Pluskylang
Great Film overall
CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Kaydan Christian
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
BA_Harrison
Sexploitation director Michael Findlay turns his dubious talents to the horror genre, telling the tale of four college kids who accompany their professor, Dr. Ernst Prell (Alan Brock), on a field trip to Boot Island where they attempt to prove the existence of a yeti.The film opens with Prell conducting a lecture on yetis, showing his students some sketches of the legendary beast, presumably rendered by a shortsighted, artistically challenged, right-handed eight-year-old holding his pencil with his left hand (OK, that's a bit harsh, perhaps, but I wouldn't use them). After Prell has concluded his laughable lecture, most of the students spend the evening at a party where their wild, popcorn-fuelled antics are interrupted a crazy guy named Spencer (Tom Grail), who recounts how several of his friends were killed by a yeti during Prell's last field trip seven years earlier. Meanwhile, star student Keith (Michael Harris) has snubbed his pretty girlfriend Karen (Jennifer Stock) in favour of spending a cosy evening with Prell at an exclusive restaurant that serves exotic meat dishes (nothing strange about that!).While Keith samples rare delicacies with his professor, the inebriated Spencer heads for home, where he goes crazy and cuts his wife's throat before taking a bath fully clothed; not quite dead, the blood-soaked woman exacts revenge by plugging in an electric toaster and throwing it into the tub (instead of, maybe, seeking medical help).The next day, Prell drives his 'mystery machine' (complete with flower decals) to Boot Island, accompanied by his four students: Keith, Karen, Tom (Jack Neubeck), and Lynn (Darcy Brown), owner of an impressively large pair of hexagonal frame spectacles. The group are greeted by John Carpenter lookalike Dr. Karl Werner (Tawm Ellis), who lives on the island with his mute Native American manservant Laughing Crow (Ivan Agar), and who claims to have recently encountered the beast. Inevitably, the group's attempts to locate the creature result in death, both Tom and Lynn being savaged by a hairy humanoid that resembles the Shaggy D.A., mid-transformation.Despite Karen begging to leave the island, Keith agrees to help the two doctors to try and trap the yeti using his dead friends as bait (instead of, maybe, calling the police). His complete and utter stupidity ultimately results in further death when the yeti pursues Karen, scaring her so badly that she simply stops breathing. Eventually, it transpires that the yeti has been nothing more than an elaborate ruse concocted by Prell and Werner, who are part of a cannibalistic devil cult that holds annual banquets where the guests enjoy feasting upon the body of a victim with no cuts or bruises. Keith returns to the house with a local sheriff (who also turns out to be part of the cult) just as dinner is about to be served…With a ridiculous plot, terrible acting and minimal hokey gore, the wonderfully titled Shriek of the Mutilated is utterly inept and not in the least bit horrifying, yet the whole affair possesses a unique bats**t-crazy quality that makes it a fair amount of fun if really bad B-movies are your thing. As terrible as the film is, its hard to not leave with a grin as Laughing Crow, brandishing a carving knife, utters the final line, "white meat or dark?".4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.
GroovyDoom
Did you get excited as a child when October came around and cheap Halloween stuff started showing up in the stores? Did you listen to scary sound effects records with the lights out? Did you scour newspaper movie listings to find out what R-rated horror films were showing at the drive in theaters? If the answer to any of these is "Yes", then you will probably really enjoy "Shriek Of The Mutilated", which is the best low budget film ever made for about $15 (plus tax). In terms of sheer cheapo horror audacity, you can't get much better than "Shriek of the Mutilated", which aspires to bizarre greatness by combining both the bigfoot and cannibal genres. Although there is something to be said for watching a film without knowing the twists and surprises, it really doesn't affect "Shriek Of The Mutilated" if you know its secrets beforehand. In fact, the producers of the movie commissioned a poster that reveals the film's big secret right in the tag line, "A frenzied hunt for a hideous beast uncovers an evil cannibal cult, and death is the devil's blessing!"The movie is a total 70s time capsule, littered with severed bloody limbs, as four groovy college kids accompany their professor to an isolated estate where Yeti sightings have occurred. Determined to prove the beast exists, the Professor pushes the kids to stay despite the fact that one by one they are being stalked and murdered by an ominous figure covered in furry white shag. In a Scooby Doo plot development, the Yeti turns out to be a ruse: it's the professor and his evil cohorts posing as the Yeti, and they are part of an international cult of cannibals who lure kids into becoming victims, especially one in particular who they want to frighten to death as part of their ritual.You will enjoy the movie a lot more knowing this twist is coming, as the Yeti looks really fake and the fact that it's SUPPOSED to be fake in the story somewhat excuses this. Somewhat. What you won't see coming is a stunning double homicide early in the film (the homicide isn't the shocker, it's the method). Also, the 70s fashions and decor will either repulse or delight you. The acting is straight out of an early John Waters film, which the entire movie greatly resembles.I know a lot of people will tell you "Shriek Of The Mutilated" is a bad film, but they're missing the point here. No matter how the movie looks, sounds, or plays, you will probably enjoy it if you like cheap these kinds of cheap drive-in exploitation movies. Seek it out!
R C
Shriek of the Mutilated lacks the stark cinematography and morbid poetic sensibility of the earlier Findlay films, the Flesh trilogy and The Ultimate Degenerate, but fans of the couple will recognize other familiar ingredients: the melodramatic violence, stock classical music, and, most charmingly, bitter monologues as a cheap way of furthering the plot.A movie like this, it goes without saying, isn't suited to all tastes; but admirers of the Findlays, plus anybody who likes or can stomach the work of Don Dohler or Andy Milligan, are probably going to want to see this sometime. Dull spots and porn film production values notwithstanding, Shriek of the Mutilated does contain some wild ideas.As other reviewers have noted, the rotten music playing during the party scene isn't original to the movie and was added for the Retromedia release. Still, seeing this opus in its mutilated form is better than not seeing it at all.
Tender-Flesh
Every once in a while, a movie comes along like this. If you haven't seen it, you are in for a treat. For you see, what we have here is basically a live-action Scooby Doo mystery, with characters I will refer to by that TV show's names. Fred, Shaggy, Velma, and Daphne head off to Boot Island with their professor, Doctor Prell, to attempt to photograph or, dare to dream, capture a yeti. Mind you, the yeti is basically the abominable snow man of Tibet and surrounding regions. What he's doing in America, in an area where there is no snow, well, that's not really important unless you try to take this film at face value, and hopefully you won't.I smiled throughout most of this movie because it's just one of those flicks that is so bad you think it's good, or good enough to watch for laughs. Some movies are too inept even to be granted that, but this one succeeds on enough levels of absurdity, bad acting, horrid dialogue, and moronic premise that you just sort of find yourself enjoying it in spite of yourself.Now, back to the island. The elusive yeti stalks the landscape with a super loud heartbeat, occasionally roars, and when you see him, he has a lovely white fur coat. While rambling about in the woods near a country home not too far off the beaten path, our intrepid mystery hunters, who in fact arrive at their destination in a van not unlike the Mystery Machine--a white Econoline van with blue hippie flowers all over the front, find themselves being picked off in the woods by Bigfoot's white cousin. First, Shaggy gets his leg ripped off. And while parts of Shaggy are laid out to lure the yeti back to being captured, Velma meets her fate. By this time, Daphne is hysterical and Fred is, well, Fred. Practically everyone will have this mystery pretty much solved in the first 15 minutes of viewing, which leaves the rest of the time for you to wonder how they could stretch a Scooby Doo mystery into 86 minutes.This is a very amateur film, to say the least. I've seen much worse, and at least this has some unintentionally humorous bits. It would have been nice if Velma got naked, but I digress. See, it turns out there is also a blood cult thing going on in these here woods and Daphne is on the menu, along with Shaggy and Velma. Fred is left to tell his tale just as some goof did on a previous failed expedition. And wait til you see how things go for that guy! Unbelievable nonsense that you can't help but find amusing. This is the sort of film you need to watch on a Saturday night with your buddies. Buddies that get your sensibilities when it comes to films, that is. You may wonder if this is a Scooby Doo Mystery, where is the dog? The whole movie is a dog!
