Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Birds II: Land's End Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson August 31, 2022

The 1990s were a rather fruitful period for remakes and sequels to Hitchcock films on the big and small screen. Eight years before Van Sant's Psycho (1998) remake, there was the fourth installment, Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990). In addition, director Karen Arthur remade Shadow of a Doubt (1943) in 1991 and Andrew Davis redid Dial M for Murder (1954) as A Perfect Murder (1998), starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen. The 1994 telefilm The Birds II: Land's End was a loosely inspired sequel to The Birds (1963) and premiered March 19 that year on Showtime. None of the original characters returned, although Tippi Hedren came back to play Helen Matthews, the shop owner of the General Store. (There's also a character named Helen in The Birds.) The sequel begins in Gull Island off New England where an oil spill has washed over on the sea gull population. Marine biologist Gordy (Jack Riel) is out in the water inspecting the gulls but a swarm of birds attack him and peck his eyes out. This prologue was filmed after director Rick Rosenthal left the production for good. Tom Shales, a columnist for the Washington Post, was one of the first to report that Rosenthal wanted the pseudonymous Alan Smithee: "Birds II turned out so badly that the director, Rick Rosenthal, had his name taken off it."

Married couple Ted (Brad Johnson) and May Hocken (Chelsea Field) are vacationing at a rental house near Gull Island with their two daughters, Jill (Stephanie Milford) and Joanne (Megan Gallacher), and their Golden Retriever, Scout. Ted is a high school biology teacher hoping to write his thesis during this sojourn. He's still mourning the loss of his son five years earlier in a vehicle accident. Ted is having nightmares about losing him, which would explain why his professional aspiration to be a college professor has stalled. May seems to internalize the loss more. She starts working as a computer consultant at The Island Weekly, the coastal town's newspaper. It's there that she meets Frank Irving (James Naughton), the paper's editor who was once a prominent war photographer. Frank is immediately interested in May and snaps pictures of her as she works. He senses the sexual frustration that May's channeling in her stale marriage to Ted and hopes to exploit her romantically. Ted is scarred above the eye by a gull while painting the front of his house. He realizes that Gull Island has a growing avian problem. One of the few who listens and believes him is Karl (Jan Rubes), a kind old man who manages the lighthouse. The Hocken's daughters are initially afraid of him but warm to him at an impromptu dinner.

Have some popcorn, Dad.

Land's End leisurely takes its time in the first half to explore the Hocken's family drama. The first mass birds attack doesn't occur until about forty-eight minutes in and serves as a warmup for a highly explosive finale. Brad Johnson has a beefcake appearance and is ruggedly handsome with a reserved swagger that reminds one of a young Tom Berenger. James Naughton is rather colorless as the newspaper editor. The movie's weakest part is Dr. Vernon Rayburn (Richard K. Olsen), who is also the town's mayor. Since he's a doctor, Ted expects him to treat his cut but he always seem to be at the bar. He gives Ted the same excuse about addressing the town's bird problem that the mayor does in Jaws (1975): It will hurt tourism and the local fishing industry.

The Birds II: Land's End was infamously derided by critics around the time it aired on Showtime. The Des Moines (IA) Sunday Register's Janis D. Froelich was especially harsh: "The worst of sequels. It doesn't scare....a corny rip-off of a classic." In a mixed review, Kevin Thomas of The Los Angeles Times was kinder, calling it "decently, though unexcitingly acted and has good special effects." The Hartford Courant's TV critic James Endrst praised the animatronics and creature effects: "True, all those special-effect birds flapping and clawing their way through this movie are, if placed side by side with the 1963 film, far more realistic, and their cumulative impact in the closing scenes is far more effective."Ed Bark of the Dallas Morning News deemed it "a watchable tale of beaks and valleys of despair." The Columbus (OH) Dispatch's Julia Keller was the biggest defender of the film I could find in '94 (although she didn't entirely endorse it): "The Birds II lacks the ironic touches that Hitchcock made famous, but, in terms of storytelling verve, it achieves a similar measure of intensity and suspense....The Birds II — raises the concept of audience participation to a new level."

The Birds II: Land's End Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Birds II: Land's End flies into home theaters courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50 (disc size: 45.98 GB). It's presented in its originally composed ratio of 1.33:1, which was how it was displayed on Showtime as well as on MCA Home Video's VHS and LaserDisc releases. Vinegar Syndrome describes the DI as newly scanned & restored in 2K from its 35mm interpositive. The transfer's exceptional quality wasn't what I was expecting for a modestly budgeted feature shown on paid cable in the mid-Nineties. The aqua and light green hues are rich. There are only tiny nicks that pop up on occasion but if you blink for a second you'll likely miss them. This transfer is exemplar for a "fine-grain master." Vinegar Syndrome has encoded the feature at a mean video bitrate of 34859 kbps. My video score is 4.75/5.00.

Vinegar Syndrome has given the 87-minute telefilm five "reels" which are accessible on the menu.

The Birds II: Land's End Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Vinegar Syndrome has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo mix (2094 kbps, 24-bit). The original sound track is in excellent shape and VS has done a terrific job of restoring and presenting it here. The sound department didn't intend this to be a surround channel experience so the track is all front oriented. Spoken words are relatively clear and easy to make out. Wind, fire, gunshots, and squawking noises are clearly mixed. Composer Ron Ramin explains in an interview that his core orchestral group consisted of a French horn, viola, and celli. The score is never discussed and works well in subtle ways. My audio score is 4.25/5.00.

You will have to activate the optional English SDH on your remote controls. VS doesn't include an option on the menu.

The Birds II: Land's End Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Commentary Track with Film Historians Amanda Reyes and Sam Pancake - in this feature-length track, Reyes and Pancake discuss The Birds II in the context of '70s and '80s telefilms. Reyes has practically an encyclopedic knowledge of TV movies and shows it once again here. She's done her research on Rosenthal, Hedren, and the film's crew members. Both her and Pancake are fans of Land's End and rehabilitate its reputation here. There are no gaps. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Don't Remake Hitchcock Movies: Looking Back at The Birds II: Land's End (54:09, 1080p) - an extensive retrospective documentary featuring interviews with some members of The Birds II's cast and crew. We hear from bird puppeteer Kevin Brennan (creature effects), actress Megan Gallacher (Joanna), production assistant Craig Edwards, and makeup department head/special makeup effects artist Jeff Goodwin. This is probably the best making-of doc that fans could hope for. The participants recall shooting the picture at Carolco Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. Gallacher remembers seeing additional pages come in for the script in various colors. She said there were so many that the bound screenplay formed a rainbow. Also broached is Rosenthal's disagreement with a propmaster (likely Richard Waldrop), which was one of the main reasons he asked to take his name off the credits. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW The Silence of the Birds: An Interview with Composer Ron Ramin (17:02, 1080p) - the Ivy League-educated Ramin says he scored twenty different series before moving into movies for TV and miniseries. He recalls being approached by the producers to score The Birds II. He had about three weeks to write the music. Ramin also discusses spotting the picture. He claims that director and producer did not see eye-to-eye. He does a nice job of explaining why TV is primarily a producer's medium. Ramin chose lower instruments on the register so they wouldn't drown out the birds' screeches. He worked with an orchestrator while recording the score. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW The Locations of Birds II (10:45, 1080p) - standing in front of EUE/Screen Gems Studios, PA Craig Edwards revisits the sound stage where they filmed the interior and exterior of the house where the family stayed, as well as another sound stage for the lighthouse and bedroom. He also shows the office hub where the newspaper office was situated. Edwards shifts to downtown Wilmington where Tippi Hedren's store was as well as the site for the barroom. He also takes the camera crew on a ferry ride, which is where the film opens. Edwards shows viewers around South Port, too. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Still Gallery (2:45, 1080p) - a relatively brief slide show consisting of thirty-nine publicity and on-set production photographs from The Birds II. These are all in color and derive from Universal's press kit as well as the private collections of Megan Gallacher and Jeff Goodwin. They're accompanied by music from Ramin's score.

The Birds II: Land's End Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Is The Birds II: Land's End a wholly worthy sequel to the Master's original classic? No, it's not. Does this TV movie offer an occasionally suspenseful romp on its own terms? Yes, it does. Parts of it are dull and a slow-burn but it's very well photographed by Bruce Surtees. The crew had a rather chaotic shoot but the non-CGI seagulls and ravens blend in fairly well with the optical effects. Vinegar Syndrome has delivered a mostly blemish-free transfer that's a revelation. The commentary track with Amanda Reyes and Sam Pancake as well as a new making-of doc are two reasons to snatch up this disc. The only extras missing are Showtime's promotional spots, MCA's video trailer, and "Inside the Birds," a fifteen-minute "special" hosted by Tippi Hedren that briefly looks at the making of both Birds movies. A VERY SOLID RECOMMENDATION.