The Birds (1963)

The Birds

• One of Hitchcock’s most famous movies, it was really well made. For 1963, the effects were really good, especially in certain bird attack scenes. For a lot of them, live, trained birds were used, but for the scenes where a blue screen was used, it looked pretty good. The overall story was pretty good, and obviously the bird attack scenes were amazing and intense. You would never think that a bird could be scary, but in a giant group, Hitchcock is able to make them terrifying. He does a great job by making sure you know they’re there, but not always being able to see them. In one scene when the family is trapped inside the house, for several minutes you can only hear the birds attacking the house without seeing them. They almost feel like an otherworldly presence, and it’s actually quite frightening. The music was also really good, and it definitely helps give the movie the scary feel that it has. The reason my Enjoyment Score is so low is because of how long the movie felt. Even though it had a good story, it felt extremely drawn out and boring, and it took a really long time for the scary bird feeling to start to settle in. The last 30 minutes were really good and really intense, but everything leading up to that just felt pointless. Overall, I don’t think I’ll watch it again, but I’d definitely recommend it to those who enjoy suspense and old horrors.