This doesn't exactly make me want to go on holiday to Bodega Bay

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2013)

Hitchcock's infamous film about a flock of birds randomly attacking the bemused residents of Bodega Bay, California, on a seemingly typical boring day.
Film builds up slowly and methodically, tricking you into feeling the characters' own ennui with their own daily lives, but still holding your attention, making the audience feel like something of a voyeur while watching them. The lack of a proper musical score also makes audience forget we are watching a movie.
The film never really climaxes so much as it just stops, but that was the perfect way to end the film. By not having any closing credits, Hitchcock didn't give the audience any time to linger at the end and ask "What happened? Do they get to the hospital, or anywhere else safe? Do the birds ever attack again, there or anywhere else?" until after we left the theatre. If we had been asking that as the closing credits run, its effect would have been lost. The ending is a hit-and-run, and it works perfectly for the film.