Throughout the history of horror, we have seen every conceivable iteration of villain imaginable; be it human, monster, or creature. The idea of what makes for a more terrifying threat — a human who behaves like a monster, an actual monster, or some form of real-life environmental foe — is up for debate.
Regardless of where you fall on this thought spectrum, it remains an intriguing case study on fear, phobias, and how real a scenario in a horror film could be. It’s difficult to argue the sheer terror in knowing something sinister seen on the big screen could also potentially harm you once you step outside, versus something that stretches the confines of logic and reality.
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It makes sense, then, if we follow this theory out further, that the more benign and unapparent the threat seems, the more chilling it is to know it could be our undoing. What if something we are surrounded by in our everyday lives suddenly, and without proper reasoning, turned on us? Something that would catch us so off-guard, we would be ill-prepared for how to handle it, or survive? One of the best and most classic examples of this is Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film The Birds.
The film centers around socialite Melanie Daniels (Tippie Hedren), who audaciously travels from San Francisco to the small seaside town of Bodega Bay to locate lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), whom she has a brief encounter with at a pet shop, to present him with a pair of lovebirds she bought for him. Casting aside the pseudo stalker behavior of this decision on her part, things go awry shortly after her arrival to the town, when birds of all types begin unprovoked attacks on the citizens. This escalates as the movie progresses into an all-out assault as flocks of birds rain down to inflict their wrath on anyone who ventures outside. Even more frightening is the fact that these fine feathered foes inexplicably manage to find ways indoors as well, rendering those who seek shelter in the safety of their own homes completely defenseless.
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In true Hitchcock style, The Birds unravels its story with methodical, quiet moments interlaced with shocking scenes that often come with little warning, much like how the titular antagonists launch their unexplainable onslaught. There’s hardly any trace of a musical score, but this only adds to the suspense. Audiences were left on edge from the various sounds the birds themselves make, which even for 1960’s sound technology, is jarring and unsettling.
All this works in the movie’s favor to make it a timeless addition to the annals of creature film lore, so much so that it was selected to be preserved at the Library of Congress in their National Film Registry.
The premise of The Birds is already haunting enough for the reasons previously mentioned, but there’s a little-known fact that makes the movie even more haunting — The Birds is based on actual events!
On August 18th, 1961, the town of Capitola, California experienced a sudden, alarming incident where swarms of seagulls began exhibiting erratic, concerning behavior. Reports of the birds crashing haphazardly into cars, dive-bombing homes, and retching undigested fish onto people’s lawns ran rampant that day, frightening residents and sending them seeking shelter from the barrage. As quickly as it began, it was over, though that did little to calm the nerves of those who witnessed the events that took place.
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An investigation later took place that determined the birds had ingested toxic algae that had been tainted from leaking septic systems from nearby homes, poisoning them and altering their mental state. While this seems a logical and plausible explanation for what happened, it’s chilling to know that there exists a factual account of ordinarily benign creatures becoming overnight menaces.
Though the screenplay itself is based on Daphne du Maurier’s novella of the same name, Hitchcock used the event in Capitola as research and inspiration for developing the story. It’s a prime example of a movie based on an incident “ripped from the headlines,” even though what happened in the small seaside town was only acknowledged locally. Still, both the actual event and the movie contain the same chilling aspect; there is no true explanation as to why, and how, something like that happened in the first place. Hitchcock is known not only as a master of horror but also of mystery, as many of his movies contain similar plot points where not everything is fully explained.
The desire to know everything about a situation is human nature, especially one so perilous. News outlets are based entirely on this factor, and in the age of technology that gives us instant informational gratification, this demand is even more fervent. When you take that away and leave people with little or no explanation as to why an incident occurred, it evokes an unshakeable, deep-rooted unease. Part of the reason why The Birds works so well as a horror story is that it expertly taps into this concept and combines it with the baffling, almost comical scenario of the threat from an innocuous, banal entity.
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Birds are one of the oldest creatures still on Earth today, around since Prehistoric times, and are scientifically proven to be descendants of the dinosaurs. Jurassic Park explores this extensively, and Dr. Alan Grant even says at one point, “Bet you’ll never look at birds the same way again.” They’ve been our pets for centuries and have been symbols of peace, freedom, and virtue, which makes for a horrifying juxtaposition when they’re portrayed in a malevolent light.
When you look at a movie like Jaws, the terror is understood; sharks are apex predators who have a known history of attacking humans. They’re also easy to bypass – don’t want to risk getting eaten, don’t go into the water. Birds, on the other hand, are essentially unavoidable. They’re all around us, outnumbering us substantially, which makes the possibility of another circumstance like what happened in Capitola truly ominous. Maybe these were all points that Hitchcock considered when creating the movie because it still holds up today on an intrinsic, fearful level.
We can only hope to not ever find out what would happen if the events in The Birds became reality, and that we can continue to live in mutual harmony with our feathered friends. With all that said, however, the next time you leave your house, consider this, if even for a moment, to see if you’ll ever be able to look at them the same way again.
