the birds in dundas square

Tuesday evenings are movie night at Yonge & Dundas Square. Every week throughout the summer, a feature monster film is played for the public gathered in the square.

I had not yet had the chance to attend a screening, but I finally gathered a few friends and checked it out this week. They showed a colourised, re-touched version of Hitchcock’s The Birds.

I’d seen the original, greyscale version with my parents a year ago, but this was an almost entirely different experience. Because of the audience’s setting outdoors, with ambient street sounds cutting up the film’s audio, one had the sense that birds might begin flocking at any moment. Sirens interrupted a few parts of the film, too. I suppose that’s the whole point – I can hardly wait for the final screening in August: King Kong! Already I’m imagining some grand finale, a great stunt gorilla crashing through the building behind the erected screen as the audience stares in horror…

For anyone who’s seen The Birds, you know what I mean when I say the sounds the birds make are incredibly creepy. Now imagine that magnified, and echoing around outside in the square through the speaker system. The way they were set up, the echoes were enhanced significantly. The creep factor increased exponentially as the movie progressed.

Awesome! I’m definitely checking it out at least one more time.