A good movie but isn't made to scare in todays society

Rating: 10/10 (20 September 2005)

I don't know whether I really need to include a spoiler alert in this review or not so I think those who haven't seen 'The Birds' (and if you haven't you should!) are safe to carry on reading. I've seen this film a couple of times, once when I was very young and again yesterday. I remember that the first time I saw it it really did quite scare me, as I can't remember exactly how old I was but to be quite honest I was a bit of a woos anyway! However, watching back over it yesterday I began to realise just how tame 'The Birds' and other horror movies of the generation were! Then again this is by no means a criticism of Alfred Hichcock who was indeed one of the finest directors of his time. In creating 'The Birds' he achieved what he set out to do, and that was to create a movie that would terrorise and shock cinema goers of the time (1963). However I feel that it has be said that most cinema goers of this generation would not even be slightly un-nerved by this film. With movies now such as 'The Grudge', 'Creep' and 'The Ring' I think it is safe to say that this film is not designed to shock modern society. This film is a classic and should be treated as such, but speaking as somebody who is not even a hard core fan of the horror genre and does not normally even enjoy being scared I must admit that no-longer can this film be described as horrifying, or even vaguely scary. But in saying that, don't get me wrong, I still really like this movie and despite how critical this review may sound I am not trying to put this movie down and am not by any means saying that it is bad. In fact I think it's a great deal better than many of todays movies, which is why I would still give it a 10/10 rating!