After a chance meeting in a pet shop, rich socialite Melanie Daniels (Hedren) decides to give Mitch Brenner (Taylor) a suprise visit at his family home in the quiet coastal town of Bodega Bay, but this is a Hitchcock movie, and the local birds seem to know it.

Although long associated with the genre, Hitchcock only actually made two horror movies (Psycho being the other) and, as is the way with Hitchcock movies, things are hardly done by the book. Hitchcock must have loved spending the first half hour pretending this was going to be a romantic comedy, but when he starts to drop in an increasing number of clues to the violence ahead it really begins to get interesting. Prophetic moments such as the seagull scratching Melanie's head and the bird crashing into the window of the Brenner's home become more frequent, brilliantly building the viewers' sense of unease and culminating in a chilling climax. One of the great achievements here is to make plausible most of the characters' relaxed and unsuspicious manner, while the audience is fed all the ominous events and touches required for the tension to mount and mount.

Evan Hunter's witty banter. Rod Taylor's charm. Hitchcock's skill at building tension. Just a few of the things missing from this belated sequel, and I would go on but it's a long list. Lacking the ominous tone and intensity of the original, and lacking anything interesting of its own, this movie is the story of some boring marital problems, birds sitting on things and townsfolk jabbed with stuffed seagulls by someone off camera. Tippi Hedren pops up, as if that's some kind of seal of approval. The only interesting characters are the island's newspaper editor, played by James Naughton, and the friendly lighthouse keeper, played by Jan Rubes. They both have twinkles in their eyes, and occasionally drag the movie from its apathetic slouch.