Zombie 5: Killing Birds (1987)

A group of students goes into the woods to study birds, and soon the dead begin to rise to devour the living.

Directors:

Claudio Lattanzi (as Claude Milliken), Joe D'Amato (uncredited)

Writers:

Claudio Lattanzi (story), Sheila Goldberg (story)

Stars:

Lara Wendel, Robert Vaughn, Timothy W. Watts

Cast

Cast overview:
Lara Wendel	...	Anne
Robert Vaughn	...	Dr. Fred Brown
Timothy W. Watts	...	Steve Porter
Leslie Cumming	...	Mary (as Leslie Cummins)
James Villemaire	...	Paul
Sal Maggiore	...	Brian (as Sal Maggiore Jr.)
James Sutterfield	...	Rob
Lin Gathright	...	Jennifer
Brigitte Paillet	...	Steve's Mother
Nona Paillet	...	Steve's Grandmother
Ellis Paillet	...	Steve's Grandfather
John H. Green	...	Dr. Green

Storyline

In Louisiana, a soldier returning from Vietnam finds his wife in bed with her lover and he kills them both as well as a couple of friends, but he is attacked by a bird and he loses his eyes. Years later, the bodies have not been found and the former soldier is now a bird specialist (Dr. Fred Brown) living in a house nearby the swamp. When a group of college students go to the swamp on an assignment to research a species of woodpecker that is almost extinct, they head to Dr. Brown's house to get some tips of how to find the rare bird. They drive through the swamp where they find the house where the murders happened and they decide to stay there. During the night, weird things happen.

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Plot Keywords:

boyfriend girlfriend relationship | brown eyes | babe | screaming | affair | 

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

19 August 1988 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Raptors

Filming Locations:

Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

ITL 150,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmirage,Flora Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Ultra Stereo)

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the direction is credited to Claudio Lattanzi, various sources claim that Joe D'Amato, the movie's producer and cinematographer, was the one who actually directed the movie.

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Connections

Referenced in Paura nel buio (1989)

User Reviews

Complete waste of time

Terribly bad acting is what annoys you here right from the start. The acting, along with the soap opera-like music, completely ruins the film before it even properly begins. I don't know by what standards the teenage protagonists were cast but they're NOT attractive and they sure don't succeed in making themselves appear believable. Killing Birds suffers a little too much from awful sound editing and low budget production values to make it worth renting. Luckily it got released as an unofficial sequel in the Zombie-series otherwise it was doomed to disappear into oblivion right after its premiere. At least now it enjoys a modest cult-reputation. Completely undeserved, because any other Zombie film contains more gore in the opening minutes than this production features throughout the whole playtime. The plot may have had some potential (the great Alfred Hitchcock already knew birds had something eerie forty years ago) but you're simply not interested due to the annoying characters and the tensionless surrounding. One to avoid at all costs.