The Birdwatcher Review: When Birdwatching Turns to Bloodshed

Balraj Kang first appeared on the pages of Severed Cinema with his extremely random oddity, Mother Mortis (see Mother Mortis Review from Apotheosis Productions), a back to basics Texas Chain Saw Massacre kill ‘em all movie accompanied by a helping of occult stuff, that was partially filmed on location in my city.

The Birdwatcher is his newest feature, and it’s very different to his previous work, aside from the fact you’ll spot a couple of familiar faces along the way.

Once again, the music is dominant — loud, ‘80s, with a touch of Portishead as I stated on the prior review. Over the intro it’s all very insidious. Also, a wonderful keyboard choir ripples through. There are shots of bird feeders and cute blue tits as the credits do their thing.

A group of people, lead by Kara, who spearheads a documentary team, and Justine, who’s a forest ranger, heading through the woods. They are being watched by a combat-fatigues-wearing smiling geeza. They are filming the latest episode for a series called Birdarama, all about rare species of birds. The series is the brainchild and baby of Kara, she’s very proud and protective of it.

The bloke continues spying on them, with rather awkward long shots of him simply mugging. The gang are basically seeking out the rarest bird in the world which has recently been spotted in these woods.

“That’s right, bitch, lead me right to her. Sweet little birdies.” He grins. Onward they trek. Rex, the camera man, has a Mother Mortis t-shirt. Cool. I want one! It transpires that our creepy geeza, Bobby, collects bird wings and feathers for his partner, Martha’s outfit. They both start to zero in on the documentary filmmakers.

‘Two weeks earlier’ flashes up and it shows for a while how Justine met up with the gang. She’s seen the bird but doesn’t want to harm it, of course. However, the producer, Nova, wants to catch and kill the bird, much to her Justine’s shock. There is shameless advertising of Mother Mortis again. This time in the form of a poster. Yaaayyee.

The flashback ends and we are back to the exploration. They bump into Bobby and Martha. When the Nut Thatcher bird is sighted, Bobby goes absolutely insane with shears, chopping the throat of the ranger (typical, she was a good character), and Rex receives an axe to his neck in smooth loving chops (which could have done with a few blood tubes up his t-shirt, not enough crimson stuff). I guess the Mother Mortis garment is a rarity. Thus, the killer duo goes looking for the last two.

Martha does the ol’ casual Michael Myers stroll whilst the prey runs like hell, then vanishes. Bobby also does the Mike strut, and he can also knock people out without actually touching them. Anyhow, Kara runs to a couple who try and help, but y’know how it is. They don’t last long.

“What the fuck do ya want? Ya sick fuck!” yells Nova, to which Bobby has a great psychopathic speech. She goes down, all entrails out (with severed fingers I forgot to mention earlier). This lack of blood is distracting. There is more blood with the severed fingers than the throat cutting. Hmm. The film needs more fake gore because honestly, it’s kind of surreal.

Kara endures her eyeball being pecked out by a fiendish toy blackbird. However, the FX team have pulled out all the stops — no holds barred — to make her look like a blow-up doll having its fake eye nodded out by a stuffed bird. It’s fucking beautiful. Check out those screenshots!!

One year later, Kara has survived her doll ordeal with her pride and respect kind of intact, but she now sports an eye patch, y’know, Christina Linberg-style. She has a phobia of birds now but is doing her best at putting it all away in her memory — hanging out with friends, until the killer couple spot her thus beginning their final onslaught…

If you can put up with the dodgy sound, especially the cliff top scene where you wish it had been redubbed, the confusing script in parts, a dubious drill death, then the world is yours.

The Birdwatcher is nowhere near as much fun as Mother Mortis. It’s down to times when the story really drags its heels. However, it’s ambitious, gory in parts, there’s some great camera work, and green lighting hues. But it’s the array of killings that boosts this up. Stabbing, axe chops, tongue abuse, razor wire strangulation, a dodgy drill scene (it deserves a second mention), and more.

Martin Weston and Mark Wilde both play Bobby and Martha. They only had small roles in the previous adventure but show they can hold their own with a bigger script. Martin is especially over-the-top in his character, sounding like he’s auditioning for a part in a ‘70s BBC series.

Caitlin Kennington fares well throughout as Kara, but it’s Claire Bacon who plays Nova Black, the producer, and Natalia Petrovic as the ranger, who steals the show before dying.

With The Birdwatcher, Balraj Khan has tried something different than Mother Mortis. It’s honestly not for everyone. Many will probably switch off after twenty minutes or so, then kick their TV or monitor or mobile phone in, but if you persevere through the minimum issues, you’ll have a bit of a laugh. Even at the fucking drill I suppose.

The Birdwatcher is a flock of gory good times.

Directed by: Balraj Khan
Written by: Balraj Khan
Produced by: Balraj Khan
Cinematography by: Balraj Khan
Music by: Roseanna Lawrence
Edited by: Balraj Khan
Special Effects by: Abigail Hunt, Balraj Khan, Hazel McCarthy, Isabella Owens
Cast: Caitlin Kennington, Martin Weston, Mark Wilde, Claire Bacon, Natalia Petrovic, Richard Bacon, Callum Ward, Katie Lawson
Year: 2025
Country: UK
Language: English
Colour: Color
Runtime: 1hr 16 mins