The Killer Shrews

[Pus]

This is one of the best B&W B-movies out there. On a deserted island a mad doctor experiments on animals and makes them gigantic. The F/X are so poor they're excellant. The shrews are Collies wearing really bad fake fur. And the acting is so poor you wish all of the "survivors" left on the island would get eaten by these giant shrews. They escape by putting garbage cans over themselves and duck walk to safety. This one's definately worth a watch.

[Dunners]

was a funny MST3k movie it was.

[Brother Ragnarok]

I've never minded MST3K making fun of movies I like, and the MST job on Killer Shrews was really funny.  I agree with Pus, though, I really like this movie on its own.  For all that people make of the sitting in a room talking, I think the pacing is good, and I enjoyed the cute-in-a-weird-way homemade shrew monsters.
Of course, I'm the first in a crowd to jump up and defend Manos:The Hands of Fate, so what do I know?

[Yaddo42]

Only seen the non-MST3K version, but it was funny enough. There's just a guilty delight in seeing future second fiddles on TV shows playing it straight when being menaced by dogs draped in shag carpet remnants (that's what they looked like to me). Poor James Best (future Roscoe P. Coltrane) and Ken Curtis (future "Gunsmoke"'s Festus), then again maybe not.

I have to admit the oil drum phalanx/duck walk makes sense in a vague real world sort of way, kind of a drunk redneck version of "MacGuyer"ism even, but it does make exciting film action. Just imagine how much their legs would be cramping from walking like that as far as the movie implied.

[Flangepart]

Ah, the cheese that refreshes!
A classic MST, and bad flick in its own right.
Aw....poor puppies! Did the bad director make you wear those stinky costumes?
Woof!

[mr. henry]

i love how the people escape by walking underneath fifty gallon drums towards the water. another old movie to check out is SPIDER BABY.

www.310am.com

[peter johnson]

Gawd, but I do love this film!!
It was a Roger Corman release, was it not?
You can see the shrews WAG in some scenes -- the collies were obviously enjoying all the attention.
We've hashed out a lot of the MST3K stuff on this board, so I don't really want to start that up again, but I'm really in the camp of "Let the Film Be Seen On Its Own".  For example, I think EEGAH! by itself as a film, with the visible burlap "rock" peeling off the inside of the drywall "cave", is much funnier on its own than with the Mystery Science treatment.  The damn bots talk over some of the really funny bad dialogue!
Anyway, just about anything Corman had anything to do with is worth seeing many times.  
Ahh!  Wagging shrews . . . . Is there anything they can't do?
peter johnson/denny crane

[trekgeezer]

This movie and  The Giant Gila Monster were produced by Ray Kellog, owner of a chain of drive in theaters in Texas. He saw people making money hand over fist making this schlock and wanted in on it.  

Both movies were made in Texas and I believe Lake Dallas stood in for the ocean in Killer Shrews.

I did a post about this last month because  Animal planet had this special on about the two movies. I hope they will show it again sometime.

Here's the link to that post:   Animal Planet B Movie Monsters

[Dave Munger]

Every time I see it, I think about how giant shrews must have seemed like a pretty scary idea on paper, with the high metabolic rates and having to eat their body weight in other animals ever hour or whatever.

[The Burgomaster]

I bought the Alpha Video DVD of this movie a few months ago.  A true trash classic.

[Pus]

Did you buy the 6 Pack "Sci-Fi Chillers" set from Alpha Video Burgomaster? What a great trash set. It includes:
1. The Killer Shrews
2. The Brain That Wouldn't Die
3. Killers From Space
4. The Snow Creature
5. The Phantom Planet
6. Unknown World

All for $24.95 and free postage. has some great deals.



Post Edited (08-03-04 21:28)

[MonsterX]

They used to play this film all the time on a local UHF station when I was a kid.  I always thought that the climax was really good for such a low budget movie.  (About giant shrews no less!)  It’s one of my child-hood favorites.  

I agree that it’s a great MST episode, but then again I love em all.

[Flangepart]

Nice site, MonsterX!
Like the subbtitles for the pictures, too.
Mr. Peterson from REPTILICUS, as "The love child of Andy Griffith and Cosmo Kramer" . As they say in the beer commercial..."Brilliant!"

I've said it before, i'll say it agine....Some movies i can enjoy without Joel/Mike and the bots, some i can't.
But what ever suits ya, have at it!

[Scott]

Spider Baby is great stuff.






Post Edited (08-04-04 14:20)

[Scott]

Loved this film as a kid in the 70's and own a poor copy of it today.









Post Edited (08-04-04 13:26)