OCTOBER HORROR 2017 - The Killer Shrews

“Looks like a rat, smells like a skunk - some call them bone-eaters”

I honestly didn’t know there’d be some bad movies from back in the 1950’s. Not out of some naive belief that everything at the time was perfect, but that any bad films wouldn’t be silly enough or dumb enough to cover without going into Ed Wood territory. Thank god I was wrong, as I found a little film called “The Killer Shrews” which was made back in 1959, right when the science fiction genre was in full swing, and sadly when pure horror wasn’t as strong as it was the decades prior. Still, there’s some good animal horror in this film, with only a sprinkling of science fiction.

There’s really not much to say on this movie in regards to history, except for three interesting things: One, this movie was made back-to-back by the same director with another film “The Giant Gila Monster”, which used a regular gila monster plus tiny models to make the film, and is most likely just as ridiculous as “The Killer Shrews” in terms of how badly it also was received; two, the budget was so cheap at $123k that it made it back in just $1m at the box office; and three, it has a sequel… which was made over 54 years after the original, and looks as bad as you’d might expect. Maybe I’ll cover, maybe I won’t, but for now I’m content in just going over the very first film.

“The Killer Shrews” follows captain Thomas Sherman, who goes to a remote island to deliver supplies, but is convinced to stay overnight by the island’s inhabitants: a group of scientists working on rats to study the effects of limited food supply on humans. However his experiments have produced a batch of giant, mutant shrews that have developed an intense hunger and a rabid behavior. With the shrews becoming more of a threat than anticipated, the captain advises the group to begin leaving the island, or else they’ll be hunted down by creatures who have eaten away all but their last prey on the island: man.

This movie is hilarious cheap and goofy. The minimal budget is extremely obvious, as the props and shrew-costumes they obviously put on some dogs are cheap and really dumb looking. The titular shrews look like poor attempts at taxidermy, and the sounds they make (which is like this terribly glitched screech noise) can easily get annoying. The way they use dogs for the shrews is so easy to spot that it almost becomes cute, especially with how the dogs pounce around and play with their “victims”.

Speaking of victims, while the actors are actually pretty good (at least for their time), the characters they portray are extremely funny. The main character of Captain Thomas is your typical hero who almost feels like he’s from an adventure movie, with his own surprisingly un-stereotypical black crew-mate (again, considering the times). As for the group of scientists, we get a somewhat mad-scientist, a doctor who literally dies while writing down the symptoms leading to his death (best scene), the scientists daughter, her fiance Jerry, and a servant named Mario. The actual scientists are pretty funny sometimes, and the daughter is respectably played and has some character to her, but Jerry and Mario are hilarious. Mario is some Spanish guy who has a couple funny lines, but Jerry is the absolute best with how much of spineless coward he is throughout the whole movie. He keeps betraying the hero, always tries to run away from engaging with the shrews, and his death was entirely avoidable but only happened because of how idiotic and paranoid he becomes. I’m serious when I say that anything with Jerry, for how long he’s in the movie, is vastly improved from his sheer incompetency.

There’s nothing much to say. The story itself is goofy, the orchestral soundtrack makes that feeling stronger, but overall the film isn’t genuine in its good quality. It’s an ironic enjoyment, as terrible as it may sound. I watched the film after seeing the trailer, and even with a short 1-minute preview did I end up laughing at what was being shown (which is now wonder why Mystery Science Theater 3000 covered the film). In the same way that’s why I recommend the film. It’s a funny mess, not because of its faults but with how the film presents its story. I think you can easily get a laugh from this movie, and just as likely enjoy it.

Go see it, especially in color. That may sound heretical for a lot of film buffs, but in this particular case I think it improves the film’s goofy effect.

Uploader Commentary:
Does anyone remember when The Killer Shrews and The Giant Gila Monster were shown as a double feature on The Animal Planet?

It was back around 2004 and came with host commentary noting how they used dogs with shag carpets for the shrews and a Mexican beaded lizard instead of a Gila Monster.

Anyone have a copy of it or is it Lost Media?

Additional proof of existence:
http://i-mockery.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-12408.html