Ingrid Goude won the Miss Sweden Pageant in 1956 and came in second in the Miss Universe Pageant. Back then, those contestants were really the most beautiful the world had to offer. Today's pageant winners more resemble the shrews in the 1959 film "The Killer Shrews" (at least in their political correctness). Nevertheless, Ms. Goude is a real dame...and her performance in this Ray Kellogg film couldn't have been more alluring. Exactly what was her role in "The Killer Shrews"? Who cares...she's Miss Sweden!
Thorne (James Best) and his mate, Rook (Judge Henry Dupree) sail a yacht to godforsaken Florida island. They meet the party that hires them, immediately. Jerry (Ken Curtis), Dr. Craigis (Barach Lumet), and the doctor's sultry daughter, Ann (Goude). They look worried when Thorne tells them that they can't go anywhere today as a hurricane is fast approaching. Rook stays with the boat and eventually be the first one eaten. Thorne is invited to Craigis' house/laboratory. There he'll fall in love with Miss Sweden...as will we. Uh oh...the hurry to get off the island is because of one of Craigis' experiments. He has succeeded in tampering with the genes of the mouse-like shrew. Now the shrew, or 300 shrews, are as big as wolves and their teeth resemble that of the sabretooth tiger.
The hurricane hits and Jerry gets drunk. Jerry is a brute coward and Ann doesn't love him anymore. Ann, Miss Sweden, loves Thorne. Craigis' assistant, Dr. Baines (Gordon McLendon) tells Thorne the specifics of what they're up against. The shrews eat twice their own body weight in food everyday...and humans are the only food remaining. The shrews will attack and find ways to get into the house. One by one, the inhabitants fall to the toothy menaces. Miss Sweden goes more and more goo-goo over Thorne. Now Jerry gets drunker and plots Thorne's demise. Miss Sweden will scream nicely and proves to be quite the damsel. Now as the shrews totally penetrate the fences and walls, Thorne comes up with a wild plan that just may work.
Are beastly shrews frothing to pick apart Miss Sweden a macabre foretelling of the 21st century revolt against beauty and purity? Will Thorne have more to worry about from the jealous Jerry or the killer shrews? Is Ingrid Goude too beautiful to die in a B movie classic? This is a classic horror film with terrific performances and nice cheesecake and beefcake. For a terrific creature feature evening, see Miss Sweden in "The Killer Shrews."
You deserve a medal for studying these movies, we have still so much to learn from them.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. Definitely on my list now.
ReplyDeleteWith "The Killer Shrews" being public domain odds are very high many people have watched this low budget 1959 horror fare.Not a bad film of it's time not great either.
ReplyDeleteThey probably also watched it on MST3K.
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