Now, in times of climate emergency, the fantastic works focused on the awakening of nature, in a revenge of mother earth through elements, inexplicable plagues, for our outrages committed for years. It is a very current topic, although its codes were already established sixty years ago by one of the masters of terror.
He was dubbed the master of suspense, because framing it in the thriller sounded more elegant and prestigious than thinking he was also doing pulp entertainment (“elevated horror” before we coined the term). But just seeing how Alfred Hitchcock’s work has influenced much of today’s fantastic cinema, and contemporary masters like M. Night Shyamalan, is enough to place it on the altars of the genre. Although in reality it is enough with films like ‘The birds’.
The shits are not the only ones to fear
One of the essential works of the director British, available for streaming via SkyShowtime (it can also be seen on Filmin). There are plenty of reasons to get into its elegant and terrifying proposal, but the sixtieth anniversary of its theatrical release is an ideal opportunity to once again pay tribute to an impeccable film.
Starring the memorable Tippi Hedren, the film starts with a story as simple as effective. A young woman from high society meets an attractive lawyer in a bird shop. Her encounter leaves her so enraged that she decides to follow him to Bodega Bay, where she is having a family event. The area will soon be threatened by a series of angry and violent birds that will leave the citizens terrified.
This definitive leap into the supernatural is a refreshing evolution in a Hitchcock who until then was collecting home runs with his films. Just before this, he had released ‘Psycho’, another horror film jewel that was even more immaculate if possible, which already experimented not only with the extremes of tension, violence and mystery, but also did so in a precious return to photography. in black and white after a good decade delighting us with technicolor. ‘The birds’ tried up the ante in chilling tensionbut retaking the shocking colors.
‘The birds’: essential work
This is one of those films where the technique is extraordinary. We can discuss whether or not the effects hold up today, but nothing can be blamed for that exquisite production design and that extraordinary staging that leaves sequences with which you could set up film school courses. Even the moment where the characters try to advance surrounded by the winged creatures is one of those scenes that they exude pure cinema and they are used in any show that wants to celebrate this art.
Hitchcock had the immaculate ability to unite the artistic, the attention to form to magnify the substance, with the commercial, creating experiences that people needed to see on the screen and share both amazement and screams. There were great later works in his filmography, but ‘Los pájaros’ has the reputation of being his latest essential work. Sixty years later, it is impossible to deny its qualification as essential.
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