Story lacking, but harrowing

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2004)

Before I say anything else, I'll warn everybody that I may or may not put a spoiler in here; I never plan in advance on these.
I thought that the movie lacked plot. Birds attack people. Birds attack people. Oh, by the way, people get attacked by birds! However, Hitchcock excelled at achieving an effect by that point in his career. The scenes are visually harrowing... I think Hitchcock built this film around the idea that the characters find themselves in an incomprehensible peril. After all, why do birds attack people? Why do people get attacked by birds? We find no motive; we don't understand. Besides the eye-gouging and attacks on children, the randomness of the attacks is the true horror.