An Uncertain Future

In our last class, we finished Alfred Hitchcock's thriller, The Birds. As I stated in my previous post, I was extremely excited to see what would happen next. I was particularly hankering to find out why the birds were attacking the people of Bodega Bay and if Melanie was the cause of the chaos as the movie subtly hinted at. We left off at the scene when Melanie and Mitch found the schoolteacher, Annie Hayworth, dead on her front-porch after the bird attack. Following this traumatic and highly emotional scene, Mitch, Melanie, and Cathy retreated to the Brennan home. Mitch frantically boarded up every crevice of the home as the birds ruthlessly tried to break through the doors and windows. 

When the bird attack unexpectedly ceased, every one was left physically and emotionally shaken, wondering if the terror would ever stop. Soon after, everyone fell into a much-needed, but cautious slumber . In conventional fashion of horror movies, Melanie went upstairs to the attic after she heard some strange noises characteristic of birds. When Melanie opened the door to the attic, the birds viciously rushed at her, pushing and pecking until she was left bleeding on the floor. Fortunately, Mitch and Mrs. Brennan were able to save Melanie from the attack. The brutal attack on Melanie is the breaking point for everyone, and Mitch makes the executive decision to leave Bodega Bay once and for all.

But to leave, they must get past the birds. When Mitch opens the door of the house to get to the car, he is faced with the horrifying image of thousands of birds scattered in front of him, almost waiting in anticipation. Surprisingly, Mitch was able to safely get past the birds and get a radio signal from the car. The radio reported that other bird attacks had happened in small areas surrounding Bodega Bay, and that the U.S military would possibly get involved. At the end of the film, Mitch and Mrs. Brennan are able to get a severely traumatized, Melanie, in to the getaway car. But before leaving, Cathy requests to bring the love-birds because "they didn't harm anyone". The film ends surprisingly with Mitch driving the entire family away from  the home. We see a long-shot of the the truck driving into the distance across the narrow dirt-road. Night is just about to break.  The ending shot is eerie as the birds begin to squawk frantically when the car is no longer in sight.

Like my peers, I was perplexed and slightly disappointed by the loose strings left at the end. There is no resolution to the bird attacks. Most notably, it is never revealed why the bird attacked. Although mildly frustrating, I appreciate the ending of The Birds because it enhances the bizarreness of the movie and leaves a lot to the imagination. In my opinion, horror movies are all the more terrifying when there is no resolution to the problem because you feel as if that problem exists after you leave the theater, even if it is fiction. 

In my personal opinion, I think that the love-birds were the cause of the birds attacking because wherever Melanie went with the love-birds, the other birds started acting strangely. I noticed at the beginning of the movie as Melanie was walking in the city towards the pet shop, the birds were flying strangely in the sky, which captured her attention. This was before she even arrived at Bodega Bay. We can speculate all we want, but we will most likely never find out the truth, as that is what Alfred Hitchcock probably wanted. Ambiguous endings really mess with the mind, and I find that oddly intriguing and powerful. The unknown has always fascinated me.

Hitchcock v. Hitchcock

Watching the movies The Birds and Psycho, you can see the distinctive qualities of Alfred Hitchcock's work. Straight off the bat, however, these two movies contrast one another in the fact that Psycho was in black and white, where The Birds is in color. I find the fact that Hitchcock made Psycho black and white for the sake of art and realism admirable.

I question, however, how it was that black and white was considered more realistic than that of color.

In both of these movies, it's evident Hitchcock's love for playing with one's mind. For example, in Psycho, the director keeps the viewer on edge with suspense and wonder on just how it is that the mother's supposedly dead, but is yet shown murdering numerous people. In The Birds, we never really know why the animals are attacking humans. The ending is left more open-ended than anything, leaving people to come to their own conclusions.

In both movies, it was a minor observation to note that the main characters each have mother problems, whether it was abandonment or death, or even a mental instability. Also, both movies incorporate some form of a love story, whether it cause a murder in Psycho, or serve as a source of strength in The Birds.

If I had to review the works of Hitchcock as an individual, I'd say that his movies were the most interesting and intriguing movies we've watched so far.

Unfinished Ending

Today I watched the final part of The Birds, which left me both disappointed and curious. Where I had left off last class, the massive flock of birds had fled the house, or at least that's what I was fooled into believing...

Alfred Hitchcock is notorious for being the "master of suspense", a title which he is undoubtedly deserving of. Suspense was definitely implemented in the final part of the film, as Melanie made her way around the dark house, slowly. Every thirty seconds or so, she heard a sound, definitely emanating from a bird. The birds were somewhere in the house. But where were they hiding? With my eyes glued to the screen, I saw Melanie slowly walk up the stairs, and I could tell from the sound that the birds were behind the door to the right. She creeped towards it, and slowly opened the door. She gasped when she noticed that the birds had torn through part of the roof, and that is when they unleashed their fury and attacked her. She tried to reach for the door handle, but wasn't able to turn it. Luckily, Mitch came to her rescue, but another obstacle stood in the way: as it turns out, the birds hadn't left the outside of the house either. 

They were all sitting around, surrounding the house, perfectly still. Mitch eased his way out into the horde, being careful as to not make any sudden movements or noises, and managed to get to Melanie's car, which he would use to take her to the hospital. Cautiously, he drove up to the front of the house, and gently closed the car door. He was going to escort Melanie and his mother to the car; immediately I was worried that one of the women, if not both, would scream out of fear, and cause the birds to attack once again. Fortunately, they stayed quiet, and carefully drove off into the distance. The end.

Whoa wait! Did this movie seriously just end like that? It's like one of those books that is a great read for most of the way, and then cuts off all of a sudden, leaving you in eternal suspense, forever asking all of those unanswered questions. The end.                                                                                                                                                                                         

When Birds Attack

In our viewing of  another Alfred Hitchcock thriller, The Birds, we watch as pandemonium ensues when birds start attacking the small town of Bodega Bay, California. Set in 1963, the main character, Melanie Daniels, meets a wealthy lawyer, Mitch Brennan, in a local pet shop. In their first meeting, the attraction between the two is as clear as day. While viewing this scene, I was very intrigued by Melanie's impetuous, spur-of-the-moment behavior. Not only does she initially pretend to be a salesperson in the pet shop and let a bird out of the cage without much thought, but she decides to purchase two lovebirds and bring them to Mitch for his little sister, Cathy. Personally, I think it takes a lot of guts to find a stranger's address, drive all the way out to their home, and try to secretly deliver a present. In my opinion, Melanie is a very unconventional female lead because she goes after what she wants, particularly her love interest. Often times in films, the male lead is the one to make the first move and approach the woman. That was just a little tidbit I noticed.

Looking at the bigger picture, when Melanie arrives in Bodega Bay, the birds in the area become increasingly aggressive and hostile. In the first incident as Melanie is rowing her boat into the Bodega Bay harbor, a gull comes bites the top of her forehead, breaking the skin. In a second incident while the kids are playing at Cathy's birthday party, the birds promptly attack again. All seemed tranquil and normal until one night when Melanie and the Brennan family were lounging in the living room. Suddenly, a massive amount of birds started swarming the house from the chimney. For the time period, I think the visual effects of this scene were pretty awesome. The use of isolated diegetic sound also enhanced this scene and made it all the more intense. When Mitch reported the incident to the sheriff, he failed to believe them.

True to the dark and sinister nature of Hitchcock films, things continue to get worse. When Melanie visited the schoolhouse to pick up Cathy at the request of a shaken Mrs. Brennan, she noticed a large flock of crows starting to gather on the school playground, almost like they were waiting to begin their terror. Melanie quickly informed the teacher, Annie, who instructed the kids to behave as if it were a fire drill and run home as fast as they could. As soon as the children fled the school house, the birds began to attack, viciously biting and knocking everyone down in sight. Melanie and the viewers realize that something is definitely not right with the birds.

In our last viewing of The Birds in class, Melanie and the other people in the restaurant were arguing over  whether or not the birds were attacking purposefully. The semi-peaceful mood is broken when a bird smashes into a gas pump, causing gasoline to flow out into the parking lot . Ironically, a man was smoking a cigarette as the gasoline was nearing his car, which resulted in a major explosion. Chaos ensued as the birds started to attack again. In one of the most harrowing moments of the film, Melanie and Mitch find Annie dead on the stairs of her home. What a way to end!

I am very excited to continue watching this movie in class. I want to know why the birds are attacking and, if and how they will be able to stop them. Is Melanie responsible for the birds attacking as the film is hinting at? How much worse can things get?

The Birds

At the first look at the title, I assumed this was going to be another boring film. Until someone told me that the movie was about birds attacking people. Now I was interested. The Birds starts out a little boring. It starts with the main character (Melanie) working in a bird shop and a guy named Mitch shows up. It's obvious that they are interested in each other. They talk about different birds and he is looking for love birds. After he leaves the store, she ends up bringing love birds to his house, which is a somewhat strange thing to do in my opinion. Then, when she is trying to go back, a bird scratches her on the head. The reason why is unclear. It seems like it might have been an accident. The characters probably didn't think much about this yet.

At the kids party is when the movie really starts to get more interesting. Out of nowhere, birds start attacking the kids and everyone panics. Once they are all safe, Melanie starts to notice a lot of things happening with the birds and how it can't be a coincidence since the two other previous events with the birds happened. The first was when she was hurt by the bird and the second was when a bird hit Annie Hayworth's door.

Then, it happened again when they were in the house. Birds started swarming in and attacking again through the chimney. Luckily, no one was hurt and they were able to get all the birds out. Now even Mitch agrees that what is happening is strange and not a coincidence.

I'm wondering why the birds are attacking people. What is the cause of this problem? How are the characters going to resolve it?

Psycho: Ending

Unfortunately, I missed the ending of Psycho in class. However, I decided to watch it on my own because I was really enjoying it and had to see the rest.

The ending of Psycho was a huge shock. As I watched Marion's sister sneaking through Norman's house searching for Mrs. Bates the suspense was killing me. I was so interested in finally seeing Norman Bates crazy mother. From the earlier chat Norman and his mother had about her hiding in the basement, it gave me no suspicion that his mother wasn't alive. Then Marion's sister went into the basement and from the back of Mrs.Bates I could tell that it was not a person and then when she turns around we see this:

And then Norman storms in with the knife, dressed like his mother, ready to kill Lila. Fortunately, Sam quickly follows, stopping him. It turns out that Norman had killed his own mother by poisoning her and her lover around 10 years ago and he had dug up her body and kept it. It also turns out that Norman has two personalities, himself and his mother. That is something I had not expected. Norman Bates' mother was really dead and he was even more psycho than I thought. It was pretty creepy and the ending scene left me disturbed, yet interested in seeing more and wanting to learn more about Norman.

I'm curious to know more about Norman Bates' past with his mother. What went on in that house all his life? I know I have heard of a show called Bates Motel and it's like a prequel to Psycho about Norman's teen years with his mother. I've heard it's pretty good. I might start watching it.

Overall, I really liked this movie just as much as I liked Alien. I am also enjoying The Birds.

A Turn for the Worse

When I watched the first portion of The Birds, I thought that it was going to be an easygoing movie. Coming from horror movies such as Psycho and Alien, I was worried that this movie would be boring for me. It seemed so low-key compared to these two previous films at the beginning, so unexciting and uninteresting. But as the movie progressed, tensions began to rise, and I began to retract on my comparison of this movie to Psycho, which were both made by Alfred Hitchcock. Initially, the two films seemed like polar opposites, but they drew closer and closer to each other as time went on. Hitchcock definitely had an affinity for strange, unusual films that include an unexpected plot twist. I love it.

Yesterday, we started off with the scene in which Melanie headed to the schoolhouse. All seemed sane and ordinary, but a concerning sight caught her attention: a massive group of black birds ominously sat on the school's playground. They were nearly motionless, all starting at Melanie as she was smoking her cigarette. She quickly and quietly went inside, shut the back door, and alerted the teacher. She told her students to act as if they were having a fire drill. Knowing that all of those birds were waiting outside, and the fact that they could travel much faster than humans, I wished that the teacher hadn't chosen to evacuate the students. They would've been safer inside, but no one knows how long they would've potentially stayed there. As soon as the birds heard everyone run out of the building, they rushed to attack the young children.

The birds in this film are not your average flying feathers. Usually, birds run away from humans, but this time, they came as close as possible, pecking at their heads and even knocking a girl over. Shortly afterwards, Melanie went into the diner, where everyone was talking about the attacks of the birds. An elderly woman doubts that these birds are even capable of such an attack, but she ends up being horribly wrong. A few birds knock over a man pouring gas in his car, leaving the gas nozzle to stream gas all over the ground. A man lights his cigar, even as everyone in the diner tells him not to, and he ends up causing a massive explosion at the gas station. Now, people are beginning to panic.

Just a short while after, Melanie and Mitch head to the schoolteacher's house, in which they find her lying on the front steps, dead. The birds killed her, which left his sister Cathy hysterical. They all headed back to Mitch's house, where he readied for another enormous attack. He boarded up every single window and door, just as if there was going to be a hurricane. Foreshadowing came into play here, because there was a huge swarm of birds flying around the mainland of San Francisco. Uh oh.

Within a few hours, when everyone was inside of the fortified house, the birds came. They pecked at the windows and boarded up door, fighting Mitch to get inside. It was clear that they would stop at nothing to attack Melanie, Mitch, Cathy, and Lydia.

My biggest question, however, is why? Why did they attack to begin with, and why did they follow Melanie? At the diner, a woman had accused her of being the cause of the bird attacks, since this was never a problem before she came to Bodega Bay. How did they even know where she was? It was as if they had planted a tracking device on her. Everywhere she had gone, they attacked. This gave me the same feeling as with Psycho: I was a little freaked out, and confused at the same time. You've done it again, Hitchcock.