In time for Halloween, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1963 nature-horror film will screen as a fundraiser for The Rock Community Radio.
The screenplay by Evan Hunter is loosely based on Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 novella of the same name. The basic premise is that for entirely unknown reasons, all bird species suddenly become aggressive and dangerous, attacking humans. The film was also informed by a real mass bird attack in Capitola on Aug. 18, 1961, which Hitchcock heard about while his film was already underway. It was later determined the birds’ aberrant behavior resulted from consuming toxic algae.
THE BIRDS
What’s it rated? PG-13
When? 1963
Where’s it showing? Bay Theatre of Morro Bay, Monday, Oct. 27 (doors at 5, show at 6 p.m.; $17.91 presale at my805tix.com)
Though it received somewhat mixed reviews upon its release, The Birds has withstood the test of time and is now considered among Hitchcock’s greatest like Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, and North by Northwest. Its special effects were groundbreaking and used a mix of mechanical and live birds. Hedren was injured by broken glass during a phone booth scene, and later she said she was misled and that real birds replaced mechanical ones.
The “master of suspense” also certainly conjured an intense atmosphere throughout, and the story’s lack of neat resolution makes it somewhat of an anomaly. Nature rebels, but why? (119 min.) ∆
This article appears in Pets 2025.