Kaw

Alfred Hitchcock doesn't need to rollover in his grave just yet, but at some points during this average and largely uninspired imitation of "The Birds", we definitely came too damn close! Sheldon Wilson, who recently scored a modest hit with "Shallow Ground", adds very few elements to the original idea of aggressive birds (ravens, to be exact) attacking human beings, apart from an admittedly decent explanation for the their unusual behavior. On his very last day as the Sheriff of Middletown, Wayne encounters several peculiar fatal accidents that are seemingly inflicted by ordinary ravens, judging by the bloodied wounds on the victims' bodies. Long before Wayne and the local doctor (played by Rod Taylor; lead star of Hitchock's "The Birds"!) can find the time to investigate the reasons for the birds' murderous new instincts, they have to protect and evacuate the townspeople, as the bird-attacks rapidly become more frequent and hostile. As mentioned before, I appreciated the explanation given to the epidemic of virulent ravens. I won't reveal everything, but it relates to factual diseases cattle-breeders recently had to deal with, combined with the secluded and private life style of Amish communities. The rest of the film is overall decent too, but director Wilson sadly doesn't share Hitchcock's talents to make even a simple bird look scary and menacing. The multiple and extended images of hundreds of birds suspiciously observing the people of Middletown therefore aren't very unsettling and quickly tend to get boring. Their attacks naturally are a bit monotonous as well, since they can exclusively peck their victims to death and we all know this may take a while. And still, despite all these flaws and some more, "Kaw" is an overall entertaining creature-feature that mainly benefices from likable character drawings and neat acting performances. Although most of the characters are pure stereotypes (the Sheriff facing his ultimate challenge on his last day, the town's drunkard, etc...), you quickly develop sympathy for them and you hope that at least some of them make it out alive. The photography is quite nice, with a handful of ingenious POV shots and director Wilson also effectively creates a feeling of complete isolation. There probably isn't enough gore or cheese to satisfy the majority of fanatic horror fans. I count myself among them and I thought it easily could have been much gorier without affecting the plot in a bad way. Is it too much to ask to show at least one raven pecking out someone's eyeball and fly around it with it? Guess so... "Kaw" also stands for Sean Patrick Flannery's best career move since "Boondock Saints" – he starred in a lot of straight to video crap recently – and it was a fantastic stunt to motivate Rod Taylor to star in an unofficial homage to "The Birds". Taylor barely starred in any film since the early 90's, but he's still a powerful actor. I say this reasonably well-made and interesting film deserves at least one viewing.

It doesn't take a genus to know that a huge inspirational factor behind this guilty pleasure was Hitchcock's The Birds. I thought this movie would be a terrible B-movie that should never be enjoyed by the general public, for the most part it is true, but because of that I enjoyed this film. The birds were so badly CGed and the acting was okay, the scares were not there and the gore wasn't enough. There were points in the movie where I could not watch it because it lost and bored me, so I had to resort to other things to keep my mind interested. The attack scenes were kind of humorous and laughable.

However, despite these negative factors that drug this movie down, these very same factors made me like the movie a lot. I'm not ashamed to watch it again, and I probably will, but it's like Snakes on the Plane or Chopping Mall, it's so bad it's good and I can't deny that. I watched it and knew fully that I would not be able to take it seriously, which is why when the movie ended I sat back and said "That was a very long, boring and entertaining roller coaster ride." I would recommend this movie to those who love cult classics or really bad B-movies; even those who enjoy indie films or low-budgeters would enjoy this. Though, if your palate includes something a bit more scary or disturbing, you might want to stay away from it. Relationship wise, it's all bittersweet for me.

I couldn't keep a straight face while watching this. All I could think of was The Crows Have Eyes III from Schitt's Creek and Moira's daft performance. Just another The Bird's ripoff, don't bother.

This is a reworking of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". And, this is a great example of why I prefer classic movies. The Birds started out developing the characters. You understood them, and even to care for them. Gradually Hitchcock built up the suspense and he anticipated the audience reactions. The Birds had real characters, complete with quirks, flaws, problems, emotions and feelings. You got to really know the citizens and visitors of Bodega Bay. It also had a plot, (imagine that), genuine suspense, atmosphere, humor, a riveting score and masterful Hitch touches throughout. It wasn't about special effects, gore and shock, although he incorporated that into The Birds, it is not what made the film work.

Kaw isn't an awful film, but it lacks just about everything I mentioned above. It lacks a heart and soul, and especially character development. There are no intriguing characters. It's obvious and predictable. There isn't much suspense if you know what's going to happen. It's watchable, I wasn't bored. Best of all, it helped me appreciate the classics even more. Watch this, then The Birds. You'll see what makes a film great, rather than just merely passable.

I first saw this in 2007 on a dvd which I own. Revisited it recently cos my nephew wanted to c a "crow" horror film.

Agree it's a blatant rip off of The Birds but they compensated by taking the lead actor Rod Taylor from The Birds into this film. In the classic there is never an explanation as to why the birds go full rampage but this film compensated by giving a medical explanation. The classic one had some solid tension n suspense n Hitchcock turned the docile birds into some of the most terrifying villains. This film is devoid of tension n character build up but has some nasty flesh n brains being pecked by infected but intelligent ravens.