Throughout the history of Horror, we have learned to fear a vast array of things, all seemingly out to kill us. These range from supernatural forces, such as malevolent spirits and ancient Gods, to all manner of monsters (some man-made) to terrors from beyond our planet to psychopaths in creepy masks. The list goes on and on.

However, if there is one thing that Horror has also taught us, it’s that sometimes the things we should fear most lie waiting just outside our door. They may look harmless, even lovable… but dangerous things often do. As a wise man once said, “Damn, Nature! You scary!” Our next entry in this year’s Halloween Horrors series presents such a scenario.

Please welcome Michelle Kinnison back to the October series. Michelle first joined us for 2018’s event with a look at the 1954 Universal classic, Creature from the Black Lagoon, which also presented a case of something in nature not being as peaceful and serene as may have initially appeared. Then again, as Horror has taught us many times… stay out of the damned water!

This year, Michelle returns to remind us that sometimes death also comes from above.

THE BIRDS

“From the ‘Master of Suspense’… the man that brought us great films like ‘Rear Window’, ‘Psycho’, ‘Dial M for Murder’, and ‘Vertigo’… comes a new thriller to create a new fear in the everyday world right outside your very home.

“It could be the most terrifying motion picture I have ever made!” – Alfred Hitchcock

 

Inspired by the novella from Daphne du Maurier and partially by a true event that happened in the town of Capitola back in 1961, where hordes of sea birds dive bombed homes and cars, this classic (celebrating its 60th year) is one of my family’s favorites. Definitely a favorite during a rainy afternoon and a must during Halloween. Not a gore fest or overly scary, but the thought of hundreds… thousands of birds descending on a small town and attacking people could be extremely frightening. You would never think something so simple as walking outside your door could actually lead to such horror, but that’s what happened to a beautiful young lady and the small fishing village of Bodega Bay.

“I’m telling you; this isn’t a few birds! These are gulls, crow, swifts…!” – Melanie Daniels

The strange occurrences are first noticed in the busy city of San Fransico by Melanie Daniels as she crosses the street to a pet shop. There, looking up at the noise overhead, she sees a huge flock of gulls. Entering the shop (and passing a cameo of Alfred with his Sealyham Terriers), she speaks with the lady of the shop, Mrs. MacGruder. “Have you ever seen so many gulls? What do you suppose it is?” Melanie asks.  “Well, there must be a storm at sea. That can drive them inland, you know”, says Mrs. MacGruder as a possibility for so many birds and, unbeknownst to the two of them, of the upcoming terror. Melanie is there to inquire about a bird she ordered, and while waiting, a man enters. Mitch Brenner, a lawyer, whose looking for a gift for his little sister, sees Melanie. Knowing of her from a court appearance, he pretends to not know her and asks about the birds and what they may have to sell. When trying to catch a bird that got out, he discloses that he knows her and makes light of his ruse as a way to show that practical jokes aren’t really that funny. He leaves and Melanie follows. Getting his license number, she calls into the newspaper that her father owns for information about the man.

Melanie buys a set of love birds, the intended gift for Mitch’s sister, and tries to deliver them to his apartment. She’s met by a neighbor, who says that he’s out of town for the weekend in Bodega Bay. Melanie makes a speedy trip up the coast to make a personal delivery. Once there, she stops and asks for directions and the name of the little girl. Not knowing for sure, she’s directed to the school to ask the teacher for help. Melanie meets the teacher, another beautiful lady named Annie. Annie seems keen to know more, but also distant in the questions about the relationship between Melanie and Mitch, being that she used to be a part of his life and San Fransico seems to be the place where he meets all the girls.

Back in town, Melanie rents a boat and sets out across the bay to the Brenner house with her package. She sneaks in and leaves the birds with a card. She waits in the boat and sees Mitch enter the house and then come running out looking for whoever made the delivery. He sees her in the boat and watches as she starts it and heads back to the wharf. He jumps in his car and speeds off to meet her in town.

Meeting Melanie at the wharf, Mitch watches as a gull swoops down and hits her in the head. He helps her from the boat and takes her into the local café for some first aid. He tells the bar tender and some locals what happened and helps clean the cut. Then, he begins to question her about why she’s there and invites her to dinner. She goes back to Annie’s to arrange a room for the night and to say she’s having dinner with Mitch.

At the house, Melanie is greeted excitedly by the sister, Cathy, and with a suspicious motherly eye from Lydia. Lydia is upset about her chickens not eating and calls the man that sold the feed, only to find that other chickens in the area aren’t eating as well. Lydia also mentions that she’s heard of Melanie’s reputation from a gossip column that she reads and Mitch says he knows. As Melanie is leaving, Mitch questions her again about the reason she’s there and, being that he’s a lawyer, gets more of a truthful answer. To which Melanie replies, “Oh, I don’t give a damn what you believe!”, and “I thought you knew! I want to go through life jumping into fountains naked. Good night!” She drives off, back to Annie’s.

Melanie returns to Annie’s and the ladies talk about dinner and Lydia’s cold attitude towards things. The phone rings for Melanie. It’s Mitch calling to apologize for the questions and to invite her back to Cathy’s birthday party. There’s a thud at the door. Annie answers to find no one there, except a gull that crashed into the door. One more strange occurrence.

The following day, Melanie returns to the party for Cathy and takes a walk with Mitch. She discloses her troubled childhood and the things she does to keep busy. They hear screams and rush to the children, who are now being attacked by a flock of gulls. They get the children inside and Mitch asks if she could stay for a quick supper. While having a quick dinner, a swarm of sparrows rush into the house through the chimney, causing panic and a huge mess. After time, the Sheriff arrives and asks some questions, downplaying that there must’ve been something that happened and asking if there’s a grate for the chimney. He also seems in disbelief that the birds from earlier would just attack the kids and Melanie. Mitch asks Melanie to delay going back to San Fransico and she stays the night.

In the morning, Lydia heads over to Dan Fawcett’s house to chat about the chickens since his weren’t eating either. She goes into the farmhouse to check on him and finds a mess and broken cups that remind her of the night before. Through the overly silent house and down the hallway, she opens a door to see a broken window and dead birds on a bed and on the floor, as well as the lifeless body of Dan laying there with his eyes pecked out from the birds. She whirls around, running back out of the house silently screaming in shock, fleeing back home.

Mitch heads back to the farmhouse once the state police are there and Melanie takes some tea up to Lydia to help try and sooth her nerves. Lydia opens up about trying to like the girl(s) that Mitch chooses, but seems to have a hard time with being tired and relating to the kids like her husband did. She gets a growing concern for Cathy’s safety and Melanie leaves to go get her early from school.

At the school house, Annie lets Melanie know how much longer they’ll be from a lesson and she steps out to smoke. While waiting, crows start to gather on the playground behind her. She hears them and turns around to see the mass of birds. She quietly gets back into the school and stops Annie from taking the children outside to play. Annie tells the children they are going out and down the road to the nearest houses or building and to be quiet. Once outside though, the birds attack the children and they all run in a panic down the road. Several children are injured, but all seem to escape.

Melanie is seen in the café making a call to her father about the incident. While the bartender and customers discuss what happened, a lady comes in; Mrs. Bundy, an ornithologist (an expert on birds). Mitch soon arrives and there’s a discussion about the birds and possibly the end of the world. A lady with her kids starts getting upset and tries to leave. Trying to get outside, gulls start swooping down and attacking people outside at the gas station, to which Mitch runs to help. Spilled gas leaks down the road to the parking lot to where a man lighting a cigar ignites the gas causing an explosion. Chaos ensues and people are rushing to help with the fire and survive the birds that keep attacking. Melanie locks herself in a phone booth to try and escape. Mitch soon rescues her and they retreat into the café where others are hiding, even the expert, Mrs. Bundy, who said nothing like this could happen. The lady with the kids starts hysterically blaming Melanie for the attacks since it all seems to have started when she arrived. Giving the lady a quick smack, the chaos seems to calm down.

Mitch and Melanie leave to go get Cathy, who ended up with Annie back at her house. They arrive to find poor Annie laying on the porch steps dead, and a frightened Cathy locked in the house. She tells them Annie took her back to the house. Once there, the birds started attacking. Annie shoved her inside, but it was too late for her. Mitch covers her face and takes her body inside after Melanie begs him not to leave her laying there.

Once back at the house, Mitch boards up the windows and locks down the house for the night and any further possible attacks. They all sit and wait. Soon the birds start rushing the house with tremendous noise. Mitch has everyone sit down, but birds start breaking through some of the windows and peeking through the doors. Mitch tries his best to resecure things to keep them safe. After a long time, everyone falls asleep and the attacks seem to subside.

Melanie wakes to hear a noise and goes to investigate. She hears something scratching from behind a door upstairs. Melanie sees a hole in the roof where the birds pecked and is bombarded. She tries to fight them off and shuts the door behind her, unable to get out. She collapses to the floor, but Mitch and Lydia are there to rescue her and get her out of the bedroom. Downstairs, they try to dress the wounds and bring her out of shock. They discuss getting her out of there to a hospital. Mitch slowly heads out to the car, carefully making his way through the waiting mass. Listening to the radio, it talks about other attacks and Bodega Bay being the center of the attacks. It’s unclear the reason as to why the birds have done this and whether or not the military should step in.

Mitch gets the car pulled around. They all get out of the house and in the car as quietly as possible, even bringing Cathy’s love birds. Cathy says, “They haven’t harmed anyone.” Noticeably, throughout the movie, these are the only two birds who haven’t seemed to have any issues.

Slowly they drive down the road and away as thousands of the birds watch ominously.

During the New York premiere for the film, they released 1,000 homing pigeons. That doesn’t hold a candle to the premiere in London, which featured several different birds and had loudspeakers hidden in the trees to play screeching bird calls as the audience exited the film! Mr. Hitchcock wanted to make sure that the shock value wasn’t just inside the theater. With such a great cast for the film, like Jessica Tandy (Cocoon, Driving Miss Daisy), a young Veronica Cartwright (who we know for her roles in 78’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Alien), and introducing Tippi Hedren… not to mention the 25,000 live birds that were used during filming, it’s a favorite to add to the Halloween season and throughout the year for just good old fashion horror.