Chic socialite Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) enjoys a passing flirtation with an eligible attorney (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco pet shop and, on an impulse, follows him to his hometown bearing a gift of lovebirds. What was meant to be a romantic weekend turns into a hellish nightmare as the birds of Bodega Bay mass by the thousands to attack everyone in sight. The Birds is a terrifying tale not just because of the gruesome attack scenes but because Hitchcock, ever the master of suspense, slowly builds the terror instead of unleashing his “feathered friends” from the get-go. Few scenes chill the bone as well as the one in which a jungle gym is slowly overrun by a pack of murderous crows. The lack of a clear answer to why the birds are on the warpath just makes the story that much more horrific.