Hitchcock walks the dogs....

Rating: 7/10 (6 December 2013)

Melanie Daniels is shopping in a San Francisco pet store when she meets Mitch Brenner, who is looking to buy a pair of love birds for his young sister's birthday.
He recognises Melanie, but pretends to mistake her for an assistant. She decides to get her own back by buying the birds and driving up to the quiet coastal town of Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends his weekends with his sister and mother.
Shortly after she arrives, Melanie is attacked by a gull, but this is just the start of a series of attacks by an increasing number of birds.....
The most striking, and scary thing about this movie, is the fact that there isn't a rationale for what the titular creatures do, and it's never explained, they just attack and then attack some more, which makes it all the more suspenseful.
Its a well crafted movie, with some very good performances from the central cast, but in all honesty, despite it being one of the most well known movies ever made, it's not as good as you'd like to remember.
The effects are awful, and yes, we were brought up on computer effects, and better technology, but it really takes you away from the actual movie, especially when the birds attack the school children.
And there is one scenes where the flames are heading toward the the petrol tanks and it cuts to Hedrens face giving different expressions each time. Which brings laughs rather than gasps.
So all in all, its a really solid movie, it just doesn't hold up like the great mans other works.