Customer Reviews

Killer Shrews [VHS]

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an oldie but goodie. It is standard black and white drive-in silliness about scientists on a remote island who have created 'giant killer shrews' that have more than a passing resemblance to collies with bad toupees. This movies stars James Best and Ken Curtis (you've seen them in westerns, including 'Gunsmoke') as well as Ingrid Goude (Miss Universe Sweden 1956) as the daughter of the principal nutty scientist of the Shrew Island Nature Preserve.

Shrews are the smallest of the insectivores, and world wide there are approximately 314 species, of which 'Giant Killer Shrew' is not one. All shrews have short legs, and a long snout. They also have beady little eyes and are primarily insectivores. Shrews are voracious eaters and are easily prone to starvation, so at least in this one area the movie has it right: in the words of Captain Thorne Sherman (James Best) "it looks like a small rat, and smells like a skunk." I couldn't have said it better. Enough of the biology lesson, back to the film...

In this film Captain Sherman and his unlucky sidekick find Shrew Island while hiding out from a hurricane. They are convinced to stay by the sultry Ingrid Goude, who speaks mysteriously with a Swedish accent despite her father evidently being a Texan. Once nightfall arrives everyone is trapped in the compound as the 300 killer shrews try to get in. Somehow the hurricane affects them, and they are starving, too, so pandemonium breaks out. (The science of the movie is a bit hazy about all this.) Turns out that the shrews in question have deadly poisonous saliva, so even a scratch from a shrew tooth is fatal! They also can dig through walls, scale fences, climb trees, open doors, steal shoes, and do algebra. OK, they can't do algebra, but they can do amazing things to get at their captive audience. The survivors eventually construct a 'tank' of 55 gallon drums and wade to the boat unperturbed once in the water, because this species of shrew (unlike the other 314) can't swim. Lucky for them!

This is a great film of the genre. It is quick (69 minutes) and fun from start to finish. It was once riffed by the MST3K folks, but I have not seen that version in quite some time, though I recall it being a fun episode. This one is a step back to the monster movies of yesteryear, and it feels great to watch!

A great black & white picture supplemented with cheap production that makes this a very enjoyable watch. Ingrid Goude (who was born in Sweden and won Miss Universe 1956) is our female star. Her accent is not staged, it is authentically Swedish. Our male star (James Best) went on to become Rosco P. Coaltrain on the Dukes of Hazard in the early 80's. James Best is (((VERY YOUNG))) here---and you probably wouldn't recognize him as "Coaltrain" without the reading of this review. He is a tough talking, no nonsense Captain of a supply boat who is contracted out by a small group of individuals living alone on a remote island. He visits with a cargo of needed supplies to discover the stunning Ingrid Goude standing beachside, with bags packed. Her request for a hasty departure is squashed by adverse weather as high winds commence upon the island. The plot thickens as the Captain is informed of experiments that have been carried out by two over-zealous scientist's. They have ardently devoted their existance to working with biological concoctions and syrums. Science snaps back at those who tamper and horrifying manifestations result. All the squatters on the small island find themselves fighting for their lives against terrible odds. For a movie only 70 minutes in duration, it's simply perfect for a "quicky" with the kids on a rainy weekend or as a scrumptious morsal to savor by yourself. Best at night. You 'must' appreciate low budget productions and have an established embrace for the 1950's horror-show mindset to enjoy this film. If you meet these criteria, my friends.........put yourselves in the front row. You will not be disappointed.

THE KILLER SHREWS is about a seafaring James Best (later to be immortalized in "The Dukes Of Hazzard") stranded on an island with a group of scientists, a beautiful girl, an alcoholic coward, and a horde of giant, mutated shrews (actually dogs in hairy shrew costumes)! Yep, the shrew mutants are the result of an experiment gone wrong. Best is pretty good in his role, and the rest of the cast are adequate, but the true stars for me are the ravenous rodents themselves! Complete with hauntingly eerie snarls and six-inch fangs, these babies are loose and ready to devour anyone they can get a hold of! Can our hero save these folks from becoming shrew snacks? Watch and see...

How do you address the issue of an over-populated world?

Small Private Island + Wacky Scientists + Gorgeous Blonde Daughter + Handsome Sea Captain + Jealous Drunkard + Hurricane, PLUS...SEVERAL MUTANT GIANT POISONOUS BONE KNAWING SHREWS...Equal one heck of a disaster flick!

Pretty remarkable for 1959.

=^..^=

You wanna know some trivia about this movie? It was written and produced by Gordan MacClendon. If the name doesn't sound familiar you definately will know something he invented. He invented the "Top 40" format that is still used in radio today. (Even more trivia it started out as "Top 60"). Still more trivia, he is also in this movie, he is the scientist who keeps notes until he falls over dead. I saw this movie at the Casa Linda theater in Dallas, TX (owned by none other than Gordan MacClendon) when it came out in 1959 when I was 10. For weeks I couldn't look at a dog without thinking of the killer shrews. Now it is campy humor. If you like B (or C) movies you'll love this one. It belongs on Mystery Science Theater 3000 at least once.

I saw this movie 38 years ago and enjoyed watching it with mother father and sister. A thrill ride of fear, especially when the creatures invade the basement and one of them lunges out as the door is opened. My sister and I were sitting in front of TV at that time. I thought it was coming right off the screen and into our livingroom. Needless to say we both yelled jumped out of the way. A must see Sci-Fi for all whom enjoy B movies.

I saw this movie as a child and was very scared to the point of nightmare's for quite a few nights. The acting left a lot to be desired but even James Best gave it a good shot. Excellent make-up on the dogs, especially the teeth with a great island setting. A definite must see for all B movie sci/fi fans.

This movie was made out by White Rock Lake near Dallas and stars James Best, great character actor of the early sixties (Twilight Zone, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock) and Festus of Gunsmoke. The old Scotsman, Gordon McClendon, Texas Radio Magnate, has a bit part in the movie. This movie is so low, low, low budget you will be amazed and bumfuzzled at the creativity they go to to stretch their production bucks. If you watch this movie, to see James Best and Festus work their magic, and to fall over at the hilarity of it, rather than for its fear factor, you will agree it deserves five stars for entertaining you to the max through sheer laughs. You will neve look at a little bitty wild shrew the same way again!

JAMES BEST( THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW/ DUKES OF HAZZARD )IS THE HERO AS HE TRIES TO ORGANISE AN ESCAPE FROM SHREW ISLAND. PRODUCER KEN CURTIS (SINGING COWBOY/FESTUS FROM TV's GUNSMOKE) TRIES TO STOP HIM & CLAIM HIS BRIDE TO BE. CLASSIC CHEEZIE SCI-FI ROMP CO-RELEASED TO SOUTHERN DRIVE-INS WITH "THE GIANT GILA MONSTER". THIS ONE HAS TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED!!! I FOUND IT TO BE GREAT FUN, REMEMBERING IT FROM MY 1960's CHILDHOOD YOUTH FROM LOCAL WFMJ TV's 5:00 SHOWTIME.
THE ALPHA DVD VERSION IS REALLY QUITE GOOD, VERY CLEAR WITH GOOD AUDIO...I ACTUALLY THOUGHT I WAS WATCHING A MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE PRODUCT.
YOU CAN'T GO WRONG HERE...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

One of the joys of watching zero budget monster movies is to gawk at the ineptitude of cast, crew, and writers. Usually, the result is so bad as to recall fond analogies with other well known stinkeroos like ROBOT MONSTER or PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. However, in THE KILLER SHREWS director Ray Kellogg takes a very sparse budget and makes maximum use of the surprisingly effective acting of the cast. James Best is your prototypical Handsome Leading Man who lands his vessel on an island to rescue a scientist (Baruch Lumet), his sexy daughter (Ingrid Goude--Miss Universe 1957), and a weasely Ken Curtis (Before his 'Festus Haggen' days of GUNSMOKE). Lumet has developed a serum that mutated some tiny but omnivorous shrews into a pack of hundreds of huge dogs wearing shag carpets and sporting some impossibly long front canines. Surprisngly enough, there is a sound scientific undercoating that allows for that needed willing suspension of disbelief so as to permit even those with minimal high school biology and genetics to follow a plot that presents the threatened humans with an ever shrinking arena of safety. At first, Best, Goude, Lumet, and Curtis have free access to all parts of the barricaded fortress that is their laboratory and home. Director Kellogg then wisely constricts their movements into a claustrophobic vise that shrinks from lab compound to individual rooms then finally to inverted metal barrels that house each of them. True, there is other nonsense that distracts: a frequently mentioned hurricane that never manages to insinuate itself into the plot; a love triangle between Best, Curtis, and Goude that shows only the cravenness of Curtis; and the usual stupidity of the villain who chooses to climb to the roof for safety then incredibly descends into a well-deserved fate. What THE KILLER SHREWS manages to accomplish is to engage the sensibilities of the viewer for a full 70 minutes despite the film's obvious shortcomings. Rather than laugh at these shortcomings, I appreciated what can be done with a zero budget but a fertile imagination of cast and crew.