The Killer Shrews (1959) 69m.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was a standout horror movie of its time, and the inspiration for its depiction of characters under siege could be attributed in turn to the finale of THE BIRDS, the novel 'I Am Legend', or even those Westerns in which characters find themselves fighting off hostiles while holed up in cavalry forts. But ten years before Romero made his celebrated horror pic there was this low-budget B-picture, produced by one of its stars, Ken Curtis (who, interestingly, does not play the hero), which could also have served as inspiration had it been more widely known. Curtis, who played Festus on the TV series GUNSMOKE, collaborated with one of the show's writers, Jay Simms, to bring THE KILLER SHREWS to the screen. They'd obviously intended to try their hand at a horror film, but unfortunately, it's best known today for its supposed camp value. The film's pre-credit voiceover is laughable, and the opening lines of dialogue not much better, but I don't think it deserves its much-maligned reputation. After its shaky start it becomes a decent, economical piece of film-making. Curtis' budget obviously failed to provide him with convincing monsters, but a realistic horde of vicious, oversized shrews would have been beyond the means of any studio in 1959. The film-makers tried to get around this problem by switching between model heads (for close-ups) and dogs hidden under costumes (for long shots), and it's this presentation of the 'killer' shrews that earns the film ridicule from viewers today. Personally, I don't see much difference between a dog in a costume or a man in a costume, and for that reason the shrews shouldn't come across any more hokey than the rubber suits of other 50s horror classics like THE THING or THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.
The 'siege' element of the story is twofold: firstly, its seven characters are trapped on an island that is being used for an overpopulation experiment (shrews are being bred to the point of self-extinction), and secondly, they are confined to an adobe house which is being weakened by the violent storm outside. I like the way THE KILLER SHREWS overcomes its limitations by confining its events to one set, using sound effects (the constant wind), lighting, and editing to create atmosphere. The shrews get a fair share of screen time, but move quickly and are never clearly seen (director Ray Kellogg may have been taking a leaf out of Jacques Tourneur's book). I also find the motivation of the monsters this time around a lot more believable than most other horror pics. Unlike other 50s creatures, which seemed intent only in stealing the hero's girlfriend or rampaging around and lowering property values, the shrews are driven by starvation - their attempts to bite or claw their way into the house are quite creepy, and there's even one good shock effect. There's also some great moments between Curtis and star James Best (who, like the characters in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, can't co-operate despite the menacing horrors outside), and a quirky escape plan. Watch it late at night with the lights out, and you may find it's not as bad as you've heard. I realize I'm probably sticking my neck out on this one, but I guess I've always stood up for the underdog, even when they're disguised as shrews.
sburridge@hotmail.com
========== X-RAMR-ID: 29515 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 250606 X-RT-TitleID: 1055824 X-RT-AuthorID: 1305
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews