History Film / TheKillerShrews

* PayEvilUntoEvil: Between Jerry pulling a rifle on him and then trying to leave him to be eaten, Thorne beats the hell out of him and then tries to throw his unconscious body to the shrews. Thorne only snaps out of his rage when Radford screams at him.

* LoveTriangle: Of the two "interested parties and one superfluous party" variety. Anne Cragis and Thorne Sherman fall for each other as they fight to survive, whilst Jerry Farrel, who used to be Anne's fiance, until she broke up with him for being a cowardly drunken idiot.

* ForScience: The creation of the Killer Shrews was actually an experiment to study the effects of overpopulation, an experiment which has GoneHorriblyRight. Also, one of the scientists, Radford Baines, when fatally bitten by a shrew, calmly records the progression of symptoms right up to the instance of his death, rather than say anything to all the people in the room with him.
* ForgottenFallenFriend: Actually averted for Rook in the first film, rarity for the time. Heavily averted with the sequel, where Thorne is clearly very shaken by his first-mate's death with a flashback and tears shed over it.

* DeadlyScratch: this is how Radford dies; a shrew manages to bite him and, knowing that it was enough for its venom to kill him, spends his last seconds recording his symptoms at the typewriter.

* ShoutOut: Dr. Barnes meticulously recording his symptoms before he dies might be a reference to herpetologist Karl Patterson Schmidt, who famously did the same while dying of a snake bite in 1957.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bztg0zjezotetzjkwyy00zdi2ltgwm2itywy3n2eyzde3mgi2xkeyxkfqcgdeqxvynje5mjuyotm_v1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"Looks like a rat, smells like a skunk - some call them bone-eaters."'']]

[[quoteright:201:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/killer-shrew_8472.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:201:''"Looks like a rat, smells like a skunk - some call them bone-eaters."'']]

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Shrews can swim. They're also inclined to engage in cannibalism even when they ''haven't'' stripped their habitat of alternate prey, making them a poor choice of analog for experiments in human overpopulation.

* ForScience: The creation of the Killer Shrews was actually an experiment to study the effects of overpopulation, an experiment which has (everybody say it with me) GoneHorriblyRight.
** Also, one of the scientists, Radford Baines, when fatally bitten by a shrew, calmly records the progression of symptoms right up to the instance of his death, rather than say anything to all the people in the room with him.

* ClosedCircle: The reason the whole plot takes place is because Thorne arrives just prior to an imminent hurricane sweeps over the island, preventing the residents from simply jumping aboard and sailing off during the day, whilst the Killer Shrews are dormant.

* FromBadToWorse: How can it get worse than being trapped inside a compound by a hurricane whilst ravenous predators with venomous bites are prowling outside? Have the compound walls be made of adobe--aka, ''dried mud bricks''. Naturally, the torrential rain softens the clay walls to the point that the Killer Shrews can start digging right through them.
* GivingThemTheStrip: One of the girl's boots is torn off by a shrew, but she's not actually bitten. She apparently ditched her other boot herself, as when she's swimming out to the boat at the end, she's completely barefoot.

* JumpScare: near the end of the film, the survivors are recovering from Thorne and Jerry's harrowing return to the laboratory and Ann offers to make coffee for everyone as they weigh their options. She opens the door to the kitchen, and one of the shrews suddenly runs into the room and bites at Radford's leg. Thorne kills it moments later, but the damage is done and Radford quickly dies of his injury.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: The giant shrews having venomous bites? That's actually a common trait amongst normal shrews!

* TokenEvilTeammate: Jerry Farrel, who is basically to blame for everything that goes wrong in this movie. [[spoiler:The sequel even has him turn out to have survived his apparent death after being stranded on the island and become a mad hermit who feeds his surviving killer shrews with any human who stumbles on the island.]]
* TooDumbToLive: Subverted. Nobody on the island is oblivious to the danger that the Killer Shrews present, and whilst Marlow and Radford feel they have a moral obligation to stay on the island to continue documenting the experiment, they are intent on sending Anne and the sailors Thorne & Rook back to safety on the sea, with cowardly Jerry having every intention of joining them. Unfortunately for them, Thorne's ship arrived just before a hurricane is due to hit the island, so the inclement weather forces them to bunker down and wait it out. [[FromBadToWorse And then the adobe starts melting under the hurricane's torrential rainfall, letting the Killer Shrews burrow through their defenses...]]

* ForgottenFallenFriend: Rook in the first film, his death not being greatly noticed and by the time it is, the shrews are sieging the house. Heavily averted with the sequel, where Thorne is clearly very shaken by his first-mate's death with a flashback and tears shed over it.

Thorne Sherman is the captain of a small supply boat sent to bring provisions to a lab on an isolated island. When he arrives, inclement weather prevents the offloading of provisions, and he finds the resident scientists nervously awaiting him with guns. [[TalkingHeads Much conversation and beating around the bush ensues]], until finally the truth comes out: The scientists have been performing experiments on overpopulation by genetically engineering shrews which grow to the size of sheep dogs, eat incessantly and breed profusely. These giant shrews have escaped and are overrunning the island, stripping it of food until the monsters must turn on the humans, trapping them in the small house/lab.

Unfortunately for the humans, the rains are weakening the house's adobe walls, allowing the Killer Shrews to burrow their way in. Although only a couple shrews actually make it inside, it's enough to kill a house servant and a lab researcher; the shrews also gobble up Thorne's sidekick [[BlackDudeDiesFirst Rook]] whilst attempting to bring items ashore from the boat. Realizing they can't stay in the house because the shrews are getting in, but can't go ''out'' of the house because the shrews are out there, Thorne gets creative and [[MacGyvering builds a portable tank out of empty oil drums]]. He, his LoveInterest and her father the lead scientist all escape to the beach in this tank and finally ditch into the ocean and swim out to Thorne's boat (now safe, since shrews can't swim); but the last lab assistant panics and refuses to join them in their escape, and so gets himself eaten. The shrews are left trapped on the island, where it is assumed they will eventually starve and die off.

* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: The shrews were released into the wilderness to grow and multiply without any restraints because Jerry got drunk and let them out whilst drunk.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst, and Mexican dude dies second.
* ClosedCircle: The island. An imminent hurricane prevents a quick evacuation.
%%* DirtyCoward: Lab assistant Jerry.

** Also, one of the scientists, when fatally bitten by a shrew, calmly records the progression of symptoms right up to the instance of his death, rather than say anything to all the people in the room with him.

* DirtyCoward: Lab assistant Jerry.

* IslandOfMystery: The island.
* {{Jerkass}}: Jerry.
* KarmicDeath: Jerry, after repeatedly trying to feed the hero to the shrews, finally is taken down by them himself.
* {{MacGyvering}}: The solution to escaping from the house to the boat without getting bitten.

* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter

After decades of making jokes about doing it, Best starred in a 2012 sequel ''The Return of the Killer Shrews''.

* PluckyComicRelief: Rook, the hero's plucky sidekick (see also BlackDudeDiesFirst)

* GivingThemTheStrip: One of the girl's boots is torn off by a shrew, but she's not actually bitten.

* AccidentallyAccurate: It was later verified some, if not almost all, species of shrew are indeed venomous. This means the film's attempts to justify the deadly bites with them adapting to the poison is actually unnecessary.

* [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Attack Of The 5 Foot Whatever]]: Although the Killer Shrews are easily much much much larger than they should be, this still makes them only about the size of an average dog. What really makes them dangerous is their poisonous saliva.

Unfortunately for the humans, the rains are weakening the house's adobe walls, allowing the Killer Shrews to burrow their way in. Although only a couple shrews actually make it inside, it's enough to kill a house servant and a lab researcher; the shrews also gobble up Thorne's sidekick [[BlackDudeDiesFirst Rook]] whilst attempting to bring items ashore from the boat). Realizing they can't stay in the house because the shrews are getting in, but can't go ''out'' of the house because the shrews are out there, Thorne gets creative and [[MacGyvering builds a portable tank out of empty oil drums]]. He, his LoveInterest and her father the lead scientist all escape to the beach in this tank and finally ditch into the ocean and swim out to Thorne's boat (now safe, since shrews can't swim); but the last lab assistant panics and refuses to join them in their escape, and so gets himself eaten. The shrews are left trapped on the island, where it is assumed they will eventually starve and die off.