Crites are little furry, reptile like alien creatures who have a big mouth with lots of sharp teeth & an insatiable appetite. They are able to curl into a ball & shoot poisonous spikes from they're backs which slows down or paralyses their prey. They are being transported across the universe in a prison ship, but they escape & steal a spaceship for themselves & head for the only planet in the solar system to support life, that planet is Earth. Warden Zanti (Micheal Lee Gogin) calls in the cavalry in the shape of two bounty hunters. Helen (Dee Wallace-Stone) & Jay Brown (Billy Green Bush) live on a farm near Kansas with their two children, April (Nadine Van der Velde) & Brad (Scott Grimes). Their normal peaceful existence is shattered one night when the Crites aboard their stolen spaceship land on their farm, Jay & Brad go to investigate & discover a half eaten cow. The Crites are clever little aliens & cut the Brown families phone lines & electricity, they are now trapped & have to desperately defend themselves against the Crites who just want to eat them. Meanwhile the two bounty hunters have arrived on Earth, one takes the appearance of a rock star named Johnny Steele (Terrence Mann) while the other eventually takes the form of the local deputy, Jeff Barnes (Ethan Phillips) when he is killed by the Crites. Harv (M. Emmet Walsh) the local Sheriff, starts to receive lots of calls about strange occurrences as the two bounty hunters cause mayhem wherever they go. But will the intergalactic bounty hunters be able to track the Crites down & make it to the Brown families farm before it's too late & everyone there ends up as Crite food?
Co-written & directed by Stephen Herek I though Critters was an enjoyable & undemanding Sci-Fi horror that's good fun. The script by Herek, Domonic Muir with 'additional scenes' by Don Keith Opper as Don Opper who also stars in the film as Charlie McFadden, is well paced & isn't boring & thankfully doesn't seem to take itself too seriously. It's a little on the clichéd side, a bratty teenager saving the day, the sequel orientated ending, characters stranded in an isolated location under threat from monster/alien with no way of contacting the outside world & the standard cardboard cut out disposable characters who end up eaten, but Herek keeps things moving along at a nice pace & it isn't a huge problem here. The Crites themselves are pretty cool & the special effects surprisingly good throughout even if the giant Crite at the end is severely underused. I was particularly impressed with the optical effects, including the spaceships & view of earth from space among others considering the year Critters was made & the obvious budget restrictions. There isn't a whole lot of gore but that didn't seem to matter much as the film as a whole is solid, someone has their fingers bitten off & there are a few bite wounds but that's about it. The acting is good from all involved & Critters as a whole is well made with a definite slickness & professional shine. Overall Critters is a bit shallow & predictable but good fun to watch & is certainly a agreeable way to pass 80 odd minutes.
Co-written & directed by Stephen Herek I though Critters was an enjoyable & undemanding Sci-Fi horror that's good fun. The script by Herek, Domonic Muir with 'additional scenes' by Don Keith Opper as Don Opper who also stars in the film as Charlie McFadden, is well paced & isn't boring & thankfully doesn't seem to take itself too seriously. It's a little on the clichéd side, a bratty teenager saving the day, the sequel orientated ending, characters stranded in an isolated location under threat from monster/alien with no way of contacting the outside world & the standard cardboard cut out disposable characters who end up eaten, but Herek keeps things moving along at a nice pace & it isn't a huge problem here. The Crites themselves are pretty cool & the special effects surprisingly good throughout even if the giant Crite at the end is severely underused. I was particularly impressed with the optical effects, including the spaceships & view of earth from space among others considering the year Critters was made & the obvious budget restrictions. There isn't a whole lot of gore but that didn't seem to matter much as the film as a whole is solid, someone has their fingers bitten off & there are a few bite wounds but that's about it. The acting is good from all involved & Critters as a whole is well made with a definite slickness & professional shine. Overall Critters is a bit shallow & predictable but good fun to watch & is certainly a agreeable way to pass 80 odd minutes.