The Killer Shrews

"The Killer Shrews" is not so much a disaster as a by-product of its era, now dated and comical with audiences quite comfortable to enjoy such fodder in that context. With the passage of time, "The Killer Shrews" has achieved some measure of cult status. It's not as bad (technically) as its reputation anticipates; Kellogg's storyline is standard formula (experiments with a growth hormone result in mutated shrews that terrorise the inhabitants of a remote island, isolated by a hurricane), the acting is competent (particularly Best and Curtis), and the special effects are unintentionally funny.

In point of fact, the shrews are ably played by small dogs, fitted with rodent suits, but still move and act like, small dogs. Watching the 'pack' gallop up to the compound in which the stricken sailors and scientists are holed up, and seeing them claw and gnaw at the timber and stucco as their tails wag in anticipation no doubt of meaty-bites on the other side, is always unintentionally hilarious. One can only imagine how Ken Curtis felt as he was being licked and nuzzled by the 'voracious shrews', who apparently need to eat their body weight every day just to survive.

Functional dialogue is delivered well by Best and Curtis, but there's no mistaking former Miss Sweden Ingrid Goude's lack of thespian skills as she inanely affects shock, fear and general anxiety throughout the often tense proceedings. There's also a lot of time spent standing around a well stocked bar, nimbly throwing down martinis as the onslaught amasses outside. Aside from professionals Best and Curtis, Lumet isn't bad as the chief scientist and father to Goude, lamenting the unintended consequences of his ground-breaking research. The climax is novel and was subsequently used by Irwin Allen in a scene from "The Swarm". Camp, low budget entertainment that overcomes its limitations and deserves the minor cult status it carries today.

I'm shocked by the low rating this movie has on here. I have to assume most of the people who voted don't watch many movies in the genre. I have seen more mutated animal movies than I can remember and this is better than most. The acting is good and the shrews don't look too bad. I mean they are just dogs with throw rugs on their backs and some fake teeth but they only attack at night(BRILLIANT!)and they move very fast so you can't see them very well anyway. The movie starts with two guys on a ship going to an island and knowing a hurricane is coming. When they get there, the captain is immediately and obviously suspicious. Other than the scientists making up a bunch of lies and having guns, there's not much of the usual giant mutated animal movie clichés. One thing you might consider a flaw is that ten minutes in, you will know who is going to die. I actually like that. This was the first time I correctly picked every character who would die. This is definitely worth seeing.

The Killer Shrews (1959)

*** (out of 4)

You'd think a hurricane coming through would be the most dangerous thing for a small group of people on an island but it isn't. No, it's the giant killer shrews that are going to be the most dangerous for the people who soon find themselves trapped inside a house with the creatures trying to get it.

This film was shot around the same time as THE GIANT GILA MONSTER from the same production company who planned on using them as a double feature. I will gladly hold my head up high and admit that I really love both of these pictures. Yes, both are extremely low- budget pictures that has countless flaws but at the same time both of them are so darn entertaining that I can't help but have a good time with both of them.

THE KILLER SHREWS is notorious for the fact that the giant shrews are actually played by dogs with costumes. These costumes look incredibly fake and more times than not they're crooked on the dogs or falling off all together. I'm sure you could cry foul at this but if you do so then you'd be taking the film way too serious. These types of movies were meant to fill up drive-in screens so they weren't meant to be Oscar-winning movies.

One thing I really like about this film are some of the performances. While there are many issues with some of them, the cast is still quite likable and that includes James Best as the leader, Ingrid Goude as the semi love interest and Gordon McLendon and Baruch Lumet as the doctors. At just 68 minutes the film moves at a very good pace and even the dialogue is slightly entertaining in its own way. Still, the main reason to watch THE KILLER SHREWS is for its "dogs/shrews" and they are worth the price of admission alone.

I saw THE KILLER SHREWS the first time on TV. Late every Saturday night, the local TV station played a horror film. We were alerted by a fellow junior-high student who saw the film in another city and his "word of mouth" was to run around the hallways at school pretending he was a shrew; so when it was on TV we all stayed home to watch and see what made our friend so crazily enthusiastic.

For the time it was original in concept as no one had seen "monster shrews" before. The shrews, looking like a bunch of German Shepards dressed up for a Halloween party, have large, saber tooth tiger-like teeth ... they're coming to get ya and eat you alive! Also, one of the main characters is played by Ken Curtis a.k.a. "Festus" from the TV Series "Gunsmoke". We found this a novelty after we read THE KILLER SHREWS was filmed entirely on location in Texas!

I have to make it a point to add THE KILLER SHREWS to my film library as a campy, low-budget, 50's monster movie!

Having seen any number of bad movies, I can state that this is significantly better than most of them, and even better in part than movies not considered bad at all. However, in those aspects in which this movie is bad it is not merely bad, it is awful.

We have the usual formula of two-fisted hero (James Best), damsel in distress (Swedish Ingrid Goude), the damsel's mad-scientist father (non-Swedish Baruch Lumet), and the villain (Ken Curtis). The formula in this case is less clichéd than usual. The hero is fairly articulate and the mad scientist is actually quite urbane, tossing off his creation of hundreds of giant, poisonous, man-eating shrews with the line "unusual experiments lead to unusual results". The dialog is competently written and the acting is above par (with the exception of the Swedish eye-candy, who is at least good eye candy).

The general concept is compact and dramatically efficient: a group of people are trapped first by a hurricane and then by an outside menace in a stronghold which gets less and less strong as time, ammunition and group cohesion all grow short.

However the execution is at times illogical. One problem is that the stronghold is made out of...adobe. On a rainswept island crawling with usable timber? The thrilling conclusion is also somewhat implausible.

The main reason for the film's abysmal reputation is the legendary and quite obvious use of ordinary dogs in bathmats to play the part of giant shrews. I suppose this just has to be overlooked.

As a sidelight, it is interesting to see Dukes of Hazard sheriff James Best tall and handsome as the hero, and it is apparent that producer/villain Ken Curtis labored long and hard in the trenches before gaining fame as Festus.