A group of
Ornithology students (that's bird watchers, in case you didn't know) and a Park
Ranger, go into the Louisiana swamps to study some rare species of woodpecker that's
been spotted in the area. After meeting the areas only human inhabitant, a reclusive old blind
man named Frederic (played by Robert Vaughn), who also just happens to be a former Ornithology professor,
they go off into the swamps to film the local wildlife.
As night time approaches, they decide to spend the night at an old abandoned house they've discovered. But what they don't know, is that the house had previously been the scene of several gruesome murders some years earlier (you can see where this is leading), and no sooner does it get dark, then low-and-behold, all manner of weird things start happening.
One of them starts experiences ghostly visions, strange shadowy figures are seen outside, members of the group start going missing and dieing in mysterious circumstances, then some zombie figure in an old army uniform pops up out of nowhere and starts stalking them.
What the hell has this got to do with killing birds I hear you ask? Well very little actually, in fact the film is more zombie than anything else, with the titular killing birds only swooping in at the end, when we finally get to find out the identity of the guy who killed the house's previous occupants.
Released in the US and some European countries as "Zombie 5", the film is something of a disappointment. Featuring a very boring plot, which appears to be a mish-mash of different ideas that don't amount to anything, that trudges along at a dreary pace, complete with typical dumb acting and very little action or gore.
Probably Robert Vaughn's worst film, not that he's in it much, and as such is a film that can only be recommended to die hard zombie film enthusiasts.
