I am glad to read an article devoted to "The Birds," which, of all the films Hitchcock made that I have seen, is to me the most frightening. "Psycho" doesn't come close.

I know, you wrote that this was mismarketed as horror; and, truth to tell, calling a film like this a "horror film" trivializes it. But it *is* horrifying; the idea is horrifying, and the execution is horrifying.

Have you read the short story, by Daphne Du Maurier, upon which the film is based? While the film is more startling -- isn't that the nature of film -- the story is unnerving at a deep level. The written word is more powerful, I think, than film, and I suspect it is a mark of Hitchcock's skill as a director that he is able to reproduce so well the story's arc, the undercurrent of slow simmer of disquiet as it heats up into fear and dread.

It's funny I hadn't thought of it until reading your article, but Shyamalan's "The Happening" is pretty much the same story, isn't it.