Bird Box has been an unadulterated hit for Netflix, in numbers at least.
The online streaming platform revealed shortly after its release that Bird Box had been viewed by a ludicrous 45,037,125 accounts within its first seven days online.
If you have not seen it yet we won’t spoil it for you, but here is the basic premise: the world becomes invaded by a type of creature which, when looked at by people, makes them terrified and suicidal.
Why does this happen? Well, because the creatures are said to manifest themselves as people’s worst fears or their deepest and darkest secrets.
Once the creatures are viewed, people’s eyes glaze over, darken and become filled with blood as tears stream down their faces. Like this essentially.
Throughout the film, characters are forced to cover windows in houses and on cars, as well as donning blindfolds when outdoors to prevent themselves from looking at the creatures and prematurely ending their lives.
As part of the experience of the film, we – the viewers – are also prevented from seeing the creatures, except for a series of deranged drawing laid out by one of the characters on a table.
The choice not to show them was a conscious one, according to director Susanne Bier, who told Radio Times: “The creatures mess with your mind; they tap into your deepest fear.
“And, because they tap into your deepest fear, we can’t ever see them, because that deepest fear is going to be different whoever you are.”
A recently posted and then deleted post on Instagram does suggest however that the creatures were – at least at some point – potentially going to appear in Bird Box.
Pictures showing prosthetic work were posted online by Howard Berger, Bird Box’s special effects make up coordinator. Since deleted, they show what the creatures would have looked like, had they hit the screen.
Later reposted by SFX Atlas, the pictures show creatures which resemble giant and disgusting children, with cauliflower ears and veiny, bald heads.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsIJco-lVAj/
What they do not look like though is something which would tap into your darkest fear and appear like the scariest thing you’ve ever seen, so probably a good thing that they didn’t use it.
