Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all of this. I think you're evil. EVIL!
-Mother in Diner

In the five year span of 1958 to 1963, Alfred Hitchcock gave us Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho and The Birds while finding time to also direct episodes of his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The quality of his output in those five years alone rivals most director's careers while it inspired them at the same time.

The Birds is often called Hitchcock's take on a monster movie, but of course it's…

Part of the Alfred Hitchcock Sound Era Films In Chronological Order project.

It's a shame that The Birds, especially recently with the release of The Girl, has become almost as renowned for the relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren as it has for the fact that it is a quite sublime film in its own right.

Indeed, it's a fair bit better than I remember it being when I first watched it about 15 years ago. I think I had dismissed it back then as being too slow and too long and, ultimately, a daft little horror film that was not much more than a footnote in the great man's career and the start of his downturn as a…

The ending in the house calls to mind Night of the Living Dead; it feels like a zombie film. Just as zombies are people and yet not people, so birds are the familiar that has morphed into something awful. They cannot be controlled, and no one can explain the reason for the transformation. The difference, of course, is that zombies can be killed. But how do you stop thousands of monstrous birds?

The early scenes on the sidewalk and in the petshop clearly show Hitch trying to mold Tippi Hedren into another Grace Kelly. She's stunning in green, all legs and smiles. She's not comfortable onscreen, though. There's a tension about her that we never saw in Princess Grace. Hitch…

I've never been a big fan of the horror genre, simply because of two factors: First, horror movies tend to have very weak writing, as most of the attention goes to the shock value provided by the use of blood and gore. I almost can never enjoy a movie unless its story connects with me, so I usually give the genre a pass. The other reason is jump scares. I consider myself as a person with a strong stomach when it comes to shocking images in movies. I could sit through a double bill featuring Saló and Cannibal Holocaust while eating a full course dinner , but jump scares I just can't handle. I think it's a cheap way to…

RATING: 8/10
Alfred Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS [1963]; in the wake of the success of Hitchcock’s PSYCHO, the master of suspense was in need of another film to rival the chills of that film. The answer came in the form of a Novella by Daphne Du Maurier, which told the story about small Cornish Village coming under attack by a flock of Birds attacking the local population. For Hitchcock’s film took the concept about the unexplained Bird attacks and transplanted it into then contemporary Bodega Bay.

PLOT; After meeting socialite Melanie Daniels ( Tippi Hedren) in a pet store, Lawyer Mitch Brenner plays a lame prank on Melanie involving placing an order for Love Birds. Out of spite Melanie leaves San…

I saw small portions of The Birds when I was very young. While I don't remember how I reacted to what I saw initially, I came to regard it as a very silly movie in its entirety. Even as I learned the importance of Hitchcock, and grew to appreciate his films on my own, I dismissed The Birds completely. After finally seeing it in full, I can say that while it isn't one of Hitchcock's best movies, it is a surprisingly effective creature feature.

What's most unexpected about The Birds is the patience it shows in getting to the actual feathered menace. The first few scenes could be mistaken for the beginning of an ornithologically-focused romantic comedy, and the remainder…