Kaw (2007)

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. 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. And yet, “Kaw” is 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. In a 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. 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. 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. 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.