Birdemic: Shock and Terror Trivia Quiz

Answer: A car driving down a winding road

In one of the more droning opening scenes since "Manos: Hands of Fate", the entire sequence is filmed from the dashboard of the protagonist's car. As Rod drives down a road to...wherever...the scene seems to have little to do with birds, birdemics, shocks, or terror. As the movie develops, however, it's only the first of many instances of social commentary. Why do we need our cars? What impact has a car on the environment? How will this affect the birds?!

In later scenes, Rod watches news reports about the break-up of polar ice due to global warming, characters complain about overbearing heat and, at one point, the survivors run through a forest fire. And by survivors I don't mean the viewers.

Oh yeah, and Rod's car is a hybrid. It's probably one of the reasons why he survives.

Answer: Model

Visiting a restaurant at random, Rod ends up running into Nathalie (evidently ignoring his original plans to eat food). Although most viewers have likely realized that the film has cuts between every line, usually to focus on one character at a time, I'll explain this now: This movie is difficult to watch. Every line seems to have been filmed in a different take.

But that's a bit of an aside. Rod gets Nathalie's number but it's too late to set up a date-- she has a modeling gig to go to at her local one-hour photo studio. A couple of shots as a geisha and-- no joke-- she's booked as a Victoria's Secret model. As one does.

Things are looking up. No birds yet, at least not in the flesh; the news discusses some birds dying "for some reason".

Answer: Solar panel applications

After much more driving (in his Mustang), Rod ends up at work, ultimately closing out the biggest deal of his life in about twenty seconds. Even with a 50% discount on software, Rod (as he puts it) "catches the big fish" with a million dollar sale. The event puts him in a great enough mood to call Nathalie and ask her on a date, something she gladly accepts since she too is experiencing a massive career windfall (out of far left field in my opinion). Their date goes well-- it turns out that both of their best friends are also dating. Small world.

Much of these instant successes keep recurring as the movie goes along. Rod earns more money at work when his company is acquired and merged with another, opening his stock options (and there is much celebration in the boardroom over the billion dollar deal). He also buys some solar panels (and yes, we see his entire consultation...including an "I'll show you where on the roof it goes" scene), and decides to pursue a career in selling cost-effective solar panels. This man has everything.

Oh yeah-- and during Rod and Nathalie's first date, some clip art parrots appear around a tree somewhere. None of this arouses suspicion, but the shock and terror is just around the bend...hopefully.

Answer: The beach

Nathalie has a couple of brief visits with her mother, at one point introducing her to Rod. Her mother doesn't seem to believe in the merits of her modeling career, trying to convince Nathalie to fall into real estate (or get a rich husband...which seems easy in this movie). She is, nonetheless, supportive if not overenthusiastic.

Rod, meanwhile, goes into early retirement to pursue the solar panel idea. They go on a double-date with their friends to see "An Inconvenient Truth" as the social commentary heats up and, at some point, there's a pumpkin festival. A lot of this provides an insignificant amount of exposition. There are no birds.

...that is until Rod and Nathalie head to the beach for a stroll. While talking about back-up careers (you know, in case the tumultuous modeling career doesn't work out and she needs to fall back on real estate), they almost step on a dead clip-art eagle. Rod warns Nathalie not to touch it, but they seem to forget about it almost immediately after.

Answer: Just Hanging Out

"Just hanging out, hanging out, hanging out.
Hanging out with the family.
Having ourselves a party."

When Rod and Nathalie decide to leave the city for a night they stop off at an Irish restaurant for dinner and dancing (though it's more awkward when they're the only ones there and Rod dances as though he needs an anti-paralytic). The song "Just Hanging Out" is performed in full to a near-empty room, presumably for the audience's benefit, and including harmonies even though there is only one musician. There is absolutely no reason to fear a birdemic at this point, but shock and terror are inevitable.

After a semi-passionate night in a cheap motel, Rod and Nathalie awaken to the sound of evil birds outside. Some sound like dive-bombers. Others are just squawking clip art vultures. It is a true birdemic.

Answer: Coat hangers

Forty-six minutes into the film, all Hell breaks loose as birds begin attacking everyone and everything with little regard for their own safety. Rod and Nathalie escape their room when the heat seems to die down and seek shelter with another couple in the motel-- Ramsey and Becky. Luckily, Ramsey has automatic weapons in his car, so they make their escape, coat hangers in hand, and spend a bit of time swatting at what seems to be empty air with their improvized wire arsenal. Thankfully there are enough hangers for all four of them to initiate their serious plan. No one is harmed.

That's when the rifle and pistol are pulled out from the back seat. Because that makes sense.

Answer: Two; both are children

Stopping at the side of the road to search for survivors, the group finds two-- a small girl, Susan, underneath a car and a young boy, Tony, who somehow locked himself in a trunk. Everyone is able to escape. Perhaps the most perplexing thing is all of the traffic passing by on the road.

After stopping at an abandoned convenience store (the owner is dead-- the birds got in), everyone decides that a picnic is in their best interest so the six of them head to the beach for a brief respite from the shock and terror. While there, Rod and Nathalie run into a scientist, Dr. Jones, who tells them everything they need to know. As it turns out, all of the birds have the aptly-named 'Bird Flu Virus'; he doesn't know why the birds are attacking, but what he does know is that global warming is causing various viral outbreaks worldwide, and with further evidence he can pinpoint exactly why this birdemic has occurred. Nonetheless, the burning of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases is almost certainly to blame. Bird species can't find food and migration cycles are being destroyed. The human species is to blame!

It's a great coincidence they find an ornithologist at the beach...

Answer: Douse him in acid

Becky is killed soon after the beach visit, attacked by a bird while going to the restroom in a field. Ramsey, distraught, acts rashly and attempts to save several people from a double-decker bus which, in all fairness, seems like a safer place than anywhere else-- especially anywhere outside the bus. Rod says this is a bad idea since they lack room in their van, but insistence pays off and Ramsey waltzes in to save the day. The joke is on him, however, when he and his three persecuted victims are splashed with bird acid, causing them to break out in burning sores and die. Rod decides to drive away, obviously powerless to help. Money and hybrid cars can't save you now, Rod! The birds squawk mockingly from above.

Rod, stopping off at a gas station to refuel, discovers that due to the birdemic, a local gas shortage has occurred-- all fuel is $100/gallon. Luckily he's loaded. When the group drives off they're accosted by a man with a gun who steals their spare gas tank (he had enough for the car and a tank) who promptly has his throat slit by an eagle. Instead of doing the smart thing, Rod drives off, leaving both his expensive fuel and the extra gun.

This is the logic the movie employs.

Answer: A mountain lion is nearby.

Heading into a redwood forest for fresh water (despite buying/looting the stuff frequently from convenience stores along their route), Rod, Natalie, Susan, and Tony end up running into a "tree hugger" named Tom Hill who gives them the low-down about the horrible impact people have on the environment and what that means for their dying ecosystems.

The interesting thing is that the birds don't attack in the woods-- they mainly attack cars and gas stations (good differentiation, eh?). The whole discussion is relatively dispassionate and Tom Hill looks like a thin Woody Harrelson with a ponytail, but who are we to complain? The talk ends when the roar of a mountain lion is heard nearby.

It's probably for the best anyways since a forest fire caused by a drought (in turn caused by global warming) is already blazing through-- they nearly don't make it out alive.

Answer: It stops abruptly and with no real reasoning.

Things go from bad to worse-- Rod and Nathalie find their best friends dead in a car along some oceanside road and decide to make do with their new lives, mainly by going to the beach and catching a fish for dinner when they run out of gas (and it almost makes you wonder why they didn't retrieve the gas can!).

While Nathalie makes a salad out of seaweed (yum), the birds return and they all need to retreat to the car. They fight back with their remaining bullets but, as quickly as the whole ordeal started, the birds decide to fly away.

As the movie ends, the four survivors stare out over the sea for several minutes as the birds simply fly out over the water, never fading into the horizon.