I chose this movie as the second Saturday Night Movie review because it was made alongside of last week’s film, The Giant Gila Monster, and the two were shown as a double feature at Drive-Ins. This low budget horror film was made in 1959 and is a classic amongst monster movie enthusiasts. It falls perfectly into the ’so bad it’s good’ category.
The film starts out with Thorne Sherman and his first mate, who are set to deliver supplies to a group of people on a very remote island. On the island are a scientist named Dr. Craigis, his assistant, his daughter, Anne, and her fiance. Shortly after delivering the supplies it becomes quite apparent that a hurricane is coming in, and it would be best to stay on the island until the storm passes. Dr. Craigis tries desperately to get Thorne to leave due to violent animals on the island, but Thorne is adamant, and stays on shore. It is soon learned from Anne that the island is filled with giant shrews. These giant shrews are a side affect of Dr. Craigis’s experiments, and as they grow their food supply quickly depletes. With a lack of small animals to feed on, the giant shrews quickly start hunting humans. Soon they have burrowed into the basement of the house. As the group of people start shrinking it becomes apparent to the remaining, that they need to leave the island as quickly as possible.
Starring James Best (Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane from The Dukes of Hazard) as Thorne and Ingrid Goude (1957 Miss Universe) as Anne, this movie is fun for a good laugh. Though the giant shrews may have caused quite a scare at the time of its release, these dogs with rugs attached to their backs are far from scary. The close ups of the shrews are hairy puppets with long toothed snarls, and very much resemble the ‘R.O.U.S.’ or ‘rodents of unusual sizes’ from Princess Bride. The film is filled with high pitched screeching of the shrews, along with a few occasional barks. While the intended emotions are not achieved from the viewer this movie is good old low budget fun, and best of all, only 70 minutes long!
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