MST3K Review

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407 - THE KILLER SHREWS with short: JUNIOR RODEO DAREDEVILS

Genre: Low Budget Horror (1959, B&W)

Don’s Short summary: The very short short (about 10 minutes long) that starts this experiment is about some kids who are encouraged by an old man to start a junior rodeo. But it’s soon appear that the old man did it as a joke, because we soon see the kids getting thrown off animals and getting what little dignity they have destroyed. (This short is on the first MST Shorts tape from Rhino).

Don’s Synopsis: The feature is a low-budget horror movie that opens as a boat captain, played by James “Rosco P. Coltrane” Best, and his Louis Armstrong look-alike 1st-mate arrive at an isolated island inhabited by a scientific research group. The group is holed up in an adobe house with a fenced-in (and I mean FENCED-IN!) courtyard. Inside the house, the scientists just stand around the wet-bar and get liquored-up all day. (Hey, I like this kind of research!) It turns out that the scientists have developed a new kind of furry dog... I mean, giant shrew, that is extremely poisonous and devours every living thing it finds. A herd of these giant shrews now hunts by night all over the island and the first living thing the herd finds is the Louis Armstrong look-alike 1st-mate, who they soon turn into Satchmo Gumbo. Back at the house, after everyone stands around by the wet-bar drinking forever, Rosco and Ken “Festus” Curtis finally go out to the boat to either get ready to leave the island or to restock the supply of booze. Festus soon tries to kill Rosco because the new guy is getting sweet with the head scientist’s attractive and completely unintelligible daughter. They fight and Rosco wins, but after they can’t find the little skiff in clear view directly behind them, they don’t go to the boat and, instead, rush back to the house because the shrews are coming out and it’s also time for happy hour back at the wet-bar. Soon, though, the shrews are getting in the house, biting people and causing them to inexplicably sit down at typewriters and start obsessively typing until they drop dead. The few survivors retreat into the fenced-in courtyard and built a tank of sorts out of some metal barrels that are lying around. So Rosco, the old foreign scientist and his daughter all escape by crawling along under the barrels until they reach the water. (Festus, on the other hand, stays behind and gets “shrewed.”) The movie ends as the three survivors board the boat and the scientist talks about over-population, something Rosco and the scientist’s daughter intend to contribute to as soon as possible.

Host Segments:

Prologue: It’s present time on the SOL as Joel gives all of the Bots presents, but Crows gift is a bit disappointing
Segment One (Invention Exchange): The Mads plan to send a nuclear bomb to the center of the Earth to get back at everyone who picked on them in school (that’ll show ’em); Joel invents Jim Henson Edgar Winter Babies
Segment Two: Joel makes the Bots dress up as a cactus and a longhorn steer for his Will Rogers skit (which soon starts going all over the map)
Segment Three: The Bots perform the jingle “Killer Shrew” and then start to play the Killer Shrew Board Game based on the movie, but the game reminds them too much of the movie and it soon devolves into a sobbing session
Segment Four: The Bots teach Joel how to mix a new drink that they call the Killer Shrew (and that Frank down in Deep 13 likes a bit too much)
Segment Five (End): The Bots are playing killer shrews, while a bespectacled Joel types out his last words; a letter; Frank has a tummy ache from drinking too much Killer Shrew, so Dr. F makes an epicac for him

Stinger: The people in the movie standing around drinking and talking as the professor ends the conversation with “any unusual experiment can produce unusual results.”

Don’s Review: This is one of those episodes that gets better on repeat viewing. While the static dullness of most of the movie overwhelmed me on first viewing, I was prepared for that this time and so, instead, some great riffing completely won me over on this viewing. And, though pretty dull, the movie itself provides a lot of laughs without needing the help from Joel & the ’Bots, particularly the cheesy shrews which are obvious dogs with fake fur and fake teeth glued on and make a strange noise that’s ready-made for mocking. As for host segments, Frank is in great form and steals the Mad segments, while Joel and the ’Bots do a lot of funny movie-related segments that effectively spoof the goofier aspects of the film. And the short has such great riffing, that it is one of my all-time favorite shorts. This is a very good episode, from beginning to end.

Don’s Rating: [ S: F: ]