O Grito dos Mutilados

Just a note of warning: The Retromedia DVD of "Shriek of the Mutilated" is missing one of the highlights of the movie...the use of the '70s syntho-pop instrumental hit "Popcorn" during the party scene early in the movie. I assume Retromedia couldn't get the music rights, so they dubbed in some unremarkable new background music. There also appear to be some cuts in the dialogue (for instance, when the St. Claires arrive at the party, Retromedia has removed a student's sarcastic remark about their presence). In its original form, this movie is a hysterical classic of bizarre filmmaking...so track down the out-of-print Lightning Video VHS release if you can.

Well, take four studious grad students desiring to impress their professor on a weekend jaunt to "Boot" Island(Heaven knows where that is...but by the looks of the area I would say Upstate New York), a professor intent on finding the Yetti(in New York no less), and a mixture of cheap special effects, implausible situations, horrendous acting, and a lively tune called Popcorn and you have the makings of a great film ...right? Well maybe not great, but certainly entertaining. This film is a joy to behold for lovers of bad films and is thoroughly entertaining on that level. The story is about how four students are invited on a hunt to find a Yetti only to discover they find themselves the meat d'jour on the menu for some evil cult. The film has some wonderful moments of really inspiring bad acting as well as some of the corniest dialogue around.

In college a buddy of mine came in with a tape of what he claimed was the worst movie ever committed to celluloid, or whatever they had been using in 1974. We asked him why we'd want to watch something like that, and he replied that part of it had been filmed on campus! It was a Saturday night with class out of session, so with nothing to go along with the sizable supply of beer we had in the fridge, we said why not.

All you need to know about the movie: 1) A fight with a Yeti in a snowstorm is actually the negative of the print. 2) The Yeti wears tennis shoes. 3) The mute Indian looks more Italian than Al Pacino. 4) The Yeti runs down a long warehouse aisle to a loading dock to attack one of the students in the middle of the woods, then cuts to the actual attack, where he falls like he'd been pushed over.

This movie cried out for the MST3K treatment, but alas, it was not to be.

If you can get past the premise of a killer yeti dwelling in some guy's back yard, this isn't THAT bad of a movie. I think it was well intentioned, but misses it's mark with amusing results. In fact, it has become one of my favorite time wasters. Indeed it has all the markings of a good bad movie, including incredible dialogue, cheesy makeup (the yeti looks like a fluffy half man ape wearing fuzzy cowboy chaps and I believe if you stop frame the scenes, he is wearing white tennis shoes!). All this combined with the most gullible group of college students in film (all right, one of the most gullible). The closing "breakfast" scene offers some genuine creeps. Watch for scenes changing from day to night and sunny to rainy and then back again! Cult material deluxe. Watch this with your favorite beverage and ENJOY!

I'm sorry to say I saw this one back in the 70's at a Drive In.We all laughed at it for months.We tried to determine if it was filmed in someones back yard and what the total budget was.The canniblism aspect was a good spin though.This movie was very good for laughs and comments like " Hey who's idea was it to watch this one?"I think it ranks right up there with Plan 9 ,Microwave Massacre and even Ishtar.Make sure you drink heavily when you watch it.It makes it easier.I do recommend it.Do not spend more than 2 bucks if possible.I would also recommend that you do not watch this one on a first date.Wait till at least the third,and it may even just be your last.