The Festival of The Rat Rolls On! Today's sponsor is known to many people, including fans of
Dread Media as Rich The Monster Movie Kid....but we know him as Kansas City's own
Rich Chamberlain! Be sure to follow Rich both on his blog,
Monster Movie Kid, and on
The Classic Horrors Club Podcast! Rich is representing
The Mid America Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Rich has chosen to gift me with a notorious bad movie that was once featured on MST3K, 1959's The Killer Shrews!
Captain Thorne Sherman (James Best; hope you like odd names) and his first mate Rook Griswold ("Judge" Henry Dupree) arrives at the island laboratory of Dr. Marlowe Cragis (Baruch Lumet) to deliver some supplies. The good Doctor wants Thorne to bring his daughter Anne (the very Swedish Ingrid Goude) to the mainland, but there's a storm a'brewing, and Thorne refuses to leave until the next day. Dr. Cragis has been working with Dr. Radford Baines (co-producer Gordon McGlendon) and Jerry The Wonder Weasel (other co-producer Ken Curtis)...okay, so his last name is Farrell, but trust me he earned my name for him...to find a way to genetically reduce the size and metabolism of the average human to prevent overpopulation (?), and have been using shrews as test subjects. But what Thorne doesn't know is that there are a number of Shrews that grew rather than shrank in size and started breeding...and they've run out of food. Guess who's next on the menu?
I will state this clearly--this is not a good film. But it's not a good film in a way that you cannot get mad at it. As cheap and magnificently awkward as this movie is, it's obvious that the cast and director/special effects supervisor Ray Kellogg
tried real hard. There's an earnestness I sometimes miss in more modern horror films...when Anne asks Thorne if he's curious about her Swedish accent, it's meant sincerely and not as a joke. And because it's short, clocking in at 68 minutes, you don't have enough time for the charm to turn into annoyance.
I took a lot of joy in some of the stranger touches of the film. I couldn't help notice that the cast downs a whole lot of martinis within the first twenty minutes of the film, and that certain plot developments, especially involving Jerry, seem made up on the spot. For a while, I thought Kellogg was going for a Romero-esque 'humans fuck it up for themselves' vibe, but then I realized it was more 'Jerry fucks it up for himself.' And the science, from the 'shrinking people to prevent overpopulation' thingie to the justification for why the titular Killer Shrews are so venomous, is gleefully wacky and made even more enjoyable by the gravitas it is treated with.
And you know what you've been waiting for. It's time to talk about the Shrews.
 |
| Awwwww.....doggies! And yes, they count as 'monstas'... |
The fact is, while Kellogg does his best to keep exposure of the Shrews to the camera...there's no escaping the fact that they're, well, Fucking.
Adorable. Whether they're portrayed by hand puppets Kellogg uses for closeups or by dogs in shaggy carpets and cardboard monster masks, it is impossible to be scared by them. There's a major size discrepancy between the hand puppets and the dogs, and we are so familiar with how dogs run and walk that we can't accept them as feral giant rodents. These 'special' effects only serve to add to that feeling that we cannot scold this effort for its lack of quality.
I am going to recommend this. Even though I laughed at times, it was more with the film rather than at it. And, like I said, it's short enough that it endears rather than vexes.
The Rat Fiesta Continues tomorrow as my podcast brother Des Reddick of the Dread Media podcast flings me into the far future--apparently I missed the end of the world via nuclear fire back in 2015--so I can give witness to a bunch of very 80's 'savages' scavenge for food they instantly waste loads of in Bruno Mattei's 1984 post-apocalyptic throwdown Rats: Night of Terror!
There are presently fourteen open slots for this year's festival, and if you'd like to be included, there are four ways to get your share of the spotlight:
1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level. Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!
2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi. Suggested donation is $3
3) You can make a donation to Queens Community House Covid-19 Relief and Recovery Campaign. Suggested donation is $10. Please forward your receipt to me as proof.
4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.
It is not necessary to choose a rat-based horror film. However, if you do, I will forward you a special Ratapalooza banner you can display on your website.
No comments:
Post a Comment