Watch Kaw For Free

One of my all time favorites.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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!

Director Sheldon Weldon who also created the classic flick, Shallow Ground 2004 has created another gem in Kaw.Starring Sean Patrick Flanery who has also been in other classic flicks, Lone Hero 2002, The Boondock Saints 1999 and Frank & Jesse 1995.Also starring Stephen McHattie who has also been in other classic flicks, Pontypool 2008, Shoot 'Em Up 2007, 300 2006 and A History of Violence 2005.Also starring Kristin Booth.Also starring Rod Taylor who has also been in other classic flicks, Inglourious Basterds 2009 and another classic animal flick, The Birds 1963.I enjoyed the attack scenes.If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic animal flicks, Anaconda III 2008, Arachnophobia 1990, The Bear 1988, Black Sheep 2006, The Breed 2006, Burning Bright 2010, Isolation 2005, Jurassic Park 1993, Jurassic Park 3 2001, The Lost World: Jurassic Park 1997, Long Weekend 1978, Of Unknown Origin 1983, The Protector 2005, Razorback 1984, Spiders 2000, Eight Legged Freaks 2002, Big Ass Spider! 2013, Tracks 2013, Red Dog 2011, The Pack 2015, White God 2014, The Grey 2011, Isolation 2005, Megan Leavey 2017 and Wild Beasts 1984.

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

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.