{"id":52094,"date":"2026-03-11T18:30:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T22:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=52094"},"modified":"2026-03-11T23:45:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T03:45:26","slug":"the-birthday-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/11\/the-birthday-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"The Birthday [2004] [Arrow Video 4k UHD\/Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A weird guy finds himself in a very weird situation at a birthday party: family troubles, partyboys, and a dangerous cult in Eugenio Mira\u2019s 2004 strange film The Birthday, coming March 17th to 4K UHD and Blu-Ray via Arrow Video.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Note before we start: The Birthday was intended for release in 2004, but due to various issues, it\u2019s only been available in Spain and Germany since then. So while it\u2019s technically 2004, for Region A\/1, it\u2019s effectively a new release.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Film<\/strong><\/p>\n

Norman Forrester, played by Corey Feldman<\/a>, is already on edge. He\u2019s the sort of oddball who tries to fit into various groups but doesn\u2019t quite melt sitting on the outside of things, desperately wanting to impress and mesh. The group he\u2019s trying to please tonight: his girlfriend Alison\u2019s family, a powerful set of upper-class businesspeople. She\u2019s acting weird, he\u2019s already weird, and everyone is just being a brick wall of information as he also finds out his college buddies are having a party upstairs and want him to join them, and he doesn’t know what to do. Oh, yes, let\u2019s not forget the cult that is also planning some sort of event for this night. Eugenio Mira\u2019s The Birthday follows this strange night in an ambitious but not quite there exercise in wild horror, dark comedy, and careening energy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To the film\u2019s credit, it never slows over the real-time 117 minutes as Norman is pushed from situation to situation, group to group, always over his head amid the madness around the hotel. And it\u2019s pure madness, no matter where he is, whether it be trying to figure himself into the family matters, the debauchery of the friend group upstairs, or the utter weirdness of the cult plot and the layers that hold. He\u2019s stuck in a Kafka-esque maze of unknowable truths, where everyone seems ot be acting obtuse, whether on purpose or just obliviously. It\u2019s funny, offbeat, and weird, with a sort of sizzling energy of oddity. However, with all the setup, it takes a while to really move forward. For most of the film, whenever it seems like the shoe is going to drop, The Birthday careens off somewhere else to hang for a bit, waiting for something we just saw to have the payoff.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we\u2019re hanging with a trying-too-hard Corey Feldman<\/a> for that whole time. He was one of the driving forces for the film, and I get that. He\u2019s not slumming at all, digging into the character. But, for some reason, Feldman decides to do a Sandler-like squeaky voice, and over quirks, which grates and takes out. But to his service, he\u2019s literally in every shot of the film, even if just the edge of his foot; and it is him, no stand-in. The other performances are solid, rocking the oddness in adept ways. The best is character actor Jack Taylor, of Pieces<\/a> and many other genre flicks, as Alison\u2019s father. Alison herself is Erica Prior, and she\u2019s engaging.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The setting of the rundown hotel is magnificent. Built from an abandoned hospital, it\u2019s gorgeous with the faded Art Deco. It\u2019s quite the sight to behold. From a production design standpoint, it\u2019s wonderful and rich. Shots could be straight from David Lynch with the composition, lighting, and tone. Each choice in the setup is very deliberate. Mira went on to make Grand Piano and Veronica, two intricately designed films, and you can see that shine through in how he puts The Birthday together. That design continues, everyone is done up with fantastic costumes and hair, purposefully a few levels up on reality. The lighting choices heighten that off-putting with a darkness just outside the onscreen lights. Not in the infuriating \u201clight just stops\u201d way, but in a form that creates the atmosphere, a theatricality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Birthday is a film that doesn\u2019t quite come together, but I highly appreciate the ambition and strong go at it. Ambition and messiness are always better than a half-hearted attempt (as I often write, most recently in The Bride<\/a> last week). It\u2019s obvious how much care and desire went into the film. I applaud. But on the flip, as much as Norman is lost, the viewer also is, but feels like we should know so not the \u201cbig question of it\u201d but just not well told enough. Mira also wears his influences on his sleeve. It becomes a distracting \u201cspot the influence\u201d over-focusing on the film itself, whether it be the obvious nods at David Lynch<\/a>, The Shining<\/a>, Barton Fink, or even more subtly, Jurassic Park<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Birthday is an interesting experiment in the filmmaking of Eugenio Miro, a solid if flawed first film that sets up for much more contained efforts later. I appreciate the design and what it\u2019s going for, even if not quite there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Package<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arrow Video<\/a> brings The Birthday to 4k UHD or Blu-Ray in a single disc (this is a \u201cone or the other\u201d release). The disc features a close-up on the cover-art. It\u2019s housed in the specific case of the choice with a reversible sleeve that has two artwork options. There is an o-sleeve with one of the art options. A booklet is included (see below).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 4k release, and I assume the Blu-ray, looks crisp and sharp. The film is a visual wonder, and that shines through the visual production. As does the sound, via the 5.1, the nature of the feature has sound coming from all over, overlapping and disrupting trains of thought. These sound work as expected, not blurring and losing anything within all the din. Subtitles are in English.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Features<\/strong><\/p>\n

All features are new to this release.<\/span><\/p>\n

Commentary<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Corey Feldman and Eugenio Mira offer a very insightful commentary on making the film on a tiny budget and under trying conditions. However flawed the film might be, the ambition in making it come together is commendable. I\u2019m honestly impressed, especially with turning an abandoned Spanish hospital into the wonderful sets. Mira talks about his influences (as noted in the film), and Feldman talks about the whys of the character. I get it, even if he\u2019s still annoying to follow. A good talk that made me appreciate the film more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shape of a Miracle<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Eugenia Mira expands on commentary with ideas of his past and influences, career, building the film from nothing, how he did it, and the 20 years since. (17m)<\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pathology<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A wonderful collection of the how-tos of putting it together, focusing on a specific scene with a breakdown of the components with behind-the-scenes footage, storyboards, interviews, and rushes (17m)<\/span><\/p>\n

Q and A from Fantastic Fest in 2024<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For some reason, Feldman does the Q&A as his character, disrupting anything interesting Mira has to say; I would have loved to hear his answers more fully. (10M)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Original trailer<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Boy, this was long as 3m29s. It\u2019s fuzzy in visuals and in what it\u2019s trying to say.<\/span><\/p>\n

20th Anniversary release trailer.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At 2 minutes, clearing in visuals and being a trailer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Booklet\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A bound 30-page booklet with cast & crew, film stills, and an appreciative essay \u201cIt\u2019s My Party, and You Can Scream If You Want To\u201d by Bryan Reesman.<\/span><\/p>\n

Final Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Birthday is an interesting film. It looks amazing, both in transfer and within the film, and the sound design. The strange journey of the film\u2019s story is compelling if a little long and unfocused. But I appreciate the sheer effort, and I always dig something incredibly weird. I recommend it for those who dig something strange and ambitious. Check it out. The Birthday comes ot 4k UHD and Blu-ray from Arrow Video on March 17th.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A weird guy finds himself in a very weird situation at a birthday party: family troubles, partyboys, and a dangerous cult in Eugenio Mira\u2019s 2004 strange film The Birthday, coming March 17th to 4K UHD and Blu-Ray via Arrow Video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[259,302,477],"class_list":["post-52094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","category-movie-reviews","tag-dark-comedy","tag-drama","tag-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52094"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52100,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52094\/revisions\/52100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}