SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED

Shriek of the Mutilated on AMG
The same team that foisted the sublimely bizarre Invasion of the Blood Farmers upon the world returns with this equally loopy horror outing. Dr. Ernst Prell (Alan Brock) organizes yet another group of anthropology students to search for the legendary Yeti. While most of the students don't believe that such a beast exists, there's no denying the fact that something horrible happened during the last expedition. All of the students were killed by something in the woods, and the only survivor besides Prell has gone mad and is prone to violent, drunken recountings of the incident at parties. They travel on anyway to the remote home of Prell's colleague, Dr. Karl Werner (Tawn Ellis), as he and his mute Indian servant (Morton Jacobs) have recently found evidence that the Yeti is near. Naturally, gruesome events occur as their search becomes fruitful, and various students are dispatched by a terrifying beast with plastic fangs and a shag-carpeting hide. A twist ending involving a gourmet cannibal cult helps explain away the cheap, bogus nature of the monster's costume and the show ends with a silly, grisly punch line. Like the earlier Invasion of the Blood Farmers, Shriek of the Mutilated is populated by strangely affected actors and imbued with a weird, muted color scheme that gives it the feeling of, if not quite a nightmare, then a disturbing dream that can't be entirely shaken off upon awakening. This peculiar tone is more likely due to its limited budget than any conceptual work of director Michael Findlay, who showed more artistic flair in his earlier black-and-white grindhouse films than this genre piece. Still, a healthy sense of black humor and outrageous fake gore make both films masterpieces of psychotronic cinema. FRED BELDIN