Plot
Sheriff Wayne has only one more day
left on the job before moving to the city for a better life with his wife.
But his last day is going to be anything but typical. His town comes under
attack from a flock of blood-thirsty ravens, preying on the townsfolk and
causing widespread panic.
Review
Taking it's cue from Hitchcock's
classic The Birds, Kaw is proof that you shouldn't just
dismiss a film as a rip-off, cash-in or feeble reworking of an older film.
Kaw is hardly number one when it comes to originality but I was pleasantly
surprised with the proceedings. You don't get too many "birds run amok"
films, lest we forget the abomination that was The Birds II: Land's End.
So it's not like it's a overworked sub-genre. However when the film leading
the genre charge is Hitchcock's previously stated classic, then it's hard to try
anything new without drawing the obvious criticisms.
On it's own, Kaw works as an average horror-thriller. Birds aren't
exactly the most scary thing on this planet but if you've ever looked at
those ravens or crows, then you'll come to the same conclusion I do - they
are evil. Why do they need to be as jet black, have massive claws and gigantic
beaks that could swallow small field mice whole? The ravens here have been
feeding off dead cows which had mad cow disease. So the ravens themselves
are infected. At least it beats genetically engineered birds for a change.
Attacking in flocks, the ravens pose more of a threat in numbers. It always
made me wonder why the humans in these films always go down so easily when
being attacked by a big flock of birds. It's not like they're grossly
overpowering. The attack scenes aren't too bad and there's plenty of them
throughout the film. There isn't a huge amount of blood with the majority
being confined to grisly shots of dead bodies with their eyes pecked out.
CGI is kept to a minimum so most of the birds are real - always nice to see!
And above all the setting is just what the film needs - some town in the
middle of nowhere surrounded by open fields and woods. You wouldn't want
something like this happening in New York or London.
Even the human
side of the film, so often the downfall of this type of flick, is good. Sean
Patrick Flannery doesn't exactly stand out as the sheriff but he's the kind
of "everyman" hero that a film like this needs, not some super-invincible
character who leaps around to save the day. In a supporting role,
Stephen McHattie is one of those actors you always see but can never name
him or any other film he's been in. I guess that's what IMDB is for.
Rod Taylor, star of The Birds, makes a small
appearance in the film as the local doctor. The guy is 77 but I'm sorry to
say he hasn't aged as well as someone like Christopher Lee. I would have
liked to see some sort of in-joke or throwaway gag involving Taylor's
character but the film was played out straight so there was no chance of
that.
Verdict
Kaw is a pretty decent
horror-thriller which, despite it's blatant pillaging of The Birds, manages
to conjure up a few tricks here and there. It's nothing flash but gets the
job done. In a day where I dread putting the next "monster on the loose"
flick into my DVD player, it's refreshing to find one that doesn't
completely suck. I guess that's a compliment but given how many appalling
films I've seen lately, Kaw is like a breath of fresh air! Competently
acted, competently directed and competently....er...just competent overall!
