The Birds (story) The Birds (story) "The Birds" is a horror story by British writer Daphne du Maurier, first published in her 1952 collection "The Apple Tree". It is the story of a farmhand, his family, and his community that are attacked by flocks of birds and seabirds in "kamikaze" fashion. The story is set in du Maurier's native Cornwall shortly after the end of the Second World War. By the end of the story it becomes clear that all of Britain is under aerial assault. The story was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Birds", released in 1963, the same year
The Birds (film) the passage of time the film's standing among critics has improved. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 96% based on reviews from 52 critics, with an average rating of 8.2/10, and the website's consensus states: "Proving once again that build-up is the key to suspense, Hitchcock successfully turned birds into some of the most terrifying villains in horror history." On Metacritic it has a score of 87 out of 100, based on reviews from 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Film critic David Thomson refers to it as Hitchcock's "last unflawed film". Humanities scholar Camille Paglia wrote a