2024 Entry #52 07-09-24 “Birder” is a 2023 dramatic thriller which was written by Amnon Lourie and directed by Nate Dushku, both of whom served as producers on 2019’s “Maplethorpe”. The film stars Michael Emery (“The One”, “Petunia”, “Shameless”) as Kristian Brooks, a birdwatching serial killer who invades a nude queer campground in New Hampshire, ensnaring locals with his dark fetish, highlighting the dangers of consent.
The film sells itself as being in the same family as the superior 2013 French erotic thriller “Stranger by the Lake” and I loved that film so I gave this movie a chance. Unfortunately, the acting and directing in this are far lesser in this effort which means that it’s difficult to take any of this seriously and what could have been a very serious, very disturbing chiller becomes a comical demonstration in how not to make this type of film. There are glimmers here and there of what this movie could have been, however the poor acting and directing make the various kills wholly unbelievable (divesting them of any sense of danger or depth) and while there is nudity aplenty with several erections on display, the sex also fails to convince, which was just another reason why “Stranger by the Lake” blew this film out of the water.