When birds attack!

Rating: 6/10 (25 October 2009)

Outside of film geekdom, this is probably Hitchcock's most famous movie after Psycho, with the effective and chilling thought of birds going on the attack seeming to resonate with the Everyman.
Hedren plays Melanie Daniels, an 'It' girl of the 60's, who bumps into a lawyer, Mitch Brenner (Taylor), whilst in a pet shop purchasing a bird. The lawyer goads her for her lifestyle and, furious, she tracks him down to a small town called Bodega Bay where she intends to trick him, though it is clear that she is really romantically interested in the fellow, the sly old dog. Once there, suddenly, mysteriously, the birds begin to act aggressively, starting with a solo dive onto Miss Daniels, and culminating in a full scale assault on the town. The birds attack in waves, then retreat, regroup, before attacking again.
Will Miss Daniels and Co. get out alive? And has the behaviour spread across the country or even the world? And why does Mitch Brenner's mother look so much like his new girlfriend? You'll have to watch to find out.
Not as intelligent as Hitchcock's finest offerings, this is still an effective thriller cum horror. Ahead of its time in terms of ambition (i.e. the effects are not very convincing, though top marks for trying) this is still a taut affair, with some surprisingly savage bird attack scenes. It drags like a mother at times though, with the opening preamble seeming to go on for an eternity before the movies' main play kicks in.
Interesting, if not essential viewing.