On a dark and stormy night, something created by man has escaped. Now, stranded on their island, a group of scientists and a the captain of a delivery boat must try and survive the night without becoming dinner for the vicious, bloodthirsty, and mutated killer shrews that lurk just beyond their gates.

Shrews, mutated killer shrews! Not rats, bears, or even skunks, but shrews! That alone should keep you away. Try and swallow this one, a group of scientists working on overpopulation begin to mess with shrew DNA. As their research progresses, they end up mutating the shrew genes and not only do they cause them to enlarge in size, but also bring out all of the shrews worst traits, aggression, hunger and an incredible rate of reproduction. They also develop a poisonous bite that will kill you in seconds.

As good as that all may sound, this one is bad, real bad and not even in a good way. The cast is horrible and the acting is even worse, also the resident blonde hottie is supposed to be Swedish, I actually think the woman had a speech impediment and the director said "Hell, let's use it and we'll make your character foreign." One of the cast, however, does go on to star in the TV show Gunsmoke, that’s right little cowboys and girls, Ken Curtis who plays Festus in Gunsmoke, makes a debut in this little B horror gem.

As bad as the acting is, the effects are worse. The shrews are actually dogs with mops on their backs, and that’s it. When an unfortunate victim is mobbed by the beasts, it is hilarious as you can watch the dogs wag their tails and lick the victims faces. For close ups however they did make some decent shrew puppets. There is however a decent leg munching scene that if in color would have splashed a little juice on the screen.

The Killer Shrews is one of those bad monster flicks that is supposed to have a point, but believe me I couldn't figure it out by any means. The ending however is not to be missed as you will cry with laughter at the incredible and daring plan of escape. I won't give it away, but lets just say it involves a few empty trash cans, a couple of eye holes and about a half mile duck walk to the beach. Worth a laugh but not much else, but name another movie where someone with a bad Spanish accent yells "Aye ya ya el rodenta mutated es in da bodega!" Now that’s entertainment.

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