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Rating:  - Shrews and Gilas make for interesting watching
These movies are a hoot! In the first movie, The Giant Gila Monster it is fun to watch the teens hot rodding around in their souped up jalopies trying to escape the Giant Gila Monster. The songs are hilarious and the subplot of the young man trying to raise money for his little sisters braces makes no sense in the plot. The second movie on the DVD is the Killer Shrews. This movie has a better plot and makes a little more sense than the Giant Gila monster. Did anyone notice that the captain of the ship is the same actor who played Jim Lindsey the Guitar Player on The Andy Griffith Show. These movies are fun but dont expect too much.
Rating:  - Only an extra large pizza would offer more delicious cheese!
This is a fairly low rent disc, four chapter stops and a hard to read bio page that offers little of real interest. The picture quality is quite poor, one posted review offers the idea that this is a copy of a VHS tape rather than a film negative, during one scene the image breaks up in a cluster of squares (I guess that is what some call refracting?).
The movies themselves remain equally low rent 50s swiss cheese fests. Drive-in misfires from an alomst forgotten era. Still monster fans will find more than enough fun in the movies to gobble them up, but they may wish to look elsewhere for better looking transfers of these...gems. The movies are recommended, this particular disc release is not.
Rating: - Mixed-bag DVD is OK for the price
Others here have hashed over plot details, etc. so I'll just weigh in with the general consensus that Killer Shrews is the better of the two flicks here. The budgetary limitations are obvious, but if you can get over the fact that the monsters don't look anything like shrews, and the silly duck-walking thing, there's a fairly taut little thriller in there. Giant Gila Monster is less effective, with cornball humor, cringeworthy musical numbers, liberal doses of maudlin sentimentality, and a really blah monster dragging down its 'camp' appeal. This movie really needed Eddie Cahn or Herb Strock at the helm. Watchable but probably not quite bent enough for many C-movie enthusiasts.
The Diamond DVD is a mixed bag as well. First, I did not experience any of the technical problems that others have reported here; my disc played fine (other than some visible pixelation during the lightning flashes in Shrews) and I had no problem accessing any menu items, etc. Second, while neither source print is spectacular, they are definitely NOT transferred from mediocre VHS tapes as one reviewer stated. Compared to my VHS copy of Killer Shrews, the print used here compares quite favorably. There is some light speckling and scratching, but no major damage or jump-cutting. The tonal values are quite decent, (slightly richer than my VHS) and sharpness and shadow/highlight detail are much improved. For the money spent I'm quite pleased with Killer Shrews. Giant Gila Monster fares not so well. Compared to my VHS copy taped off public TV the DVD source print is sharper but also quite a bit darker, particularly in the night scenes and toward the end of the film in general. The highlight and midtone detail are thus actually improved in many scenes, but the shadow detail fills in a bit in the lighter scenes and a lot in the darker scenes, rendering much of the climax of the movie very murky. The DVD also exhibits more overall wear: light speckling and scratching, distracting reel change 'dots', jump cuts between reels, etc. In other words, even though the DVD is sharper, I'm hanging on to my videotape.
For me, Killer Shrews alone is worth the price of this disc (I'm assuming Madacy's version is as horribly butchered as their other Killer Creature Double Features). I wouldn't recommend spending the bucks just to get The Giant Gila Monster unless you have no other copy available. Does anyone have specific info on the quality of Elite's version?
Rating: - A Warning about this DVD
For those interested in these two classic, bad b-monster films, here is a warning. This paricular DVD, which claims to be 'digitally remastered' looks like a direct transfer from fair quality VHS tapes. At one point during "Gila Monster", the tape slows and nearly grinds to a stop. And there is a slight pause between the two (yes, only two) chapter stops in each film.
Worst of all, the creepy opening narration for "The Killer Shrews" is cut to only its last line! This 70-minute epic has been reduced to 68 minutes!
Admittedly the video quality is fine and the sound is quite good on this disc, but in truth, you get what you pay for.
Other reviews here have discussed the movies at length. Yes these are badly done movies, but "Killer Shrews" is still far superior to the "Gila Monster". At least the shrews are entertaininly bad and, for this reviewer at least, the movie does generate a couple of real chills. James Best is as always, a handsome and underrated actor.
"The Giant Gila Monster" is just plain bad. Unfortunately, the lead actor Don Sullivan, who shows promise, did not go far afterward.
Rating:  - Whattda want for $7.00?
Actually, I loved the movie "Gila Monster"! It was super seeing all those old (I mean old) hot rods. The slang the kids use is super neat to hear (Hey, Daddy!) The songs thrown in were a little silly, but they gave me a good chance to get a snack without pausing the DVD. Did I know how the whole thing was going to turn out in the end? YES, of course, but I still had a good time getting there. Honestly, if you are placing an order already, just go on and add this one too. You probably won't regret it!
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