THE BIRTHDAY (2004)

a review by Evan Landon

I don't know if you are familiar with Corey Feldman, the musician. Apparently, the man fashions himself to be a singer/songwriter and not the child actor turned actor that seems to have begrudgingly avoided him over the years, but we are not looking at that Corey Feldman in this article because this simply is not a review of any of his music. That honor goes to any reviewer of musical performances that we have an extensive record of, at this point. This is not even a review of any of his other films, acclaimed or otherwise, to which there are many.

What The Birthday is about is kind of an odd duck, and Corey Feldman plays it that way the entire way throughout, except when he doesn't. You can see when he enjoys playing the character, yet continuously finds ways to convince the audience he isn't imagining moonwalking across the floor, or trying his hardest Jerry Lewis impression instead of a Michael Jackson one. I mean, you can see him really trying to be everything except Corey Feldman in this film.

A hapless young man is asked by his girlfriend to attend her father's birthday party at the hotel he owns, that is subsequently shutting down afterwards. Sounds easy enough, right? WRONG! Turns out the entire ballroom could be infected by an ancient mythical god that wants to destroy humanity itself. Leave it to the hapless fuck boyfriend who has zero to no skills to save everybody.

Despite it's various flaws story wise, Spanish Director Euginio Mira demonstrates an innate ability to maneuver the camera in different ways to create scenes that border on the absurd and outlandish. In a lot of ways, Mira is able to conjure a same kind of immersive, Lynchian world reminiscent of Terry Gilliam and Yorgos Lanthimos, all the while attempting to keep the whimsy of a Gordon Douglas romp.

I won't say too much more about this movie because in doing so would spoil it. I know what you are thinking, “..how can you spoil a Corey Feldman movie?” To watch him attempt to wash a Jerry Lewis character, that he most likely created because he could not be seen at the craft services table, is the only reason to watch this movie. Euginio Mira does deserve some love for this though. He deserves much better.

The Lovecraftian shit in the last 10 minutes is actually worth it tho. Like, a bunch of dudes become this globular fucking monster. That gets a star right there!

3 Out Of 5