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Movie Summary  Short: Junior Rodeo Daredevils:  The short is yet another example of how terrifying it was to be a child in the Fifties. "Old-timer Billy Slater" forces preteens onto the backs of raging broncos. Children are maimed and torn, but old-timer Billy Slater only gets more lovable.  Movie: The Killer Shrews:  The feature takes place on a remote tropical island, where Swedish gadfly Milo Craig, his daughter, Ann, and a sneaky guy conduct counterproductive experiments on shrews. As a hurricane approaches, they're joined by Cap'n Thorn Sherman, who arrives with a boatload of supplies and his jolly mate, Griswold. ("Automatic pilot can't play Dixieland jazz on the <something> like I can.") Drinking becomes the main theme of the film. Well, that and standing around wondering what to do about the large poisonous shaggy shrews that escape Milo's lab and begin shredding the lesser characters. Relationships fray, but finally Ann, Milo, and Thorn sneak to Thorn's boat inside metal washtubs lashed together. They look like a human Merrimac. — Paul Chaplin Host Segments  Prologue:  Joel's giving presents on the SOL. Servo gets a great car he can really drive; Crow gets a pair of nice dress slacks.  Invention:  In perhaps their most ominous segment ever, Frank and Forrester stand at attention and pledge to "cleave in two this puny planet" with a missile, hung menacingly in back of them. They change their minds when they can't explain what they'd get out of doing that. Joel and the 'Bots offer Jim Henson's Edgar Winter Babies, little dolls with white hair.  Segment 2:  Joel does an odd, inconclusive Will Rogers routine. "The president's been goin' on and on and it's sorta like when the polecat got caught in the cow and the hound dog had to skitter him out!" Crow's a cow, Servo's a cactus.  Segment 3:  Servo and Crow devise a Killer Shrew Board Game, complete with a catchy jingle. Nobody can move in this game, so it's just like the movie, which causes them to explode in grief.  Segment 4:  Servo and Crow direct Joel in making a drink, the Killer Shrew. Mr. Pibb, Circus Peanuts, marshmallows, vanilla frosting - a whole buncha sugary stuff. Frank and Forrester try one too; Frank goes crazy and tries to dance with Dr. F.  Segment 5:  The 'Bots dress as killer shrews and attack Joel as he tries to read a letter. Frank is sick from too much Killer Shrew. Forrester offers him an ipecac, and he throws up.  Stinger:  One of the many, many drinking scenes. Reflections The film was produced by Ken Curtis, who also played Milo's sneaky assistant. Ken Curtis went on to play Festus in Gunsmoke. As much as he drinks in this movie, as Festus he drank perhaps even more. Director Ray Kellogg also directed episode 0402 - The Giant Gila Monster. Enough said. According to The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, Ingrid Goude (who played the mad doctor's lovely daughter) was Miss Universe of 1957, so that's how she got this coveted role. Interestingly, my co-writer Mary Jo was third runner-up in the 1981 Miss Circle Pines competition. I guess you just milk these things for as looong as you can. The killer shrews themselves are very clearly medium-sized dogs with carpet fragments glued to their backs. There's no attempt to even pretend they're anything else. They look like happy, playful dogs too. We were able to identify a Border Collie, a shepherd/terrier mix, and two schipperkes. — Paul Chaplin