... None matched Gremlins in terms of style, humour or special effects but Critters at least did have something 'fun' about it which set it slightly above the others. Its an 'ok' movie, but perhaps not one to rave about too highly because of its major short-comings.
The story begins with the ... Read review
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Science Fiction - Director: Hiroyuki Yamaga - Original Language: Japanese - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Ayako Kawasumi, Fujiko Takimoto
...humour or special effects but Critters at least did have something 'fun' about it which set it slightly above the others. Its an 'ok' movie, but perhaps not one to rave about too highly because of its major short-comings.
The story begins with the local loony seeing a craft plummeting to Earth and crash-landing in a field. He has been telling people for years that aliens talk to him so of course no one belives him now. However, a ... .../>
Well, like I said Critters stumbles along in the long shadow cast by Joe Dante's Gremlins. It tries to use many of that movies ideas but lacks the flair, or the budget obviously to be able to carry them off. The Krites are a nasty hungry little bunch(like the gremlins) but as there are only 8 of them the movie becomes somewhat limited in where it can go and opts for the Night Of The Living Dead scenario of a house siege to play out the movie. ... more
The success of Gremlins brought a host fo 'nasty little beastie' movies to the movie screens in the mid to late 80s. None matched Gremlins in terms of style, humour or special effects but Critters at least did have something 'fun' about it which set it slightly above the others. Its an 'ok' movie, but perhaps not one to rave about too highly because of its major short-comings.
The story begins with the local loony seeing a craft plummeting to Earth and crash-landing in a field. He has been telling people for years that aliens talk to him so of course no one belives him now. However, a craft has landed on a large farm and its occupants are still alive. They are Krites, a small band of 8 escapees from a distant planet. Krites are small, kinda round, cute looking with porcupine-like quills and a wide mouth which opens up into a of row of viscious razor sharp teeth! They are viscious little beasties which attack and eat anything in sight and they intend to basically eat their way out of the deep south. Their presence is not left unnoticed however as the owner of the farm and his son investigate the strange object hitting their field. They find their herd of cows somewhat munched upon and pretty soon are lain seige to in their own house by the ravenous little psychos. But hot on their trail are two intergalactic bounty hunters who arrive in the town shortly after the havoc begins. Will the Krites escape...or will the intergallactic Mounties get their man/Krite/alien thing? Well, I ain't sayin' you'll just have to watch!
Well, like I said Critters stumbles along in the long shadow cast by Joe Dante's Gremlins. It tries to use many of that movies ideas but lacks the flair, or the budget obviously to be able to carry them off. The Krites are a nasty hungry little bunch(like the gremlins) but as there are only 8 of them the movie becomes somewhat limited in where it can go and opts for the Night Of The Living Dead scenario of a house siege to play out the movie. Not a bad idea, well it worked for Romero anyway, and it does throw up some wonderfully corny lines..."Get out of my house!" screams the mother of the family as she blows one away with a shotgun...another scene has two ofthem standing on a welcome mat on the front porch, the door opens and one finds itself standing next to a smoking red, fleshy splat as the shotgun is put to use again. "Grzzt!" says the Krite - "Fuck!" says the subtitles before it rolls to safety. Erm...so its funnier when you watch the movie, what can I say? lol. The bounty hunters offer some more funny parts because they are faceless when they arrive on Earth and must shape-changleto adopt some features. One ofthem is haven't trouble finding a face which his body will accept and keeps doing a strange facial shifting and constantly swaps his features. Ermm...trust me its funny when you watch it. :oP~~
Acting is as trashy as you would expect it to be here and the dialogue throws up some unintentional laughs purely over how bad it sounds. Most unforgiveable however are the special effects. The Krites are decidedly 'wooden' in their animation etc. and when they get big(yes of course all that eating makes them grow...it was obvious wasn't it?) then the resultant big mutha Krite looks like something out of Jim Henson's workshop as opposed to a true horror movie beastie. They are in short embarrasingly bad in parts. There is some gore here but not too much and overall it all feels like an inferior Gremlins clone. It is perhaps no surprise that the director went on to work for Disney directing some of their big name features because he certainly lacks that nasty streak needed to make a good horror flick. Nevertheless, it is a fun movie, just don't come in expecting too much anf you won't be too too disappointed.
Advantages: too many Disadvantages: too many to list
Often compared unfavourably with Gremlins, Critters is to my mind a more enjoyable film. The film moves between horror and comedy. The galactic bounty hunters who are sent to destroy the Critters(escaped criminals from a prison asteroid)are played deadpan which adds to the humour. The bounty hunters are over zealous when it comes to the use of their weapons and the shoot up of a bowling alley is a nice touch. The local drunkard Charlie is the kind ...
peter_chrichard 15.08.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Critters
Advantages: Laughably scary Disadvantages: Makes you look at cuddly toys in a new light
...two intergalactic bounty hunters who with the help of a young kid called Brad send them all to wherever Critters go once they are no more. Except right at the end you see one Critter skulking away into a corner. I'll swear I saw it wink. ...
jimbuck 21.11.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Critters
...fighting for their survival. The Critters grow as they eat and so get bigger and bigger becoming more dangerous. Things look bad for the family but luckily for them the Critters are being pursued across space by Alien Bounthunters who have come to destroy them, will they get there in time to save the family who are beseiged by the Critters. Well I won't spoil the ending, so you'll have to get this film to find out what happens. The Critters are funny ...
lukerussell 12.07.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Critters
Advantages: Sometimes scary, sometimes funny Disadvantages: Cheap, nothing special
Stephen Herek's CRITTERS was released in the summer of 1986 and was immediately jumped upon as a genuine pastiche of the old B-movie horrors of the 50s; but is it a good film?
An asteroid somewhere in outer-space is home, or prison, to some very nasty creatures who manage to escape when they hijack a spaceship. They crash land on Earth, in a small American town, and soon start wreaking havoc amongst the community, first on a cow and then on a farm. Meanwhile, intergalactic police are on their trail. They send to Earth two bounty hunters who have the ability to morph into anything they see fit, one a famous rock star and the other of various disguises, to aid them in their hunt of the increasingly deadly critters.
I remember enjoying this low-budget film much more the first time round but, if truth be told, I still somewhat ...
Charles_Strickland 16.11.2006 (21.11.2006)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Critters (DVD)
Critters was a mildly entertaining movie which followed on the back of and stole most of its general ideas from Joe Dante's Gremlins. It featured a small band of ravenous, flesh eating alien furballs who crashland in a small rural community and set about muching their way through the local animal and humanlife, basically focusing their attention upon a single family and their farm. The Krites were destroyed thanks to the efforts mainly of Brad, the older child of the family and two intergallactic faceshifting bounty hunters.
However, as with all movies of this kind there was an inevitable sequel just waiting to be filmed, and here is the result. The Krites were eradicated in the first movie but not before they left a little something behind. In fact, they left behind a clutch of their eggs in the chicken coop which are mistaken ...
wampyrii 30.09.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Critters 2
Advantages: a mix of sci-fi, horror and dark comedy Disadvantages: 1980s SPX and plot line is a little lacking
This is the first in the series of critters (4 movies of critters in total) with a cult follow and arguably the best of all 4.
Starts out with the prison asteroid maximum security transport carrying a payload of Critons or Critters which are to put onto another ship.
They just happen to escape get into a ship and head off straight to earth. The bounty track them down to town called Grovers Bend and try to kill the murderous critters. Most of the action is centred a farm house which does make parts of the film boring.
The film is from the 1980 so uses reverse frames and other crony SPX the cars and clothing out dated which does detract me from fully immersing myself in the film.
Over all this film is great for people that are into Sci-fi films from the 1980s, with a bit of horror mixed in for good measure.
Has a mix ...
D03114380 28.03.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Critters (DVD)
