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The film “Kaw” is a remake of “The Birds” before the
actual remake of “The Birds” arrives to shit on us from above in
theaters. And yet, “Kaw” is also surprisingly competent. Director
Sheldon Wilson and writer
Benjamin Sztajnkrycer
just manage to get the tension down. Sure, it’s not as tense and
nail-biting as “The Birds” because when it came to tension, Hitchcock
had the formula down, but “Kaw” is awfully tense when it wants to be.
Small town, a young man and woman fight off winged threats from above that
are gathering to inflict horror on them. Not by shitting on their
windshields and shoulders, but by pecking their eyes out. Yes, I’ll keep
saying it. It’s a remake of “The Birds,” pure and simple.
But hell, that doesn’t take away from the
quality of the story. Sean Patrick
Flannery and the like all pull in considerably good performances
convincing me that this threat is there and it is real.
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I bought into this Raven Invasion (Look I
made the title for the next killer bird movie!) and I sat,
with eyes un-diverted, watching and waiting for these winged
bitches to strike mercilessly. One of the better
performances is from Stephen McHattie, who plays an
eccentric bus driver named Clyde who experiences the bird
attacks first hand and is now stuck on the road with three
girls and a bus that won’t work. McHattie pulls his
performance off well, and he damn near stole the movie from
everyone else. |
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Flannery and Booth are very good as the
couple experiencing the raven attacks on different parts of the town.
Wilson never over-develops their relationship or romance, so any
emphases on character is left solely for the basics, and their raw
performances. As for the sub-plots,
Sztajnkrycer manages to
keep the film at a tight pace, with different sub-plots that are
fascinating. Flannery’s character is stuck in town at the mercy of the
ravens, McHattie has to figure out how to get off the road, and Booth
accidentally discovers the source of the Raven attacks. What’s the
explanation? Well, I’ll leave it up to you to discover, but in the end I
bought it, and I was intrigued. “Kaw” is an atmospheric little killer
bird movie that works and works well. And Wilson finds new ways to make
these Ravens the difficult bastards they have the potential to be.
They’re cannibalistic, they throw rocks into windows, and they make
these people’s lives pure hell. And I enjoyed it.
I love monster movies with funny names,
don’t you? There’s “SuperCroc,” and there’s “Sssssssss!” and then
there’s “Kaw.” The title of this feature just isn’t the problem of
Wilson’s film, because that’s just my good old humor. In spite of
Wilson’s evident wisdom of pacing and tension, the birds here just
don’t frighten me as much as I assumed they would. What’s the point of
having Ravens if you’re not going to exploit their penchant for being
creepifying? Otherwise, just bring on a humming bird and call it “Kaw.”
I didn’t always buy the damage of the bird attacks. I mean is it really
possible for a bird to eat someone at the wheel of a moving vehicle? Is
it possible to be pecked to death? Paris Hilton has proved otherwise. I
was never too sure about that little device.
Oh you see? Here I was sitting here with my
whacking stick preparing to tear “Kaw” a new one, and I ended up
enjoying it. Damn Sheldon Wilson and his talent for atmosphere and
suspense, damn him and his great killer bird movie to hell.
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Look out for my
upcoming killer Rooster movie: “COCK!”
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