It's well known that characters in horror flicks make bad decisions, but "The Birds" is something special in this regard. A hostile flock of birds attacks a children's party? Do we hurry the children into that pretty imposing looking building and board up the place until help arrives or the birds disperse? No, we march the kids outside so Angry Birds can have another go at them. Smart thinking, Suzanne and Tippi!
This season I saw Joe Dante's "The Howling" (1981) for the first time. This was the picture that revived the filmic fortunes of lycanthropy. A TV anchorwoman fears she is being targeted by a serial killer and is freaking herself and everyone around her out. It is suggested by her celebrity shrink, (Patric Macnee) that she take the cure at the Colony, a mental health spa in a rural setting, which proves to be not so relaxing for Karen, given the howling dogs that raise the roof every night. The special effects by Rob Bottin wowed at the time and are still effective, if dated. The picture is chock full of genre in-jokes (Look! Roger Corman!) that it's helpful, if not essential, to get.
Another one new to me: "It Follows" from 2015. An interesting variation on the "bad things happen to teenagers who have sex" aspect of the genre, and by no means a Cautionary Tale. Also with some killer shock effects and a real atmosphere of unrelenting dread; the heroine has no place to run and no place to hide.