The Killer Shrews

1959
Staring: James Best, Ingrid Goude, Ken Curtis
Director: Ray Kellogg

This is one of the great examples of classic B-movie cinema.

The film takes place on a near deserted island that just has the vibe of “get out of there right now you morons” – yet no one listens. No one ever listens. Good for us, bad for them. The plot entails scientific experiments – which result in ravenous, blood thirsty creatures called “shrews.” Personally I think they would have been better off doing what Captain Nemo did in Mysterious Island, because at least you can eat a giant crab, but I digress.

The “shrews” are hilarious, something of a cross between a dog and some sort of rat, and it makes me think that the people who made Christopher Lloyd’s pet in Star Trek III watched this film and used them as inspiration.

One of the conversations near the end of the film with the professor makes me wonder why they just didn’t camp out on the roof of the house overnight and then deal with the problem – which would apparently would be greatly reduced by that point.

For the most part you can see the deaths coming from a mile away. Some of the characters become completely irrational for no apparent reason, and it makes you wonder if they would have snapped regardless of the “killer shrews” running around the island. The brilliant idea that the main character comes up with towards the end of the film sounds like a decent idea, but frankly, how could the honestly move those things with little problem? Either the writing staff had never tried it themselves or they didn’t care. I’m going for the latter in this case.

** /*****