It MIGHT be 'terrifying' if I could buy it - but I can't...

Rating: 5/10 (4 January 2005)

... and not just because of the effects. The characters are about as 'substantial' as birdseed, too; leading me to begin cheering for our 'feathered friends', instead! There's a term we use today for the 'singleminded' nature of the actions of Hedren's character Melanie Daniels - it's called 'stalking'!! Still, given that there just 'happens' to be someone else on the island who was drawn there by the weird and unexplained 'magnetism' of Taylor's character; it seems ALL of the inhabitants have been struck down by some form of 'bird flu' before our little tweeters even START to get 'nasty'! What we are led to believe is that he has some sort of 'coterie' going on down there - it's laughable.
Hitchcock was too 'classy' to fall prey to the modern directorial syndrome of someone itching to get onto the next big 'setpiece', but here this usually masterful 'restraint' only became part of my problem: There was just nothing sufficiently 'interesting' or even likable about these characters to warrant my investment in the seemingly piffling problems of their lives; and when they DID start coming under 'siege', I can honestly say I was GLAD, more than anything! Save the absurd notion that this is somehow 'classic Hitch', or even a classic of its kind - that sort of 'kneejerk overreaction' to already inherently silly material is... well, 'for the birds', really! 5/10.