Alfred Hitchcock's contribution to the monster movie. A frightening, suspenseful look at a small town terrorized by some very ordinairy animals. Playgirl Tippi Hedren has a confronation with lawyer Rod Taylor in a San Francisco pet shop, so she follows him to his hometown, a tiny harbor village. However, her timing is less than ideal, as the local avian population has suddenly and unexplainably turned violent.
In true Hitchcockian style, the film takes its time building the suspense, providing small tell-tale clues as to what lies ahead. When The Birds finally lets loose, there's nowhere to hide. Several sequences stand out: the schoolyard, the wordless siege on the farmhouse, and the chilling open ending.
Heightening the suspense is the replacement of a traditional music score with the sounds of birds. A must-see.