In 1994, a sequel was made to the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock classic The Birds, one that turned out so badly it was disowned by its own director. While he was known as the master of suspense, and for good reason, Hitchcock didn’t really do much straightforward horror. In fact, one could argue his only real horror films came later in his career, with 1960’s Psycho and then The Birds. Of course, being Hitchcock, he couldn’t venture into horror without making two all-time classics.
Psycho introduced the world to mentally unhinged serial killer Norman Bates, who possessed an alternate personality that he assumed while committing his murders. It was also arguably the first precursor to the slasher sub-genre. The Birds is kind of the reverse, as instead of focusing in on a complex villain and the potential prey in his immediate orbit, the film presents a possibly supernatural scenario in which birds begin attacking humans for seemingly no reason, and takes a look at how everyday people react to that.
Based on the 1952 story by author Daphne Du Maurier, The Birds was a box office success, although it earned mixed reviews upon release, and took a while to become regarded as a horror classic. Today, it’s preserved in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Sadly, the same cannot be said for its sequel, The Birds 2: Land’s End, an utterly dreadful movie.
Why The Birds Sequel Was Disowned By Its Director
Those currently saying “wait, they made a sequel to The Birds?” can be forgiven, as The Birds 2: Land’s End wasn’t released in theaters. Instead, it was a made-for-cable film, and aired on Showtime. It’s basically a sequel in name only, moving the action to a new town, and focusing on entirely new characters. Bizarrely, The Birds star Tippi Hedren makes a cameo, but not as Melanie Daniels. It’s an odd project all around, and one wonders why it was even made. Most notably, the sequel’s director Rick Rosenthal demanded his name be removed from the final cut, and replaced with the old Hollywood fake name of Alan Smithee.
It’s unclear exactly what led Rosenthal to make that choice, as since The Birds 2 is so obscure, very little production information on it is available. Still, it doesn’t take a genius to deduce that it’s because the sequel is bad. Really, really, really, bad, and definitely not in a “so bad it’s good” kind of way. The Birds 2 is cheaply made, poorly acted, poorly written, contains awful special effects, and is just downright boring. The Birds 2 is so bad that it makes Rosenthal’s later terrible sequel, 2002’s Halloween: Resurrection, look great by comparison. And that film features Busta Rhymes beating up Michael Myers while saying “Trick or Treat, motherf****er!”. Unsurprisingly, Hedren regrets her participation, saying of the sequel in a 2002 interview, “It’s absolutely horrible. It embarrasses me horribly.” Ouch.
