PHANTOMS'..OR 'KILLER'..OR...THAT'S RIGHT..HE'S RELATED TO THE...OH..it really doesn't matter..IT'S MORE ABOUT THE 'MOOD' of the 'MOMENT!'.....ANYWAY, IF YOU ENJOY EARLY 80'S FILMS.(SUPERSTITION,THE OUTING,SLAUGHTER HIGH,SLAUGHTERHOUSE ROCK,CHOPPING MALL,the ZERO BOYS)I WOULD GIVE THIS A TRY....OH MY GOD...THAT'S WHO THE BOYS REMINDED ME OF...I JUST FIGURED IT OUT..AHA! THAT POP GROUP AHA.. the''TAKE ON ME..'' MTV MUSIC VIDEO...ya know, when that PRETTY GIRL GETS SUCKED INTO THAT COMIC BOOK AND FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE CARTOON GUY...yea....very,very 80'S...and 'KILLING BIRDS' has that style.....!! thanx for reading....KEVIN BRIAN....be my bloody VALENTINE...or ELSE!!!

I liked Zombie 5. The film has good writing, good directing, and great music. It was certainly entertaining.

The proper name of this film is Killing Birds and Zombie 5 was just slapped on to try and make money. In fact, this is made in 1987, a year before "Zombie 4" (After Death) so there's no literal or continuity connection whatsoever. It's actually a rather dull affair with little actual bird or zombie attacks. When they do come, the gore effects are pretty good, at least on par with other Italian films of the same period, but done with such little enthusiasm or build-up that the whole thing has little impact.Directed by "Claude Milliken" which is Claudio Lattanzi. Apparently, the infamous Joe D'Amato (Aristide Massaccesi) stepped in to finish the film (after Claudio fell asleep?), but no appreciable difference can be seen so D'Amato must have directed in a similar somnambulant manner.Shriek Show deliver the usual anamorphic 1.85:1 print, with trailers and a photo gallery. The best inclusion though, is an interesting interview with Robert Vaughn who discusses his career in some detail.

The film was everything i love aboutItalian horror, and the seller was very patient when there were issues about the correct delivery address, which was my fault. Cult film, and brilliant vendor.

PLOT...A group of college-aged ornithologists have taken a class trip into the wilderness on a quest to find and study a rare and almost extinct bird, they set up camp in an old house, only to find themselves under siege from a mysterious supernatural force! Not only is it the hungry birds they have to worry about but also bloodthirsty zombies.Yes the movies plot is bonkers and it plays out just as confusing, this is one cheesy late 80's zombie horror but is not without some charm, the story is mainly what lets it down, its hard to follow with all the crazy things going on, but it kind of makes sense by the end, the cast is overall not too bad, the movie even though its a 15 rating has a few good bloody kill scenes especially with the zombie attacks, not the best but still entertaining, good old practical effects too, even though it carries the zombie title its not really a sequel or part of the running series, its mainly a stand alone horror with zombies in it, the movie has a good setting, some classic foggy set pieces and some good composed music to set the scene. its cheesy and not one of the best but still enjoyable if you love these cult classic cheesy 80's horrors, 88Films have certainly made a great collectable Blu-ray release.Blu-ray looks great in HD for its agefeatures are plentiful with a commentary and hours of interviews. trailer.Fantastic hard box sleeve, 38 page book about the Zombie series, reversible sleeve and poster.Region FREE ABC, Running time 92mins UNCUT. 1987/2021.English language. English subtitles.

The late, Über Italian schlock producer Joe D'AMato (or has his parents know him, Aristide Massaccesi) takes a break from adult filmmaking for a side step into the TV movie-lite splatter zombie genre with this late '80s exercise in tedium about a blind guy, a group of dull teens and a horde of tenuously linked birds. Hey, I'm sure it sounded great on paper.Vietnam veteran Fred Brown is returning home to Louisiana, hoping to be greeted by his adoring wife. Problem is, 'ol wifey has hooked up with another fella which obviously puts a bit of a spanner in our war-torn heroes' plan. Plunging him into a murderous frenzy, he dispatches them both by bloody throat gauging - before being disabled himself by her bird of prey Falcon which unceremoniously takes his eye for good measure. Stay with me - this is the most coherent aspect of the movie. Fast forward 20 years later and a group of college seniors, Steve (Timothy W. Watts), Mary (Leslie Cummins), Paul (James Villemaire), Anne (Lara Wendel), Rob (James Sutterfield) and Jennifer (Lin Gathright) are assigned to locate a rare species of bird which will soon be extinct. Setting up home at (ta-da!) Fred Brown's pad (he's now played by Robert Vaughan), he gives them vital information about the bird - but not before long, the group are besieged by a rotting zombie, doors that close on their own and visitations from beyond... Who or what is behind these strange phenomenon? And just who is this reclusive Fred fella? I'd like to say its worth your time finding out, but as life is so short - maybe putting the dishwasher on could prove to be a better use of your time.Directed by self-proclaimed Dario Argento fanatic Claudio Lattanzi (yet apparently it was D'AMato who called the shots, but who knows) - 'Killing Birds' (aka 'Zombi 5') is about as thrilling as a root canal with lacklustre direction, non-existent pacing, light gore and TV movie-esque production values. Lead Robert Vaughan slums it for a pay-cheque and even though his presence is welcomed, its still not enough to save this clunker. Other cast members either look bored or hampered by awful post-production looping which not only hinders their performance but also drowns it out with a thoroughly annoying flurry of bird sounds which forever punctuate the soundtrack. So overwhelming and distracting, I was in two minds about whether to view the movie without any audio - which in an ironic twist of fate is an anecdote that Lattanzi bemoans when he viewed an Argento flick - yet switched (ie: without the visuals).As always, 88 Films do a sterling job with their releases - alongside a great transfer they offer a multitude of extra special features including; commentary track by Troy Howarth & Nathaniel Thompson, interview's with composer Carlo Maria Cordio, director Lattanzi, make-up artist Pietro Tenoglio and sound recordist Piero Paris - there's also an alternate title sequence ('Raptors') and spiffing reversible cover art by the great Graham Humphreys. All in all, the 88 Films package is great but the movie it belongs to sadly, is not. If I were being kind - I would grant this release 3 stars purely for the work done by 88 but as the movie is so maddeningly poor - it's just so hard to go anywhere above 1. Sorry.

not bad film enjoyed it and it was well packaged

The film opens with a man returning home from Vietnam only to discover his slut wife in bed with another man. He then kills them both and any other people around before being attacked by birds. Years later students trying to record sightings of a rare bird arrive at the house of a blind man who was the last person who saw it! He directs them to a derelict house where they set up for the night...Directed by Claudio Lattanzi and finished off by Joe D'amato this is for large parts quite a dull film. The opening sequence with the Vietnam vet returning home and pretty much killing everyone is good as it contains some gore. However, from then on it's quite boring and Robert Vaughn is truly terrible as the blind bird expert who just seems to endlessly roam corridors in a house doing nothing. Some of the deaths are OK but the effects are not too good, but there is an effective and suspenseful scene when the zombies attack the students in a camper van. The film makes little sense and come the end you'll be thinking you haven't seen many zombies or killing birds for that matter at all. 2.5 Stars.