We are finalizing the final entry in our PG-13 section of horror movies and it is quite a winner, but of course you cannot lose with the Master of Suspense.
Day 12 - Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds
What Jaws does for sharks and Psycho does for showers, The Birds does... well for birds. Hitchcock's "animals attack" classic follows a woman who travels to Bodega Bay to deliver some lovebirds but soon finds herself being confronted by constant bird attacks. There are many reasons why The Birds still stands tall as one of the greatest horror films of all time, but without a doubt one of them is the fact that Hitchcock, along with screenwriter Evan Hunter, keep Daphne Du Maurier's original concept of unexplained bird attacks completely intact... in fact they completely double down on it to maximize the terror. There are a plethora of sequences that show Hitchcock just flexing and showing how good he is at creating unbearable suspense out of nothing (look at a scene at a diner as an example), including the iconic school set piece that crafts tension with simple cutting and close-ups. Tippi Hedren, as she has recounted numerous times was in many ways living her own nightmare with the director, is fantastic in the film and carries it with a great sense of elegance and ferocity. The supporting cast is ridiculous including Rod Taylor, Veronica Cartwright (of Alien fame), Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, Ethel Griffies, and Lonny Chapman all give the film a pronounced sense of confidence and assurance. A lot can be said about the effects today but The Birds is genuinely unnerving and each time the animals attack, the audience completely feels it as something truly horrific and unpleasant. Plus, the idea to keep the attacks a mystery throughout the movie is absolutely brilliant; ties with the fact that what is scariest is often our fear of the unknown.
* All of the recommendations that we make can be found at the El Paso Public Library Catalog!
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