azathothpwiggins In THE KILLER SHREWS, boat captain, Thorne Sherman (James Best- THE SAVAGE BEES, THE BRAIN MACHINE) and his first mate, Rook Griswold (Judge Henry Dupree) arrive on a remote island to drop off supplies for a group of scientists. Though Sherman and Rook plan on leaving soon, due to an approaching hurricane, they find themselves entangled in an unfolding drama. It seems that the resident scientists have been working w/ small rodents, transforming them into the titular beasts (aka: dogs in shrew costumes), which are running amok on the island, causing terror and death. A fight for survival ensues, pitting the humans against the shrews, as well as against each other! A cheeeze-filled favorite, directed by Ray "THE GIANT GILA MONSTER" Kellogg... EXTRA CREDIT: For the novel method employed for the humans' only hope of escape! EXTRA-EXTRA CREDIT: For the beautiful, Ingrid Goude as Ann Craigis...

Idiot-Deluxe "The Killer Shrews" - that has to be one of the most eye-rolling titles ever to be bestowed onto a movie, "Attack of the Killer Shrews" would have been an even better title. Anyway's - for as cheap and dispensable as this movie is, it's a very entertaining one. This flick often show's up in cheap, readily available box-sets that celebrate B-movies - in other words The Killer Shrews is never a hard find.Starring a young James Best (a full 20 years before The Dukes of Hazzard) who's easily the most talented and charismatic of an otherwise unremarkable cast. He's plays a boat captain who's making a supply run to a remote island, that's occupied by about half a dozen scientific researchers. Enroute, with stormy weather whipping up behind them, he and his mate motor to the island with the intention of waiting for the storm to pass through, however, that turn's out to be a very bad and fateful decision. As it so happens the scientist's on the island have been meddling in genetic research (so in that respect The Killer Shrews is a movie that's ahead of it's time), their subject of focus - the lowly and typically harmless shrew; however due to their scientific malpractice, the island's shrew population has suddenly undergone a most dramatic and unnatural of mutations - that eventually proves to be of dangerous and even "killer" proportions. This movie, as cheaply made and as stupidly ridiculous as it is (starting with it's title) is quite entertaining (especially the last 20 minutes), more so than most other low-budget horror film's of the 50's. I find The Killer Shrews to be a -perfect movie- to watch late a night and with a brisk running time of only 69 minutes it won't take you long, as it's a very compact and efficiently put together flick. Let's get into the effects of this movie, specifically the giant killer shrew's, undoubtedly what were are really looking at here are dog's that are wearing long, shaggy fur, with long hairless tails and masks with huge, nasty-looking teeth; and I think it works pretty damn effectively, surprisingly so, for a movie that was made with little money, over half a century ago - the giant killer shrew's simply look AND sound terrific. Getting back to the plot, with some reluctance the scientist's fill "Thorne Sherman" in on their dire predicament and it's during the ensuing stand-off, which one-by-one, see's the groups numbers whittled down, until their half the number they started at. They are actually up against two enemies: the shrews AND a hurricane that's blowing through (I for one have never been convinced that what blew through was a hurricane, a tropical storm at best - Tropical Storm "Timmy" perhaps). With up to as many as 200 to 300 giant killer shrews roving the island, the gang, held hostage in their little hovel are hopelessly out-numbered by the shrews, which eventually borrow into the house and that's when the movie really gets exciting. It's with the quick thinking of Captain Thorne Sherman that they devise a method of escape, not entirely unlike an ancient Roman military tactic, but instead of bronze shields they concoct something a bit more modern with galvanized steel tanks and a cutting torch. The gang of three, yes, several deaths have occurred, are constantly harassed by a rabid mob of killer shrews the entire way, as they find it's a long, slow and labored trudge to the beach, as the ocean is their salvation - onward's ho!Being a movie of such modest make, there's very little fancy stuff to comment about in this movie, the shrews being it's one and only strong visual, it's all together a very humble affair. To it's credit The Killer Shrews is certainly very tightly paced and efficiently plotted and thus it shouldn't bore anyone - who has an attention span that's longer then that of a bolt of lightning. And, as I think this movie proves, James Best was a great actor and he'd only get better.I find The Killer Shrews to be a fun fast-paced movie, made on a very tight budget, with a crazy, but well-explained story. With much glee you have at least two options available to you, you can watch either the regular version or it's funnier, satirized MST3K counterpart.

SimonJack Some actors, especially those who aren't leading stars, often become identified by just one person or one role they played. When one sees such an actor in another movie, you get an image of the role for which the actor is remembered. Well, that was so with me when I watched this monster-horror flick recently. The lead actor, James Best, could be none other than Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane from the long-running TV series, "The Dukes of Hazzard" (1979-1985). Best had a long career in movies and TV, mostly in minor supporting roles. But his big supporting role in the Dukes endeared him to audiences and made him a well- known actor to a TV generation. None of the actors in this flick, "The Killer Shrews," are very good. Their delivery of lines seems stilted at times. I give this film four stars for two things. First, the plot is different than most and shows some imagination. Second – a good effort went into making the killer shrews. The filmmakers clearly used dogs for the animals, and put some sort of long robes of hair on them. For close-ups, they used something else to make their heads resemble more a rat face, but with fangs. In so many of these lesser monster movies, the audience scarcely gets glimpses of the monster. Then, they are quick flashes. That's because we might laugh at the poor effort to make a monster costume or model, which would be very obvious. But "The Killer Shrews" has many scenes with the shrews chasing, digging and mauling people. I was beginning to wonder how this would end – if they were all going to become food for the rats. Then, the film has a clever way for the three leads to survive. A nice surprise. But, still, the script, acting, directing, camera work, etc. were too low grade to earn this more than four stars.

Rainey Dawn This is an awful horror film. It is, well, laughable. I guess if it doesn't scare you then it's sure to get a few laughs out of you - it certainly did me.The film started out irking me due to the fact that the "Captain" was unworried about his first mate out in a hurricane alone. This fact alone was enough for me to dislike the film right off the bat! Any real captain would have either went back out to weather the storm with his first mate or tried to see if the first mate could stay in the home and have dinner as well.As the film progressed I was somewhat bored and somewhat entertained at the nonsense on the screen. Towards the climax of the film and ending I got a few laughs out of the movie. The welded barrels was enough to get me giggling.If everyone in this film was eaten by the shews it would have been alright by me - that is how awful this film is. But I did get some giggles out of it so I will have to rate this film a big "4".4/10