no ending?

SPOILERS



That WAS the proper ending since, at least in that, Hitch was following DuMaurier's book, which tells a much different story at least character-wise. The book "ends" with the entire world undergoing a massive bird attack, and that's how it ends, with the family a little bit wiser on how to survive. In the book the birds' behavior is governed by the tides. Between attacks they retreat, crows, etc., to their rooks, and gulls to the sea, where they ride the troughs of the waves until the tide changes and the next attack begins. In the book there are a lot more birds and they attack in deadly swarms, crippling guns on naval ships and fowling (sorry) airplane engines. The immediate action takes place in rural England and at the end, London is under an attack so sever that it has shut down the city. That's how the story ends, with humanity at best maybe just being able to barely squeak by.

Why do you say it doesn't have a proper ending? Mitch has found a soulmate and Melanie has found a mother, that was their story arc. It definitely has an ending.

I saw this film about 30 years ago and I hated it because there was no explanation and no ending.
I've just watched it again - I don't hate it as much as I did back then, and I don't mind there being no explanation. The ending still bothers me though.