bwanaart This movie; "Birds II - Land's End" would be an excellent movie to help distinguish a truly "B" Sci-Fi movie...from one that deserves even less recognition.The leading star; Brad Johnson (who also made an equally entertaining movie about attacking copperhead snakes recently) was as 'vanilla' as one can get. It's quite surprising to find that he continues to get work as an 'actor'. Yes, he's good looking; a tall, handsome, strapping lad...but an actor? He actually makes money as an actor? Chelsea Field seemed to be in a constant, frustrating state of 'breeding mode' which detracted from her exceedingly limited character. Her skill as an actress is questionable at best, but as all know, many make a career with only physical attributes as assets.And Tippi Hedren, (who looks like someone's 'lifted' her face so often...her chin no longer seems to connect with her neck) offered very little as 'ballast'. It was good to see her, though. It's nice that she could be in on the anticipated 'death knell' of the whole 'vicious bird' mentality. Her presence offered 'nostalgia' at least.If not for the performance of Jan Rubes, one could speculate that the entire movie was a sophomoric rendition produced in your local high school auditorium. He was the only actor that had depth in the entire movie.The plot? Well, one could use more words to define the anemia of the plot than were used to write the plot.Is there anything positive about the movie? Certainly. I caught myself laughing often as the birds were coming, going or attacking one of the actors like a cartoon character. You could see the birds were 'tied' to the actor, struggling and flapping frantically to simply get away.The 'special effects' people showed the same level of professionalism as Brad and Chelsea did (if there were special effects people on this movie). They failed so badly that one couldn't keep a straight face.What do we do when birds (water birds who fly in the air) attack in massive swarms...from the air? (From where else would they?) Why, we disdain the buildings, shops, garages and other structures with roofs and walls around the dock and we take our wife and children, climb into a dinghy...and race as quickly as we can out in the open water...where there is absolutely no shelter at all! Yes, that summarizes the plot. Perhaps, we all should shut our TV's and join them in the bay? Be sure to bring an umbrella!

coyets Daphne Du Maurier's short story has inspired another attempt to tell the tale using the medium of film, with its advantages of visual images of the unusual behaviour of birds. Personally, I prefer the book, with its advantages of subtlety, but film has the important characteristic of attracting more viewers than books do readers. On the other hand, this particular film has the special disadvantage of telling the same story, transposed to another coastal village, as a deservedly famous film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Needless to say, The Birds II: Land's End does not manage to recreate the atmosphere of The Birds, but the acting of the family, Brad Johnson and Chelsea Field as Ted and May and two less well-known actresses as their daughters, at least compensated to some extent for a surprisingly weak unfolding of the tale of the aggression of birds, and the mostly irrational reactions of people to the unexpected. However, the dialogue with people in the village could have been much wittier.The one feature which was better than the much more famous film of this short story was the landscapes. Alfred Hitchcock concentrated on suspense, whilst this film has time to dwell more on aesthetics. Admittedly, this still does not bring it anywhere near to the class of The Birds, but it is still quite enjoyable.Why, one might ask, should a short story that has already been filmed so well be filmed again. The answer, in my opinion, lies in not being tied down to one set of images, so that the short story regains the elements of conjuring up a reader's images from his own imagination. The Birds II: Land's End offers the reader an alternative set of images to the ones which have been so ingrained into people's minds. It is also interesting to note that Jamaica Inn, Rebecca and Don't Look Now have all been filmed more than once.Although the film is weaker than The Birds, it is a passable filming of Daphne Du Maurier's short story.

Baldach I only gave 2 points for this movie, 1 point for the talents of Jan Rubes who portrays the only sane character in the whole town and 1 point for the suprising ending.. After seeing this movie I can understand why the birds attack the family and the town. The family is messed up, a father who is so absorbed in his work.A wife that might be having an affair with her old boy friend. The town mayor makes Boss Hogg from the "Dukes of Hazzard" look like a genius.The town mayor seems to be more interested in billards than the town promblems. Of course the mayor does not even think of calling the National Guard or at least organizing a posse. No, the mayor goes out attacking 100 thousand violent seagulls with a single pump action shotgun.

gridoon A belated, acceptable sequel-remake of Hitchcock's superb 1963 film, this isn't quite the turkey you might expect to see after all the excessively hostile reviews it has received. Well-paced and well-shot, it builds to some fairly good attack sequences (it's much gorier than the original, of course). However, it lacks that special apocalyptic edge that Hitchcock's film had; it seems to be much more modest. (**1/2)