The Killer Shrews is a 1959 science fiction film directed by Ray Kellogg. It has been released on DVD and is considered a cult classic. It was featured in the fourth season of Mystery Science Theater 3000, as well as the first season of the similar show This Movie Sucks!.

Plot

Thorne Sherman and his first mate Griswold deliver supplies to a group on a remote island. The group, consisting of a scientist named Marlowe Cragis, his research assistant Radford Baines, the scientist's daughter Ann, her fiancee Jerry Farrel, and a servant named Mario, meet the captain and his first mate and advise them to stay with them in a house because a hurricane is approaching. Thorne goes but Griswold stays with the boat.

On the island, a doctor works to make humans half-size. This, apparently, will reduce world hunger as smaller humans would presumably eat less. Unfortunately, his experiments have also created some giant, venomous shrews. Thorne and Ann begin to fall in love, which angers Jerry. As the shrews run out of smaller animals to eat, they eat Griswold and close in on the people in the house, ultimately breaking in through the basement. It is discovered that the shrews have a poisonous bite, as a small single bite is enough to kill Mario. The poison kills Radford, and the shrews force the group (save for Jerry, who wants to stay) out of the house to escape to Thorne's boat. They do this by making impromptu armor out of oil drums and crawl to the beach lashed inside them. Jerry is killed by the shrews after he changes his mind and chases after the others, but the rest of the crew (Thorne, Ann, and Marlowe) manage a successful escape to the boat.

Cast

• James Best as Thorne Sherman
• Ingrid Goude as Ann Cragis
• Ken Curtis as Jerry Farrel
• Gordon McLendon as Dr. Radford Baines
• Baruch Lumet as Dr. Marlowe Cragis
• Judge Henry Dupree as Griswold
• Alfred DeSoto as Mario

DVD release

• A new colorized version was released alongside The Giant Gila Monster as a double-feature by Legend Films.
• The TV show Mystery Science Theatre 3000 showed the movie in an episode during their 4th season. The cast focused their gags on the main flaws of the film: the lack of conflict in the first hour of the film (which mostly focused on the living room of the island house and the characters talking to each other), the silly appearance of the shrews (dogs dressed to appear like them) and how most of the dialogue was hard to understand due to the accents of the characters. MST3K version of the film was released by Rhino Home Video as part of the 'Collection, Volume 7' box set.

The Original Trailer to the film can be seen here.