The Birds Film Review English 481

Rating: Null/10 (5 May 2016)

To say The Birds is a pure artistic well constructed masterpiece is an understatement. Alfred Hitchcock created another suspenseful, thrilling work of art that became another cult classic after its release. Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor fit together like glove to hand with dynamic chemistry and active dialogue. Tippi Hedren plays Melanie Daniels who arrives at Bodega Bay after meeting Mitch Brenner (Played by Rod Taylor) at a bird shop. Melanie's arrival sparks an unprecedented series of bird attacks amongst the locals. The attacks are minor at first but eventually become growingly aggressive and lead to a large amount of deaths until we see Melanie with Mitch and his family leave Bodega Bay. The scenes where the birds are orchestrating attacks are so concise and so realistic for the time period. Even today just watching I am still shocked by the eye gouge scene which will probably go down in history as the best constructed suspense scene of all time. I grew up watching all of the greatest films ever made and The Birds was no exception to that. The first time I saw the film I was 6! My parents did not think true artistry and creativity should be censored so watching graphic movies when I was young was a regular occurrence. I watched the film again since I had not seen it for a good 10 years and wanted to write a concise review and was absolutely blown away. I have a completely different perspective on Hitchcock. I always recognized him as a master of horror but now recognize him as the master of horror. One thing in particular I noticed that I had not noticed before is there is no score. No music at all for that matter. The only stark sounds you hear regularly is the squawking of the birds which in my opinion was exceptionally done. Growing up in rural Pennsylvanian I have only a vague idea of what a seagull sounds like but from what I do know the sounds of the birds sounded very accurate. The Birds is what nightmares are made of, and Hitchcock effectively made what most people see as gentle peaceful and stoic creatures into vicious predators that will forever make viewers of the film do a double glance when they see or hear a flock of birds, I know I still do!