Shriek of the Mutilated (1974)

By Wuchak

**_An early Bigfoot flick that’s entertaining enough_** An aged professor takes four graduate students on an expedition to the wilds of upstate New York to acquire evidence of a Yeti-like creature rumored to inhabit an island on the Hudson. They stay with a younger professor, who lives on the isle with a creepy mute Indian servant. "Shriek of the Mutilated" is copywritten 1972, but wasn’t released until two years later. I point this out because it definitely has a very early 70s’ vibe as opposed to mid-70s. Thankfully, it isn’t a turkey like “Bigfoot” from a few years earlier (shot in 1969 and released in 1970). Sure, it’s an indie Bigfoot flick, but the story is relatively interesting and features a nice surprise (no spoilers). In addition, the no-name actors are serviceable and the woodsy not-quite-winter locations are good. For those who complain about the lame costume for the beast, watch the movie. There are only two prominent females in the cast, redhead Darcy Brown as Lynn and dirt-blonde Jennifer Stock as Karen. They’re girl-next-door types that I wasn’t impressed with at first, but they grew on me. The first 25 episodes of Scooby-Doo from 1969-70 were still fresh when this was made and so there’s a lot of influence from that show. Such as the van of the college students and how these four characters (Keith, Karen, Lynn and Tom) are roughly comparable to Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy. Of course, this is edgier in an R-rated way than that innocuous cartoon. Regrettably, the prints that were available on streaming are questionable, to be nice. I’d like to see a restored version with improved color and sound, not to mention cut scenes reinserted; it might inspire me to up my grade. It runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot 38-42 miles north of Manhattan at Croton-on-Hudson and Yorktown Heights. The college sequences in the opening act were filmed at Fordham University’s Keating Hall in the Bronx whereas the party sequence was done at an undisclosed apartment in the city. GRADE: C