Alfred Hitchcock is a man who has no solution in psychological horror and tension dialogues, and the movie The Birds, which was released in 1963, is one of his movies that makes you sit on your nerves without monsters or ghosts... No, all the horror comes to you from the birds! Yes, by God, very ordinary birds, but when they decide to attack you in a terrifying way, you will reconsider every time you find a bird standing on the fence of your house.
So what is the story?
The movie begins with a chic girl named "Melanie" (played by Tippi Hedren), who goes to a small town in California to impress a nice young man named "Mitch" (Rod Taylor). At first, things are rosy and perfect, but suddenly the birds start acting strangely... First they attack a person, then the situation turns into a natural disaster! The whole town is in a state of panic, and the birds do not leave anyone alone. The atmosphere is gloomy and terrifying, and what makes the subject even more terrifying is that there is no clear explanation for why the birds decided to hate humanity in this way!
Yes, and strongly! Although it is from the sixties, Hitchcock knew how to play with your nerves by using silence, tight frames, and camera angles that make you feel like you are trapped with the heroes inside this horror. The scenes in which the birds attack are still effective, and perhaps because the movie does not have a soundtrack, the feeling of tension is much stronger.
What attracted me the most?
The attack scenes themselves are brilliantly done, but what increased the horror is the calm that comes before the storm! The moment when you find the birds gathering on an electric wire in complete silence, and then suddenly they attack, this moment alone is enough to make you look at the pigeons on your balcony with suspicion later on.
The Birds is not just an ordinary horror movie, it's a lesson in how to create tension and fear without any huge effects or a lot of blood. If you like movies that play on the nerves and care more about the atmosphere than the quick scares, you will really like this movie. But a piece of advice from me... if you have a parrot at home, keep it under your eye after you finish the movie!
