User Reviews

This is a reworking of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". And, this is a great example of why I prefer classic movies. The Birds started out developing the characters. You understood them, and even to care for them. Gradually Hitchcock built up the suspense and he anticipated the audience reactions. The Birds had real characters, complete with quirks, flaws, problems, emotions and feelings. You got to really know the citizens and visitors of Bodega Bay. It also had a plot, (imagine that), genuine suspense, atmosphere, humor, a riveting score and masterful Hitch touches throughout. It wasn't about special effects, gore and shock, although he incorporated that into The Birds, it is not what made the film work.

Kaw isn't an awful film, but it lacks just about everything I mentioned above. It lacks a heart and soul, and especially character development. There are no intriguing characters. It's obvious and predictable. There isn't much suspense if you know what's going to happen. It's watchable, I wasn't bored. Best of all, it helped me appreciate the classics even more. Watch this, then The Birds. You'll see what makes a film great, rather than just merely passable.

I don't feel like wasting much of my time writing a long, in-depth review on a film such as Kaw, a Sci-Fi Original Movie, so let me get straight to the details here: This film is about a pack rabid birds (Supposedly just ravens, but it's pretty obvious that they have a mixture of ravens and crows in the there) that terrorize a town for a reason not revealed until near the end, and most of the film is spent following several people who meet up in the end, simply running from the creatures. It's really as simple and ridiculous as that.

But, I don't think I've enjoyed a Sci-Fi movie as much as Kaw since the should-be cult-classic Alien Apocalypse (Starring Bruce Campbell) or the amazingly bad Nature Unleashed: Tornado. Yes, it has its mass of flaws including very mediocre CGI (a commonface among Sci-Fi movies), an uninteresting and generic plot/story, and an extremely lame, clichéd ending for the genre. But... I will go as far as to say the acting was pretty good/mediocre, but never laughably bad; an oddity with Sci-Fi movies. Same thing goes with the diologue which proved to be believable and somewhat interesting on occasion.

Even though the movie doesn't have any 'scary' scenes (as expected), I was surprised to find that it did, however, have a few slightly intense moments here and there that had me creep towards my TV, as well as a good amount of blood and gore that was seemingly well-done.

Overall, Kaw is a decent film for the Sci-Fi channel. Usually these movies end up being complete unbearable disasters, but this one was, to some extent, entertaining; I enjoyed watching this on my Saturday night where I didn't have much else to do, and I'd say it was worth watching. My Sci-Fi Channel Original Picture score for Kaw makes an easy 7/10, but my real score is shown above.

Alfred Hitchcock doesn't need to rollover in his grave just yet, but at some points during this average and largely uninspired imitation of "The Birds", we definitely came too damn close! Sheldon Wilson, who recently scored a modest hit with "Shallow Ground", adds very few elements to the original idea of aggressive birds (ravens, to be exact) attacking human beings, apart from an admittedly decent explanation for the their unusual behavior. On his very last day as the Sheriff of Middletown, Wayne encounters several peculiar fatal accidents that are seemingly inflicted by ordinary ravens, judging by the bloodied wounds on the victims' bodies. Long before Wayne and the local doctor (played by Rod Taylor; lead star of Hitchock's "The Birds"!) can find the time to investigate the reasons for the birds' murderous new instincts, they have to protect and evacuate the townspeople, as the bird-attacks rapidly become more frequent and hostile. As mentioned before, I appreciated the explanation given to the epidemic of virulent ravens. I won't reveal everything, but it relates to factual diseases cattle-breeders recently had to deal with, combined with the secluded and private life style of Amish communities. The rest of the film is overall decent too, but director Wilson sadly doesn't share Hitchcock's talents to make even a simple bird look scary and menacing. The multiple and extended images of hundreds of birds suspiciously observing the people of Middletown therefore aren't very unsettling and quickly tend to get boring. Their attacks naturally are a bit monotonous as well, since they can exclusively peck their victims to death and we all know this may take a while. And still, despite all these flaws and some more, "Kaw" is an overall entertaining creature-feature that mainly benefices from likable character drawings and neat acting performances. Although most of the characters are pure stereotypes (the Sheriff facing his ultimate challenge on his last day, the town's drunkard, etc...), you quickly develop sympathy for them and you hope that at least some of them make it out alive. The photography is quite nice, with a handful of ingenious POV shots and director Wilson also effectively creates a feeling of complete isolation. There probably isn't enough gore or cheese to satisfy the majority of fanatic horror fans. I count myself among them and I thought it easily could have been much gorier without affecting the plot in a bad way. Is it too much to ask to show at least one raven pecking out someone's eyeball and fly around it with it? Guess so... "Kaw" also stands for Sean Patrick Flannery's best career move since "Boondock Saints" – he starred in a lot of straight to video crap recently – and it was a fantastic stunt to motivate Rod Taylor to star in an unofficial homage to "The Birds". Taylor barely starred in any film since the early 90's, but he's still a powerful actor. I say this reasonably well-made and interesting film deserves at least one viewing.

If this movie sucked any worse I think the world would implode on itself. Lets see....where to begin. The out of town couple who find the menonite girls crashed truck. Why did we know that the husband would panic and back the car into the ditch across the road? The husband had plenty of room to turn around, or for that matter just keep backing down the road. Then the phone lines being down...what a crock of crap! No one in that town had a cell phone? The dispatcher had already said that she had radioed the state police...but they were busy...yeah right. Earlier during the daylight attack in the town we see numerous people in the street so I think that surely one of those townspeople would have either called on a cell phone, CB, ham radio or for that matter just got in their car and left. Why hadn't the High School sent someone out to look for the school bus when it didn't arrive back on time? I can also assure you that that bus would have had some type of CB or radio on it. Why the hell did Clyde tell the girls to shut the bus door when he went out to try and start the bus? We know the Ravens are going to attack and he will be running back into the bus, so why shut them to begin with? Clyde would get back in before the ravens even got there. Then in the cafe why was the owner overcome by the ravens and not anyone else? It didn't look like there were enough Ravens in there to do that much damage let alone actually kill a adult woman. But of course we had to have the Cafe owner die so Clyde could charge out and sacrifice himself so the others could survive.....YAWN. If your under 15 you might enjoy it, but otherwise you'll get as much enjoyment from listening to an Air Supply CD.

Any film made with rampaging birds is bound to be immediately compared with the Alfred Hitchcock classic 'The Birds', especially if it has the hero of that film, Rod Taylor, playing a cameo role. Now this was Rod's pen ultimate movie appearance at 76, and he probably only accepted it for a laugh, but he does lend it some heavyweight clout, and is the main reason I bought it on DVD. Having said that, it's light on plot, but considering the minuscule budget compared with what Hitchcock would have had, it's quite well done, of course they had the added benefit of CGI, which of course Alfred didn't. From the extras I learnt that they had 11 trained ravens to work with, plus a couple of mechanical ones, and of course the CGI effects. Unlike 'The Birds' at least there's a reason given for the birds behavior, even if implausible, and the ending is equally anti climactic, still, as I say, anything with Rod Taylor in the cast can't be all bad, and it's better than a lot of stuff being churned out!

A silly and plodding effort, Kaw (Lame, lame title) is watchable but missable. The attack by animals thing has been many times before and Kaw brings nothing new to the table.

There is a lot of stupidity in Kaw. The explanation for the ravens going crazy is ludicrous- mad cow disease!? How the hell these ravens in Middle America got affected by mad cow disease is never really addressed and nor is the fact that this degenerative brain disease seems to make them way more intelligent and develop a sophisticated societal mentality. There is no scene sillier in the movie than the part in which the ravens attack the besieged school bus by picking up rocks and throwing them at the windows. Surely somebody at some point in the process of making this movie must have been aware how goofy this looked. The subplot about the Amish (Or Mennonites or whatever they were) is lame and brings nothing to the plot. It is hard to make the freakin' Amish look menacing, especially not half-arsed car driving, button wearing Amish like these and Kaw does not meet the challenge. Plus the men are wearing the fakest looking false beards you'll ever see.

The characters are standard horror movie archetypes. How many movies must we see set in a small town where a couple are divided over whether or not to stay, one of them wanting to pursue a career in the outside world and the other preferring quaint, small town life, reluctantly dragged along? The only good character in the movie is Clyde, the gun toting, recovering alcoholic bus driver played by the reliable and ever creepy Stephen McHattie ("Don't get ravens like that in Philly. But I guess you wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Joey?") Everyone else is bland or annoying. Actually, there is only one really annoying character- the smarmy teen bitch, who sadly survives when most of those around her from the ill fated bus trip die. I'm sad to say Sean Patrick Flannery never grew up to be like Harrison Ford in terms of charisma or screen presence.

On the positive side the special effects are actually quite good, seeming to be a mixture of real birds, perhaps some practical visual effects and some good CGI. The fact you can't always tell how the shot was done is a sign it was well done. Even the more ludicrous scenes such as the one involving the ravens picking up rocks and throwing them at the bus actually looks fairly realistic no matter how dumb what we are seeing is.

"Kaw" is a fun and really exciting Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature.

**SPOILERS**

On his last day of work, Police Chief Wayne Hayborne, (Sean Patrick Flanery) is debating about leaving town with his wife Cynthia, (Kristin Booth) and start up a new job. As the small town he patrols gets ready for the oncoming winter, bus driver Clyde MacKenzie, (Stephen McHattie) grows fearful when a larger than normal flock of ravens start appearing around town, and upon investigating his story, he finds that it's all true. As more and more of the townspeople are killed by the murderous ravens, they race against the town limits to get everyone inside before the ravens devour them all. Once inside, they realize that Clyde had already left town with a school bus full of children to an important event, and race to get them out of danger from the ravens as well.

The Good News: This here wasn't that bad of a flick. One of it's greatest assets is the fact that it's a really fast-moving flick. The first attack happens at the first five minutes, and there's another one quite soon after that. This does move at a fairly rapid pace, and while there isn't a huge amount of attacks in the beginning, there is enough through that part to keep interest high. When it does get on with the attacks, including a really marvelous attack under a bridge and a tense stand-off inside a barn, they really help to make the film more stand-able and the ravens appear to be that much more ravenous. Attacking anyone in sight, the ravens don't care whether you're a child, dog or an old man, these bird's will eat anything. That lack of remorse in the victims is quite refreshing to see, and these take advantage of the victim's proximity very well. In the later half, when the assault on the bus occurs, this especially helps out to make it quite exciting and full of suspense. The dull moments are thus magnified due to the intensity of the ensuing attacks, with the wooded area becoming an constant presence and making this sequence all the better for what it could've been. Once the final attack on the diner occurs, the action and intensity of the ravens is that much better. Starting with the spectacular notion of having the electric wires being put out by the ravens unnoticed by the cast as the path to the diner becomes clear lends untold suspense and anticipation for the scene, as it's bound to happen but at what time for the cast to notice. A marvelous technique, and when the chaos inside erupts with feathers and blood flying everywhere and dead ravens everywhere, it's quite fun and exciting, and the resolution is reached at a logical point in the action. There's some nice gore in here as well, with plenty of deep, throbbing peck wounds, a few scratches and lots of major damage done to the heads, including several who have major portions eaten or pecked away and while there could've been more, it's acceptable. Everything ties together neatly though and it never becomes even remotely confusing, which is quite surprising. All in all, this was a quite surprising and certainly fun Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature.

The Bad News: There really isn't a whole lot wrong with this one. The real main problem here is that the killer birds in the movie have a tendency to feel quite tame in terms of horror. See, birds can only do so much damage with pecking and it just doesn't feel plausible that people would die from a couple of scratch-marks. This would've made sense had this been genetically-altered ravens, where the damage from souped-up birds would've been more believable, but here, from ordinary birds, a little more damage to the victims would've been a little more believable. This also leads into the final complaint, which, despite being as entertaining as it is, it's just too tame. While we do get a few major pecks and scratches in terms of violence, that's all there is. There's really nothing new, and after the sixth attack or so with the same outcome, it gets a little numbing and doesn't really carry the same weight as before. These are easily acceptable and are pretty hard to be noticed anyway.

The Final Verdict: With only a couple of problems that are not that problematic, this here is a really entertaining and fun Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature. With a lot to really like about, this is a no-brainer for the hardcore fan of these films, while those who aren't that big into these films might find this as a perfect place to see what these kinds of films are all about.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language

It's a Sci Fi Channel movie. With killer ravens that got infected from Amish mad cows. I thought it was relaxing to watch the film, expecting every bit of it to be as it was and not getting disappointed. I wasn't expecting much, though.

The result was some shoddy CGI birds, a lot of scenes ripped off from The Birds, no script, nothing scary, people dying from superficial wounds and car accidents, a big explosion to save the day and a quick scare last scene.

Bottom line: no reason why you should see this film. No reason why you shouldn't, either. It's the perfect zen TV movie, in perfect balance.

Animal attack horror movies truly are a dime a dozen, and sometimes they can get extremely cheesy and crummy, often knowingly so, and sometimes they really aren't so bad. "Kaw" may overall be routine and unremarkable, but it handles its outlandish premise better than one would think, and refrains from doing a lot of winking at its audience. The special effects are never so awful that they just take you right out of the movie, either. Granted, the characters are clichés, and the movie isn't without silly moments, but it does deliver some decent thrills for undemanding B movie fans. Hell, it even works in a subplot about strained relationships between the "English" and the local Mennonites that fortunately doesn't detract too much from the basic storyline. The story, working as one big homage to the Hitchcock classic "The Birds", sees a ton of ravens literally tearing into the citizens of a small town; nobody can figure out why this is going on nor can they think of what to do about the situation. The actors in the lead roles are likable and reliable as always: Sean Patrick Flanery as local sheriff Wayne, who was actually about to leave his job, and Stephen McHattie as reformed drunk / school bus driver Clyde, who's one of the first to realize that the birds are going crazy. The supporting cast is capable if rather nondescript, but it is an absolute joy to see Wendy Lyon, the lead of "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II" as the dispatcher, and the presence of veteran actor Rod Taylor, who'd actually starred in "The Birds", as the local doctor, is extremely welcome. Filmed on location in Ontario, the movie has an appropriately gloomy look about it, and director Sheldon Wilson keeps it moving forward at an adequate pace. The most striking scene has the sheriff's wife (Kristin Booth) stuck in a well with an animal carcass. The ravens are portrayed by a combination of well trained avians and a generous dose of digital effects. There are some twists that are amusing to say the least, such as the ravens manipulating rocks in order to break glass. The ending falls short of really being satisfying, though, and the inclusion of a last-second jump scare is completely unnecessary and annoying. It's understandable how some viewers could find this tiresome, so just judge for yourself should you decide to watch. Five out of 10.

I first saw this in 2007 on a dvd which I own. Revisited it recently cos my nephew wanted to c a "crow" horror film.

Agree it's a blatant rip off of The Birds but they compensated by taking the lead actor Rod Taylor from The Birds into this film. In the classic there is never an explanation as to why the birds go full rampage but this film compensated by giving a medical explanation. The classic one had some solid tension n suspense n Hitchcock turned the docile birds into some of the most terrifying villains. This film is devoid of tension n character build up but has some nasty flesh n brains being pecked by infected but intelligent ravens.

It doesn't take a genus to know that a huge inspirational factor behind this guilty pleasure was Hitchcock's The Birds. I thought this movie would be a terrible B-movie that should never be enjoyed by the general public, for the most part it is true, but because of that I enjoyed this film. The birds were so badly CGed and the acting was okay, the scares were not there and the gore wasn't enough. There were points in the movie where I could not watch it because it lost and bored me, so I had to resort to other things to keep my mind interested. The attack scenes were kind of humorous and laughable.

However, despite these negative factors that drug this movie down, these very same factors made me like the movie a lot. I'm not ashamed to watch it again, and I probably will, but it's like Snakes on the Plane or Chopping Mall, it's so bad it's good and I can't deny that. I watched it and knew fully that I would not be able to take it seriously, which is why when the movie ended I sat back and said "That was a very long, boring and entertaining roller coaster ride." I would recommend this movie to those who love cult classics or really bad B-movies; even those who enjoy indie films or low-budgeters would enjoy this. Though, if your palate includes something a bit more scary or disturbing, you might want to stay away from it. Relationship wise, it's all bittersweet for me.

If this wasn't a made-for-TV production, then I wouldn't even give it a 3. It could've been good, but it was ruined by belabouring many obvious plot points, to make sure that everyone "got it". OK, I got it, I don't need it rubbed into my face.

Being a Canadian production, it was annoying that they tried to hide this fact and pretend it was American. Things like a mailbox with "US Mail" written on it. Not fooling anybody, better to be what it really is.

The CGI birds were transparently fake.

There were too many overly irritating characters, the kind you always find in schmaltzy American dramas. I don't know who started that trend, but I was just hoping it was mercifully running out. Oh, well.

Don't believe any of the reviews here that say it's brilliant. It's not. I had trouble staying awake to the end. No scares here.

Rather than a "horror" movie, I see Kaw as a solid entry into the category of sf/adventure films that has a small group of believable, sympathetic characters battling in a logical manner against an outlandish threat. This genre includes many of the better creature features of the 1950s, and many subsequent imitations. (It: the Terror from Beyond Space comes to mind; so does the Tremors series.)

What makes Kaw an adventure film, not a horror film, is the mood and, above all, the attitude of the characters: the protagonists react not with terror but with intelligence and fortitude. Kaw thus has very little in common with Hitchcock's The Birds, other than... well, the birds. Where Hitchcock's film is deliberately calculated to feel eerie and hopeless, Kaw is more down-to-earth. The survival of the species is never at stake; it's a purely local issue, and the characters treat it as a challenge to overcome. There's even a remarkably credible explanation of the birds' behavior, something conspicuously omitted by Hitchcock. (The inclusion of Rod Taylor in the cast of Kaw is a funny in-joke, though. Nice to see him again; he's looking old, but healthy.)

The settings for Kaw add to the appeal. It seems to have been filmed in and around a genuine small rural town, and benefits from the muddy, fresh-air feel of that locale. The camera work is good, and the acting is uniformly excellent. Flannery, a vastly under-rated actor, does his usual fine work. But the real star is McHattie, as the smelly but ultimately admirable Clyde. The birds themselves are suitably menacing, not an easy thing to pull off, especially on a limited budget. The filmmakers have used real birds and lots of clever cutting to limit their reliance on CGI. If anything, this gives the film even more of a real-world feel.

Kaw is well above the usual low standards of made-for-TV production, and a fine addition to a great genre. Come prepared to suspend your disbelief just a bit, and have a big bowl of popcorn ready.

I couldn't keep a straight face while watching this. All I could think of was The Crows Have Eyes III from Schitt's Creek and Moira's daft performance. Just another The Bird's ripoff, don't bother.

So it's a bit of a rip-off of Hitchcock's "The Birds." That's the first thing that comes to mind to anyone who has watched both movies. And, yes, Hitchcock was better at building suspense in that classic than Sheldon Wilson is in this one. I wouldn't argue either point. However, I still found "Kaw" to be somewhat interesting, and even if the plot was largely unoriginal it had enough twists in it to make it worth watching - including an explanation for the violent behaviour of the ravens, which is something that Hitchcock's movie didn't try - whether offering an explanation is better than just leaving everything as a mystery is, I suppose, a matter of individual taste.

I wasn't really familiar with anyone in the cast, with the exception of Stephen McHattie, who I recently saw in "Pontypool." I thought his performance here as the bus driver Clyde was better than his work in "Pontypool." The action here starts pretty quickly; there's not a lot of time spent on introductory material or character development, which was good for this kind of movie. There were some problems with the plot revolving largely around the portrayal of the Old Order Mennonites, who didn't seem authentic to me, although the closed nature of the community was an important and well used plot point. (One might ask where the "community" is since only one Mennonite family is shown.) This isn't as graphic as some horror movies might be, so if that's what you're looking for in this kind of movie, this won't satisfy. Personally, I found it a fairly enjoyable watch. 7/10