The Killer Shrews / The Giant Gila Monster (Double Feature)

3 stars ... and an asterisk
I give this DVD release three stars, but I need to explain its positive and negative points for you to understand it (hence the asterisk).

The good points: 1. The price is unbeatable. 2. You get TWO movies for that price. 3. The movies REALLY aren't all that bad. Ignore for a moment the mediocre acting, the corniness and the poor special effects, and THE KILLER SHREWS has at its heart a terrifying siege while THE GIANT GILA MONSTER has some genuinely well-drawn characters and a surprisingly decent script.

The bad points: 1. Yes, the transfer is sub-par. A lot of pixelation, especially during bright flashes in darkness (like the lightning strikes during the hurricane in THE KILLER SHREWS). 2. Two chapter stops per film, and one of each is the beginning. 3. Few 'extras' per se, but some interesting trivia bits on difficult-to-read text screens.

Now that you know all that, take into consideration the fact that most VHS copies are recorded in EP, and this DVD (despite its...

Best Shrews / Gila disc available!!
From the folks that brought us the colorized dvds of NOTLD, Carnival of Souls, Reefer Madness, House on Haunted Hill and Plan 9 from Outer Space, you can now add The Killer Shrews / The Giant Gila Monster to the list. First off, this is a 2 disc set. Disc 1 contains both movies colorized, while the second disc contains the BW versions with extras. The extras include Giant Gila trailer (in anamorphic 16x9!), info on gilas and shrews, a weird video of a squirrel (?!) and colorized trailers for the titles I listed in the first sentence. Now you're probably wondering, how is the quality on these. I have two copies of the Killer Shrews already and the print on this is by far the best I've seen. Sure it has some print damage here and there, but this by far the sharpest I've seen both movies. If anything, get the disc set for the BW versions as I doubt any better copies are out there. The audio is clear however some hiss is present. As for the colorized versions, they look the same...

Consider Gila Monster a free extra
I bought this DVD specifically for "The Killer Shrews". If you like Ed Wood, this movie should appeal to you. The Shrews are a low budget special affect-but the story still works. This is the only role I've seen Ken Curtis in, other than Festus on Gunsmoke. In a way, this movie is a precursor to "Night of the Living Dead"-a group of people are isolated at a house surrounded by killer shrews instead of Zombies--and being on an Island, they need to find a way to escape to the safety of a boat. The first copy I purchased of this DVD was defective, but the replacement I received plays fine. I would recommend the version with a red cover showing a gila monsters claw picking up a jalopy ---I tried the other version on 3 different DVD players, and was unable to play it successfully on any of them. "The Giant Gila Monster" is ok-but I wouldn't have purchased this DVD just for that movie--it's not all that interesting.

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