I remember watching this movie when I was in third-grade. It scared the shit out of me! I still think it’s a really great movie. No post modernism feminist PC woke bullshit reevaluation necessary.
I think it’s got a great set of characters. The Doctor Who has an answer for everything, his pretty daughter who is just confused as hell. Her alcoholic ex fiancé who ends up on the roof with a shotgun. And then the weirdo scientist with the funny glasses and no social skills. And then there’s captain my captain, who is just jolly and bon vivant and carefree. He’s got a great attitude ! His whole thing is like, “ if it’s not directly going to affect me, it’s none of my business.“
He doesn’t need any reeducation, or Al-Anon, or adult child 12 step meetings.
And that’s another thing. They set up a bar and they just pretty much drink all the way through the movie which I think it’s hilarious. But wouldn’t you? I mean the shrews are chewing through the Adobe wall and the captain takes out a gun and shoots the thing in the head and then says I need a drink it goes over to the bar. Fantastic!
The thing that’s cool is that there is character development. When the captain asked the daughter were you afraid or lonely when you tricked me into staying after dark, she answers quite poignantly, “Both”.
And then there’s the great ending where they well together empty chemical tanks and waddle over to the beach.
Of course guy gets gal they lock lips and the whole sub text of population overgrowth causing all these horrible problems? It’s 1959 for chrissake and that’s pretty progressive and insightful as far as a sub text goes for a cheapo horror picture.
No. I’m all in, I drank the Kool-Aid and I’m a true believer of the killer shrews.
By the way, if shrews don’t eat their bodyweight every four hours they starve to death. I mean, they literally drop dead. Their heart rate is something like 1000 beats a minute. Like buddy rich on cocaine! I think the whole movie is a great metaphor.

For most of this flick, I kept waiting to see if the shrews would get them first, or all the cigarettes and booze. Of course the two minority members were the first to get killed off. Totally predictable, but great fun for all that. The last line of the film was indeed a hoot. A mercifully short movie. Four stars for effort.

Brilliant, way above other B movies.
Was a good bit of tension and the last bit- sheer genius.
And if not agree well there is humour and a ham alcoholic a real nasty !

I loved this old time classic as a child and still enjoy it today.
The killer shrews were very creepy with the long hair and the almost metallic sound they made. Just a scratch from one of them were lethal which added to the suspense.
The black and white, stormy environment, being on an island, all helped to create a surreal atmosphere when watching.
I try not to over analyze the old B horror movies such as this. I simply try to enjoy them which is what I do each time I watch Attack of the Killer Shrews.

Not going to be a favorite of mine. Just not interesting, but the shrews...what the heck were they...dogs with costumes? Predictable even for a B movie. And to the person complaining about the black guy getting killed, think of it this way...it's like the Red Shirts on Star Trek. It's part of the cult and black guys getting killed first in old movies is just what happens in this 50s genre. I'm black and I'm not offended. So suspend your righteous indignation and enjoy B movies for what they are.

If you enjoy Food of the Gods, Of Unknown Origin, or Willard, you will relish every minute of this underrated camp classic. Taut pacing, impeccably-timed shock scenes, and that white-knuckle sequence where the survivors are huddled inside empty oil cannisters desperately trying to reach the sea before the vicious rodents that surround them maul them to death with their poison-soaked fangs make this one of the best low-budget monster flicks of the fifties.
G.Przywara
http://www.squidoo.com/IVDthenovel

This movie is a good ol' 50's sci-fi/horror romp.
It is not the best nor the worst.
To me the very last line in the movie is just so smarmy and corny it was embarassing! What a hoot!
You will just have to watch to the very end to see what I mean...

A shrew gotta eat and the plan is to let them eat themselves.
As mentioned in earlier reviews "I'll take a dull alive woman every time" is the best line in the film, but not a recommended motto in real life.
Loved the fact that the mutant rodents only had to break the skin to kill, that totally increased the creepiness.
As is typical in these sorts of movies there are a lot of questions like:
When the transformer went out during the storm, who do you call on a island with a population of 4 humans?
Who was providing the electricity? Please don't tell me it was giant mutant hamsters.
Why did Ann have to change her outfit four times when none of the male actors did once?
Still, I found the film to be campy kitchy fun.

I somehow missed seeing any episode ever of THE DUKES OF HAZZARD so I don't know anything about the role Jim Best is "best known for". What I remember him for (apart from this movie which I have loved since I was a kid---is an episode of the original TWILIGHT ZONE television series entitled "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" in which he plays the title role. Jeff Nyrtlebank wakes up at his own funeral (which surprises his neighbors as much as it does himself) and the fun goes on from there. I won't say any more about that since I don't want to spoil that episode for anyone who hasn't seen it.
The film itself is inspired by the Thomas Malthus's classic study "An Essay on the Principle of Population" from which we get "The Exponential Law of Population Growth." The problem is that most people never get past the (admittedly) cheesy special effects and actually THINK about the problem that this movie is trying to explore.
Ken Curtis (unlike Jim Best) is, sadly, no longer with us, but he's probably best known for his roles in films like THE ALAMO (with John Wayne) in which he played Captain Dickinson. He was also a pretty good singer.
I give this movie four stars

People who like old movies (50's era) are going to love this movie. To think that they wrapped dogs in rugs makes me crack up laughing. Those dogs really were pretty viscious and it makes me wonder. What did they feed those dogs that made them so viscious??

This movie is the king of the "so bad it's good" genre. Collies wearing wigs, polka-dot stockings, and paper mache masks - ya gotta love it. All that aside, though, they actually do look pretty good. And the atmosphere of the island setting is great.
Finally, unfortunately, I do have to comment on the supposed racial issue I see mentioned on almost every movie site. Yeah, a black guy gets killed, then a mexican, and then two - yes, count 'em, TWO - white guys. Give it a rest, huh? If it was a racial issue there wouldn't have been a black guy in the whole movie.

It's a very bad film.
It's also very campy in a stupid sort of way.
So you can get a few laughs from the jokes you make up yourself.

First the black guy gets it. Then the Mexican guy gets it. Come, come now. (Well, atleast they have lines.)
That's right, little lady, normal women aren't scientists. Normal women sit around and attract guys like Jerry instead of inventing killer shrews.
I did like the shrews though (Snrrl, SNRRRL!). And the acting is pretty good. So that's three stars from me.

I love old horror/scifi movies, theres nothing wrong with them, and this is a very good example of those type of horror movies.

Robin Banks gives a good review of this classically bad movie, but for clarification - _James Best_ is the actor popularly known as Rosco P. Coltrane from The Dukes of Hazzard and plays the lead role of Thorne Sherman in this movie.

An unintentionally funny horror movie. Look for the killer "shrews", which are actually dogs (collies?) with what appears to be carpet remnants stuck to them.
Also look for "Roscoe P Coltrane" (Ken Curtis) in a starring role.
This was made by the same company that produced "The Giant Gila Monster", and these were intended to be featured together. I'm sure many children were conceived when this played at the local drive in... no one would be watching either movie.
Still though, worth the download. (Though the MSTied version is the best!)