The Birds are attacking again in this relatively unknown made for TV sequel to a classic done by legend Alfred Hitchcock.
A family moves to a similar coastal town like Bodega Bay in order to get away from the people and sirens of the big city. They have bought what seems to be the same house from the original film where Melanie and Mitch escaped a vicious bird attack in 1963. The lady of the house is Mary and she is starting a job at a local newspaper in town, while Ted is a high school biology teacher currently writing his thesis. We seem them assimilate in town and the community all while fixing up their new house. One day, a bird attacks Ted which of course seems extremely peculiar to him. A male body then washes up on shore with his eyes gouged out. Eventually, birds start attacking everyone in town. Will anyone survive?
The Birds II was never going to be a success, especially when it was thrown into the made-for-TV category. With such a lower budget, poor direction, and TV quality acting/effects - what was there to expect other than a very average story that follows a classic horror film. We get a subplot of Mary's editor at the newspaper flirting with her, and Ted's struggle to write his thesis due to the recent death of his son. All of these things feel like filler and add very little to entertainment value.
The acting was OK. It was nice to see Tippi Hedren again, even though she was playing completely different character than Melanie Daniels in the original The Birds. Brad Johnson and Chelsea Field lead the way as the parents of the new family on Bodega Bay. They do a very average job given the dialogue they were given to work with. There weren't nearly enough likeable characters in The Birds II for me. The husband Ted was a bad husband who struggled to be there for his wife Mary, and she was in between trying to make the marriage work while kissing her editor at the newspaper office.
The Birds II: Land's End was a ho hum film that added nothing new to a movie in 1963 that did it so much better. There were some interesting bird attacks, including a very frantic finale which involves the birds attacking a lot of the townsfolk by the dock ... but overall, it was a disappointing sequel to a film that should probably never be touched with another sequel or remake again.
4/10
A family moves to a similar coastal town like Bodega Bay in order to get away from the people and sirens of the big city. They have bought what seems to be the same house from the original film where Melanie and Mitch escaped a vicious bird attack in 1963. The lady of the house is Mary and she is starting a job at a local newspaper in town, while Ted is a high school biology teacher currently writing his thesis. We seem them assimilate in town and the community all while fixing up their new house. One day, a bird attacks Ted which of course seems extremely peculiar to him. A male body then washes up on shore with his eyes gouged out. Eventually, birds start attacking everyone in town. Will anyone survive?
The Birds II was never going to be a success, especially when it was thrown into the made-for-TV category. With such a lower budget, poor direction, and TV quality acting/effects - what was there to expect other than a very average story that follows a classic horror film. We get a subplot of Mary's editor at the newspaper flirting with her, and Ted's struggle to write his thesis due to the recent death of his son. All of these things feel like filler and add very little to entertainment value.
The acting was OK. It was nice to see Tippi Hedren again, even though she was playing completely different character than Melanie Daniels in the original The Birds. Brad Johnson and Chelsea Field lead the way as the parents of the new family on Bodega Bay. They do a very average job given the dialogue they were given to work with. There weren't nearly enough likeable characters in The Birds II for me. The husband Ted was a bad husband who struggled to be there for his wife Mary, and she was in between trying to make the marriage work while kissing her editor at the newspaper office.
The Birds II: Land's End was a ho hum film that added nothing new to a movie in 1963 that did it so much better. There were some interesting bird attacks, including a very frantic finale which involves the birds attacking a lot of the townsfolk by the dock ... but overall, it was a disappointing sequel to a film that should probably never be touched with another sequel or remake again.
4/10