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The Killer Shrews

The Killer Shrews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Lame - - - But---
Review: The photography was horrible, the lines were spoken rather than acted, the shrews were about what you could expect for the budget (obviously low). The story line was about average for a "B" movie. Nevertheless I liked it and don't regret buying it. It is typical midnight monster movie fare, the kind I used to fall asleep in the middle of as a kid. If the production values had been better I would have given it 4 stars.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Mama, Don't Let Your Collies Grow Up To Wear Shrew Suits!
Review: This is an oldie but goodie. It is standard black and white drive-in silliness about scientists on a remote island who have created 'giant killer shrews' that have more than a passing resemblance to collies with bad toupees. This movies stars James Best and Ken Curtis (you've seen them in westerns, including 'Gunsmoke') as well as Ingrid Goude (Miss Universe Sweden 1956) as the daughter of the principal nutty scientist of the Shrew Island Nature Preserve.

Shrews are the smallest of the insectivores, and world wide there are approximately 314 species, of which 'Giant Killer Shrew' is not one. All shrews have short legs, and a long snout. They also have beady little eyes and are primarily insectivores. Shrews are voracious eaters and are easily prone to starvation, so at least in this one area the movie has it right: in the words of Captain Thorne Sherman (James Best) "it looks like a small rat, and smells like a skunk." I couldn't have said it better. Enough of the biology lesson, back to the film...

In this film Captain Sherman and his unlucky sidekick find Shrew Island while hiding out from a hurricane. They are convinced to stay by the sultry Ingrid Goude, who speaks mysteriously with a Swedish accent despite her father evidently being a Texan. Once nightfall arrives everyone is trapped in the compound as the 300 killer shrews try to get in. Somehow the hurricane affects them, and they are starving, too, so pandemonium breaks out. (The science of the movie is a bit hazy about all this.) Turns out that the shrews in question have deadly poisonous saliva, so even a scratch from a shrew tooth is fatal! They also can dig through walls, scale fences, climb trees, open doors, steal shoes, and do algebra. OK, they can't do algebra, but they can do amazing things to get at their captive audience. The survivors eventually construct a 'tank' of 55 gallon drums and wade to the boat unperturbed once in the water, because this species of shrew (unlike the other 314) can't swim. Lucky for them!

This is a great film of the genre. It is quick (69 minutes) and fun from start to finish. It was once riffed by the MST3K folks, but I have not seen that version in quite some time, though I recall it being a fun episode. This one is a step back to the monster movies of yesteryear, and it feels great to watch!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the funniest horror movie ever
Review: this is one of those movies that you and your friends can laugh and poke fun at and have the time of your life watching.This is one of my favorite funny horror movies ever-----get it!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Dogs with bad rugs.......
Review: This movie stars James Best(Dukes of Hazzard)and Ken Curtis(Gunsmoke)and dogs wearing bad rugs and that's about it really.It's good for a laugh or two and that's not a bad thing I guess.MST3K tore this apart,so this is the uncut version,but I bet you'll wish you were watching the MSTied version instead.Not bad.Not as bad as Creeping Terror or Beast of Yucca Flats though...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of the Worst
Review: Watched this the same day as Plan 9 From Outer Space. It's almost a dead heat as to which one is worse. Plan Nine is so bad that there shouldn't be any real competition, except for maybe Robot Monster, but this is at least in the running. Wow. what an afternoon. I felt so bad, so used, that I had to watch an Abbott and Costello movie afterward. then I felt better.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Finally, SHREWS get their DUE!
Review: When the world's smallest mammalian carnivore, the diminutive shrew, grows to monstrous proportions on a remote island the result is a real hoot: Dogs were used to double as the shrews and outfitted with rubber masks and funny faux fur coats. The ferocious, wooly critters have to eat twice their body weight everyday just to survive... so how ever will the small group of people stranded on the island avoid becoming shrew-snacks?

Hilarious, so-bad-it's-good schlock classic.

Staci Layne Wilson
Author of Staci's Guide to Animal Movies


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A discarded masterpiece
Review: Why does this film die in obscurity when Gone with the Wind is critically acclaimed for 100 years? I don't know either, but Killer Shrews is one of the crowning achievments of not only moving pictures, but civilization itself. A beautiful heroine, mad scientists, and a wild eyed scoundral keep you on the edge of your seat until the climatic conclusion. Watch with wonder as they escape the poisonous killer shrews by constructing an actual foot powered battle tank out of empty containers. This is a film of the ages and should be mandatory viewing for all who live.


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