The Killer Shrews (1959)
A Sailor visiting a team of Scientists on a remote island is marooned there when the island is overrun with giant shrews from a failed experiment.
I downloaded the Tubi app recently after seeing good things about it on Bluesky and there are a whole plethora of pulp sci-fi movies on there for me to work through! So I picked my first one tonight; the heartwarming tale of some massive shrews who devour their victims whole!
This was decent, especially for 1959, and whilst clearly low budget I still felt like they did the best with limited resources. The eponymous shrews looked alright, just monsterous enough as to be repulsive but not too silly or over the top. Pretty sure they were just dogs in costume, but it worked for me. They were fine.
Some of the acting got a bit ropey, and everybody was confined to their little stereotypes: the remorseful scientist, the All-American hero, the eye candy, the snivelling jealous villain, and nobody really developed beyond that throughout the whole film. Not sure if it was just my version but the audio throughout the whole thing sounded like it was recorded in a drafty aircraft hanger... and it got difficult to ignore.
Storylinewise though it was fine, if not a bit predictable but there was enough exposition sprinkled with enough action moments to keep the viewer engaged and it was well structured actually. The timing was kept neat, never felt like any particular bit was dragging. And the cinematography was pretty decent.
It kept me invested enough that I wanted to see how it ended and yeah it was enjoyable, at least to me, but I do like these black and white 50's / 60's sci-fi, kinda what I'm here for, but yeah. Not bad this one. Very B-Movie but fine!
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