The Birds / Cujo
There are many things in this world that people are scared of but what one person is scared of is not necessarily the same fears of another. There is one thing, however, that we are all scared of. Some animal out there strikes fear into every one of us, whether that be rats, snakes, sharks and many many others. Filmmakers are always on the prowl for a new way to scare people, some use ghosts and others use demons and while those are all frightening it’s hard to find something more terrifying than nature turning on us. These two films were released 20 years apart but share the same horrifying theme. I have always been a bigger fan of horror films that present realistic things as monsters. Using this technique is much scarier because they present a situation that any of us could find ourselves in.
The Birds
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Released: 1963
Most of Hitchcock’s films are great but there are only a handful of them that are brilliant. This is one of them. Despite the special effects being dated the suspense holds up extremely well even after all these years which shows exactly why Hitchcock earned the name “Master of Suspense”. For its time this was truly a disturbing film because no director before Hitchcock was able to make the human race seem so helpless. This was one of the first films to show how easily we as humans can be wiped out and that really scared audiences back then. Throughout the 50′s and 60′s many films featuring animals were always 50 feet tall and could crush buildings and make people shit themselves just by the sheer site of them. Hitchcock however didn’t need to make his birds 50 feet tall where all they had to do was lay an egg on your house and kill everyone inside, no, he went with a realistic approach and that is what was so terrifying. Is the film as scary now as it was in 1963? No, not at all but what it does do today is really give you an appreciation for all the “creature features” that came after it. They all have to start somewhere and even though The Birds wasn’t the first of its kind, every film to come after it owes Hitchcock a special thanks because he forever changed the genre. Hitchcock did something that you just don’t see anymore in horror flicks and that is to spend the first half of the film developing characters that you actually care about. So by the time the second half rolls into frame when he unleashes the true terror it makes The Birds that much more effective. This is a classic in every sense of the word and it is an unforgettable one.
Cujo
Directed by Lewis Teague
Released: 1983
Unlike The Birds I wouldn’t consider Cujo to be a classic and that is mostly because you rarely ever hear anyone bring it up during a conversation about horror films. This is either one you love or you hate and I think that has a lot to do with people finding it hard to watch a loving and fun dog turn into such a monster. I believe that if this film stuck with the original ending in the Stephen King novel this could have been one of the most shocking films of it’s time. Despite not being a classic in many people’s eyes this film stands the test of time because even today the performances from actors Dee Wallace and Danny Pintauro are absolutely brilliant. It’s rare for a film to really grasp that feeling of claustrophobia which is a fear for many people even by itself , now throw a rabid dog in the mix and you have something only nightmares are made of. One of the challenges in a film that has such a small setting, like this one for instance where most of the entire movie is set inside of a car, is that the filmmakers have to find a way to shoot the film in interesting ways in order to keep the audience entertained. This film is a pure example of how to use a camera in tight spaces. There is one scene in particular that takes place inside the car. The camera focuses on Wallace who is purely exhausted and then swivels around in order to perfectly capture a horrified look on the young Pintauro’s face. Then, the camera begins to spin and spin making the audience dizzy and forcing them to feel the exhaustion that the characters are going through. It is some genius camera work like this that really sets this film apart from many others.
“There are no real monsters.”
“Except for the one in my closet.”
This film captures fear in it’s purest form which is extremely rare and it adds to the tension of the film. Now on to Cujo himself, perhaps the scariest dog ever put on film. It is impossible to deny how terrifying they made this dog look in the film, and he’s absolutely huge which creates the feeling of a monster in one of the most realistic forms. Add the score from Charles Bernstein who also did Nightmare On Elm Street and you have an unforgettable horror film that shows a true monster in a world that we all live in.
Why they are better together:
At first it might seem strange to put these two films together in a double feature because you have one film that is considered a timeless classic and you have another that not many people talk about. But I feel that they work so well together. Even though they came 20 years apart they both captured the same kind of horror. The Birds isn’t nearly as scary today as it used to be but it’s the perfect set up for a film like Cujo which is very much a terrifying film. They both show how small we really are and bring out true fears in people which is what all horror films strive to do. Whether it is birds, dogs, rats, snakes, sharks or even bees, when nature get’s its revenge it is truly the scariest thing of all.
As always, thanks for reading! If you missed last weeks double feature, check it out here:
