• Source: Birdeater

Birdeater is a 2023 Australian horror film, featuring psychological and emotional abuse. It is the debut feature of writer-directors Jack Clark and Jim Weir.




Synopsis


A group of privileged young men gather for Louie's bachelor party in a rural location one night. Louie has invited his fiancée, Irene, and one of his friends, Charlie invites his fiancée Grace, to make Irene feel more comfortable. As time goes on, it becomes apparent that there are serious flaws in Louie's relationship with Irene.




Cast


Mackenzie Fearnley as Louie
Shabana Azeez as Irene
Ben Hunter as Dylan
Jack Bannister as Charlie
Clementine Anderson as Grace
Alfie Gledhill as Murph
Harley Wilson as Sam
Caroline McQuade as Lady Lazurus




Production


Writer-directors Weir and Clark met while both studying at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney. It took them around 18 months to get the film into production owing to lack of funding, which in the end came from around eight parties who each put in A$10,000.
The film is set in a rural location in New South Wales, and was filmed in the bush around the village of St Albans in the Hawkesbury. Filming began in a valley called Forgotten Valley in 2021, but the set was washed out by flooding and after four weeks they had run out of money after shooting only half of the film. Six months later a new investor came on board and they finished shooting in two weeks.
Fledging Sydney production company Breathless Films, run by co-founders Ulysses Oliver and Ben Ferris, helped with the development and produced the film.




Release


Birdeater had its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2023, and was also screened at the 2023 Melbourne and Brisbane International Film Festivals. It screened at SXSW in Austin, Texas, in 2024.
The film opened in Australian cinemas on 18 July 2024.




Reception


Birdeater received mixed reviews. Many reviewers likened it to the 1971 classic Australian horror film Wake in Fright, with both films featuring urban professionals in rural locations, and both looking at the effects of toxic masculinity, although through very different characters and reflecting their respective contemporary cultures.
Peter Gray of The AU Review gave the film five out of five stars, writing "Visceral and feral, Birdeater blends its topical commentary on separation anxiety and fragile masculinity with an almost hallucinatory mentality. Its intrusive editing and claustrophobic camera shots further highlight Weir and Clark's stronghold on genre execution, resulting in a truly horrific vision that revels in its uncompromising temperament". Grace Roodenrys, writing in the Sydney Arts Guide, called it "A brilliant new Australian film", giving it five out of five stars. X-Press Magazine gave the film 9 out of 10 stars, praising the acting, direction, pacing, and editing.
FilmInk valued the film as worth A$15.00 (out of a maximum of A$20.00), writing "it's not breaking any new ground, but it's suspenseful, effectively disturbing and for the most part, very well acted".
Ari Mattes wrote in The Conversation: "Birdeater is brilliantly shot and edited, the sound design and music are exemplary... and the acting is absolutely first-rate", and thinks it worth seeing, but that the second half did not live up to the promise of the first. Luke Buckmaster gave it two stars out of five, and wrote in The Guardian "Shabana Azeez and Mackenzie Fearnley are good as the husband and wife to be but this horror film feels indecisive and stretches too long".




Awards and nominations


Audience award, 2023 Sydney Film Festival




References






External links


Birdeater at IMDb
Official website on Umbrella Entertainment

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Goliath birdeater
• Birdeater
• Lasiodora parahybana
• Giant huntsman spider
• Orders of magnitude (length)
• Spider
• Jack Clark
• Chilobrachys huahini
• Lasiodora difficilis
• Blondie