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 compete with it (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.

The casting for this film is brilliant. We have everyones favourite Horror Mum, Dee Wallace, there’s also Don Keith Opper who plays the village idiot, I’ve always thought he was overlloked in these films (for some reason though he’s always reminded me of Clint Howard). We also have the brilliant M. Emmet Walsh who everyone knows just by his voice, plus we also see a younger Lin Shaye and yes that is Billy Zane.

I think Director Stephen Herek did a first-class job with this release and what he managed to create with the little budget he had is miraculous really, and this was hist feature debut. One part of the film that has always entertained me is ‘The Bounty Hunters’, yes I know they’re very cheesy and seem like something out of a 50’s Sci-Fi film but it just works so well.

We must talk about the true 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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Miscellaneous facts about the film:

Corey Burton, who voices the Critters, also came up with their language, which he described in interviews as combining elements of French and Japanese.

Although promoted as New Line’s answer to Gremlins (1984), the screenplay had been written and bought before Gremlins was announced. Herek had based the screenplay on a nightmare he experienced as a child.

Charles Chiodo based the design of the Crites on the Looney Tunes character, the Tasmanian Devil.

Terrence Mann performs the song “Power of the Night” as Johnny Steele especially for this movie.

The prop department used merkins from the local ‘nice ‘n’ naughty’ for the Critters.

Grovers Bend, the town where most of Critters takes place, is a nod to the infamous 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds by Orson Welles. The broadcast reported aliens were landing in Grovers Mill and was performed so well that thousands of listeners believed the fake news report was true.

The logo on the back of the bowling uniforms is a parody of the iconic Ghostbusters (1984) emblem. The colors of the uniform match the colors of Egon Spengler’s uniform in The Real Ghostbusters (1986) animated series.

Stephen Herek’s directorial debut.

The toy that Brad blows up at the farm is a Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) Y-Wing painted silver.

Among the educational videos that the bounty hunters are watching to familiarize themselves with Earth is a short clip from Android, which was co-written by and stars Don Keith Opper, who was also in Critters.

Stephen Herek began a friendship with Domonic Muir while working as assistant editors on City Limits (1984). When Herek was looking for his next project, Muir offered him his screenplay for Critters, which he had written three years earlier. After working on the script, he pitched it to Sho Films because of an existing working relationship to get advice on how to get the film made, in which their executives agreed to develop it.

This is the second movie with Dee Wallace (the other being E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)) in which her on-screen son heats up an oral thermometer in order to appear sick to avoid going to school. In E.T. she is fooled, but doesn’t buy it at all the second time around in Critters.

Brad’s cat is named Chewie, a reference to Chewbacca from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977).

Montrose Hagins, who appears here as the church organist, also has a small, unrelated role in Critters 2 (1988).

The second Bounty Hunter changes his face four times.

There is an E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) doll in Brad’s room. Dee Wallace starred in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), also playing the mother of a boy who comes in contact with aliens.

The Critter emerging from the toilet is likely an homage to Ghoulies (1984), a similarly-themed movie that used small monsters coming out of the toilet as their marketing strategy to promote the film.

There are only two human deaths on screen, all other human characters are merely wounded and survive.