BEAKS: THE MOVIE
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1993 Ken Johnson
1:27, Horror, 1987 Self rating: "unsuitable for anyone under 17" (graphic violence, female nudity, adult situations) Rating: four (on a scale of zero to five) Director: Rene Cardona, Jr. Cast: Christopher Atkins, Michelle Johnson, Sonia Infante, Salvador Pineda, Carol Connery
Around the world, stories of birds attacking humans start to surface. Reporter Michelle Johnson and her camera man Christopher Atkins are sent to cover the stories thinking they are nothing but a novelty story. The two discover that the attacks may be linked and may be the birds ganging together to try and destroy the human race. Johnson and Atkins try and try to find a way to get people to know of the grave danger that could be in store for them.
BEAKS: THE MOVIE (which also has been released under the title BIRDS OF PREY - 1987 version) is a remake of sorts of Alfred Hitchcock's suspense film THE BIRDS. This film is available (at least for rental) on IVE videocassette, but may be hard to find. I can only recommend this film to gore film freaks and/or fans of Rene Cardona, Jr.'s films, because all others will probably find this film a complete waste of time. This film might have been able to get away with an R rating, but I expect that it would have received an X (this film was made in the days before the NC-17 rating) for graphic violence.
The gore, which is extremely plentiful in this film, is very well done. There are numerous scenes of birds ripping apart the faces and bodies of people that are so gory and graphic it is impossible not to watch. The director, Rene Cardona, Jr. (who did the film THE TREASURE OF THE AMAZON) has done a really good job with this film. The film moves along at a good pace with not too much time between the scenes of gore.
The cast is of reasonably good quality, and surprisingly enough, above that of most horror films. Michelle Johnson (BLAME IT ON RIO, BLOOD TIES (1991), DR. GIGGLES) does a great job in her role. She brought some life into her character, which is not often seen in this grade of a picture. She also didn't seem to be following any of Hollywood's horror stereotypes. Christopher Atkins (THE BLUE LAGOON) also does a good job of breaking the Hollywood stereotypes. He makes a rounded character that is interesting to watch.
The screenplay for this film is rather well written for one of this genre. There are some surprises in the film, although not that many. The film is predictable in many places, but unfortunately most films are. It does, however, resemble that of Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS in several places, but there are some differences so it is not a complete rip-off. The lines of dialog are not those of complete horror movie morons, however in some places they do get rather stupid, but you can't have everything. The ending to the film is too quick and wasn't done as well as it could have been. Some things fit together just a little too well in the end.
-------- Ken Johnson blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
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