A race of small, furry aliens make lunch out of the locals in a farming town.
Well here is the start of my “Critters” franchise review, these little monsters are so entertaining so lets get to it!
With “Gremlins” bursting onto the scene just 5 years earlier, “Critters” was ‘New Line’s” answer to cash in on the success of it all (although Stephen Herek has refuted this in interviews, pointing out that the script was written by Muir long before Gremlins went into production and subsequently underwent rewrites to reduce the apparent similarities between the two films.). The difference between the two is “Critters” has more edge and attitude to it and appeals more to an older audience, who knew it would be as successful as it was?!
Apart from the Crite’s themselves the casting of the film is brilliant. We have Horror favourite Dee Wallace who plays the Mother and puts in the kind of performance you expect from her. There’s also Don Keith Opper who plays the village idiot and for some reason always reminds me of Clint Howard. An awesome piece of casting is the brilliant M. Emmet Walsh who is just brilliant no matter what film he’s in. we also see a younger Lin Shaye and yes that is Billy Zane.
Director Stephen Herek did a first-class job with this release and managed to create so much with the little budget he had. One part of the film that has always entertained me is ‘The Bounty Hunters’, yes they’re very cheesy and seem like something out of a 50’s Sci-Fi film but it just works so well and brings a comedic release to the film. Here’s a little fun fact for you, Terrence Mann performs the song “Power of the Night” as Johnny Steele especially for this movie as-well as being one of ‘The Bounty Hunters’.
Now we must go back to stars of the film, the ‘Critters’ or ‘Crite’s’. They’re a great mixture of fun and fright and more devious than the monsters they’re often compared to. The subtitled scenes when they’re talking to each other is just pure brilliance and shows that they truly are devilish little furballs, also they look fantastic and kudos to their creators for making them come to life in such a great way.
“Critters” is highly entertaining and that’s the point here, entertainment. If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching this then do yourself a favour and get to it! I highly doubt that you’ll be disappointed with this 80’s B-Movie.
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