The Birds

Starring: Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Tippi Hedren, Veronica Cartwright
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
1963

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman (Tippi Hedren) arrives in a small town to learn that birds have begun a strange attack on the residents. Now, she must fight to survive from the most unlikely of attackers.

Review:

Tim: Alfred Hitchcock is amazing. If there was ever a reason to believe that, you should believe it after seeing this masterpiece. This stands up as one of the greatest horror thrillers of all time. Hitchcock directs this masterfully, balancing the horror and the thrills, keeping us on the edge of our seats. Brilliantly, he doesn't jump right into the screams. He slowly unveils the plot, giving plenty of time to establish the characters and allows us to identify with them. This sets the stage for the very scary events that eventually befall the small town.

The concept of birds attacking people is brilliant in its simplicity. Birds are all around us, and we don't even notice them, we don't pay any attention. How scary is it that something so harmless, something we take for granted, could suddenly turn on us, attack us, and kill us? That is the simple, brilliant concept behind this movie. And Hitchcock, in his absolute genius, makes certain that we are never given an explanation for why the birds attack. This is perfect, because any attempt to explain would have ruined it. The birds attack, we never know why, and that only adds to the fright. It all occurs without warning, and that is what is truly terrifying.

The cast is good, and makes us sympathetic toward them. However, the real stars here are the birds, which are pretty amazing to see, even with the aged technology.

The Birds is a classic horror thriller by the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. If you call yourself a movie fan, you owe it to yourself to see this movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo