When, as a teenager, I first saw The Birds, I was completely terrified. Alfred Hitchcock’s decision to not use a soundtrack and to leave only the cawing as background sound was a decision that sent shivers down my spine then and still does now, 63 years after its release. It is one of the most influential horror films in history, a true masterpiece that had a horrible sequel made at the time and had remained missing since then… until now.
Funeral march for a franchise
Everything is a franchise now. Everything. Dora the Explorer? Backrooms? The cloth you use to clean the countertop? Everything can become a saga if you exploit it enough! And, of course, Hitchcock couldn’t resist this ongoing manipulation of original ideas. The Birds has been the latest to fall, with Sarah Snook (Succession) as the lead and Tom Spezialy (Watchmen, The Leftovers) as showrunner.
It is true that having a screenwriter of such incredible series as Watchmen or The Leftovers gives hope, but I think we all ask the same question: What is the need? Well, in this case, the limited series being proposed would be a current and visceral reimagining set in Alaska with a mysterious murder at its center. Hint: it’s the birds.
So far, they have been preparing the series based more on the short story by Daphne Du Marier than on Hitchcock’s film, but it is not fully approved and they do not have anyone to buy it. I have no doubt that, at the scent of fresh food, Apple TV+ has raised its head wanting its share.