The Killer Shrews (1959): watch the full film free, legally

A hurricane traps the island compound

The Killer Shrews is a 1959 American independent science fiction horror film directed by Ray Kellogg and produced by Ken Curtis and Gordon McLendon. James Best stars as Captain Thorne Sherman, with Ingrid Goude as Ann Craigis, Ken Curtis as Jerry Farrell, Gordon McLendon as Dr. Radford Baines, Baruch Lumet as Dr. Marlowe Craigis, “Judge” Henry Dupree as Rook Griswold, and Alfred DeSoto as Mario.

Thorne and his first mate, Rook Griswold, arrive by ship at an isolated island research compound with supplies. Its inhabitants, scientist Marlowe Craigis, assistant Radford Baines, Marlowe’s daughter Ann, her fiancé Jerry, and servant Mario, give the sailors a cold reception. They want the ship to leave at once with Ann aboard, although a hurricane is approaching. Thorne refuses to sail into the worsening weather and goes to the compound while Rook remains with the boat.

Marlowe has been studying the genes responsible for growth and metabolism. His aim is to reduce humans to half their size and thereby reduce the effects of human overpopulation. He uses shrews because their short lifespans allow results to be traced across several generations. His work has instead produced wolf-sized mutant shrews. The creatures escaped after Jerry’s drunken negligence and have multiplied on the island. Venomous and nocturnal, they have forced the group to barricade itself inside each night before sunset. The researchers have withheld contact with the coast guard, expecting the shrews eventually to cannibalize one another after other food is gone.

Fear, jealousy and a poisonous bite

Ann and Thorne talk during the evening, provoking Jerry’s jealousy. He confronts Ann, who breaks their engagement because of what she describes as his earlier cowardice. Thorne tries to return to the boat to avoid the tension, but Ann stops him at gunpoint and explains the danger outside. Rook later comes ashore and is killed by the shrews.

As the hurricane reaches the island, the animals burrow into the compound barn and attack the livestock. Thorne nearly opens the door after hearing the commotion, believing Rook may be outside, until Jerry and Marlowe stop him. He recognizes another threat: the building’s hard floor prevents the shrews digging through it, but the adobe walls may become soft mud in the storm. The group decides that departure at daybreak is its best chance.

A shrew enters through a broken window and reaches the basement. Mario finds it and shoots it, though it bites him first. Thorne treats the wound, but Mario dies within seconds. Radford examines the dead animal and identifies highly toxic venom in its saliva. The toxin developed after the shrews adapted to poisoned bait that the researchers had used in an effort to destroy them.

Improvised effects and regional success

Principal photography took place outside Dallas, Texas. The film was made back-to-back with The Giant Gila Monster and played theatrically with that film as a double feature. Kellogg, a first-time director who had headed 20th Century Fox’s special effects department for most of the 1950s, supplied the special effects. Hand puppets were used for close-ups of the shrews. For wider shots, coonhounds were costumed as the creatures.

The low-budget production was regarded as one of the more successful regional films. Unlike other regional films, it received national and foreign distribution. Despite mixed reviews, it was a commercial success, and its international release added to its profits. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 50% approval rating from 10 reviews and a weighted average of 4.6 out of 10. Leonard Maltin gave it 2.5 out of 4 stars and called it “an inventive but silly sci-fi tale.” In a 1976 interview, Frank Zappa named the film among his favorites.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 lampooned the film during its fourth season. A sequel, Return of the Killer Shrews, was produced in 2012 with Best again playing Thorne Sherman. Attack of the Killer Shrews, a remake and parody directed by Ken Cosentino, was released in 2016 as a horror comedy with a different group of characters.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “The Killer Shrews”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.