Shriek of the Mutilated

Shriek of the Mutilated
File:Shriek-of-the-mutilated.png
Directed by	Michael Findlay
Written by	Ed Adlum and Ed Kelleher
Produced by	Ed Adlum and Mike Findlay Productions
Starring	Alan Brock Karen Hunter Tawm Ellis Michael Harris Darcy Brown Jack Neubeck Ivan Agar
Cinematography	Roberta Findlay
Distributed by	American Films Ltd.
Release date	1974
Running time	86 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Shriek of the Mutilated is a 1974 American horror film directed by Michael Findlay, also known as Mutilated and Scream of the Snowbeast. It was filmed in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. Its soundtrack features the techno-pop track "Popcorn" by Hot Butter.

It was re-released in 1999 as part of the Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 6 collection.

Synopsis

The plot focuses on a field trip by Professor Prell to investigate Yeti sightings, along with four graduate students: Keith, Lynn, Karen, and Tom.

The night before the trip, the professor invites the students to dinner at a restaurant. Karen, Keith's girlfriend, is annoyed because the two were meant to have gone on a date together that evening. Dinner is an exotic dish called "gin sung." An ex-student turned alcoholic groundskeeper, named Spencer, is also there with his wife April. He gets drunk and tells the students the story of Prell's last Yeti-seeking field trip, which only he and the professor survived.

After the party, Spencer continues to drink, and upon returning home fights with his wife and cuts her throat with an electric carving knife. Afterwards, he climbs into the bathtub fully clothed. He is killed by his not quite dead wife, who drags a toaster into the bathroom and dumps it into the bath, electrocuting him.

In the morning, the professor travels by van with his students to Boot Island, where his friend Dr. Karl Werner lives. Werner has recently seen the Yeti on his island, and conjectures that he was marooned there by melting winter ice. He introduces the others to a mute "Indian" manservant named Laughing Crow. The group have dinner, which is again "gin sung," then go to sleep after one of the students, Tom, sings a song about the Yeti.

The next day, the professor and his students begin their search in the woods of the island. Tom sneaks off to go hunting and is killed by the Yeti, a shaggy creature whose loud heartbeat is clearly audible and whose call resembles the repeated words "iggly oogly argh." The rest of the group look for Tom the next morning but find only his rifle and his severed leg. Meanwhile, Lynn goes into Dr. Werner's greenhouse and sees something that frightens her; she runs into the woods and is also killed by the Yeti.

At the house, the remaining students find that the phone is out of order. The professor decides to use Tom's leg as bait to lure the Yeti into a trap. The plan fails, however, and Prell is knocked down by the monster, who escapes with the leg. Prell then decides to try again, using Lynn's body as bait. Karen tries to hide the body in the greenhouse, where she discovers the rest of Tom's body.

The professor ties Lynn's body to a tree. The Yeti appears and Keith chases it into the woods. He tracks it by the sound of its heartbeat, but makes the discovery that the sound is actually coming from a speaker attached to a tree. Someone knocks him out with a branch.

Back at the house, Laughing Crow is shown listening to a tape of the Yeti's heartbeat. It turns out that Professor Prell and Dr. Werner are cannibals, using the Yeti scam as a way to lure victims, and that the Yeti is actually Dr. Werner in disguise. Keith tries to escape in the van, and Karen flees through the house and ends up trapped in a bathroom. She opens a cabinet to find Laughing Crow holding a knife, and dies of fear. Prell and Werner reveal they need a body without wounds for a satanic ritual.

Keith returns with a local policeman, only to find out that he too is a cannibal. The three men explain that the "gin sung" Keith has eaten is actually human flesh, and they invite him to join their cannibalistic society. They bring in Karen's body, and Laughing Crow, brandishing an electric carving knife, speaks for the first time, saying "Mr. Henshaw — white meat or dark?" The film ends.

Cast

• Alan Brock — Dr. Ernst Prell
• Jennifer Stock — Karen Hunter
• Tawm Ellis — Dr. Karl Werner
• Michael Harris — Keith Henshaw
• Darcy Brown — Lynn Kelly
• Jack Neubeck — Tom Nash
• Tom Grail — Spencer Ste. Claire
• Luci Brandt — April Ste. Claire
• Ivan Agar — Laughing Crow
• Marina Stefan — Party Hostess
• Harriet McFaul — Girl at party
• Dwight Marfield — Station Attendant
• Jimmy Silva — Policeman
• Warren D'Oyly-Rhind — Waiter

Sources

• Plot summary Shriek of the Mutilated from the Bad Movie Report.
• Shriek of the Mutilated on IMDB