The Birds/Frenzy

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 tale of nature-gone-amok anticipates a lot of ’70s disaster flicks—and our recent boom in disaster literature, too. (Think of it as the progenitor to the avian flu scare.) In The Birds, based on a story by Daphne Du Maurier, we're left to wonder what the hell has gotten into Tippi Hedren’s feathered attackers. Hitchcock never really explains. Like War of the Worlds, there’s a mysterious aspect to their assault and retreat, which has made some critics call the picture his only science-fiction effort. You can also look back to Cary Grant and the crop-dusting plane in North by Northwest—Hitchcock seems particularly attuned to the threats that come from clear blue skies. Following is his lesser 1972 serial killer movie Frenzy. (NR) BRIAN MILLER

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