Film #10 — 1/1 Extra Credit Film
By C. Ramsay
When a group of anthropology students travel to a remote location to do research with their professor, an aggressive Yeti begins hunting them down one by one. This is a baffling film that’s best described as having the feel of an unacquired, R-rated Scooby-Doo spec script. Even with distinguished exploitation filmmaker Roberta Findlay helming the cinematography, the working budget was extremely small and the project faced some other production issues—notably from director-editor Michael Findlay, of whom Roberta was estranged—resulting in low production value. Many scenes are expanded by using filler shots that run too long, that were already used, or that focus too often on capturing a facial expression that’s unnecessary in contributing to the mood of the scene, usually instead detracting from it. There are some creative workarounds used to portray some conceptually difficult scenes in spite of the budget, but these also aren’t executed very well and the film consequently leaves a tumultuous legacy without much else.
Full of mysticism and racial stereotypes, Shriek of the Mutilated is perhaps a tamer entry into the exploitation genre, but one fitting of the classification just the same. Although there are some really funny moments, it’s difficult to tell if they’re meant to be serious or not, and some of the scenes are inexplicably shot and edited in a style that resembles low-budget adventuring movies from the ’30s. There is essentially no consistent atmosphere cultivated for the movie aside from its own brand of inconsistency.
(more…)