Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Critters Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf December 1, 2018

Speak to somebody associated with the production of 1986’s “Critters,” and they often swear the screenplay was written before the creation of 1984’s “Gremlins,” the Joe Dante-directed masterpiece that gifted the world a Christmas of chaos featuring the antics of mischievous, murderous knee-high creatures rampaging their way through a small town. Of course, “Critters” isn’t set during the holiday season, but the picture also enjoys the destructive abilities of tiny monsters working to take over a rural community. I’m not sure why there’s such a defensive attitude about the similarities between the endeavors, as there’s room for both movies to be fantastic, with Stephen Herek-helmed horror-comedy managing to do something scrappy and scary with very little money, using imagination to turn a promising idea from co-writer Brian Domonic Muir into a fun ride of creature feature highlights, keeping puppetry and casualty lively in this unexpected franchise-starter.

Breaking free from their asteroid prison transfer, the Crites, little killer aliens, have made their way to Earth to feast on the residents of a small Kansas community, using their special skills of rolling and biting to quickly overwhelm the bewildered locals. Brad (Scott Grimes) is a young teen who can’t believe what he’s seeing, with his family, including Helen (Dee Wallace), April (Nadine van der Velde), and Jay (Billy Green Bush), soon holing up inside their home when the Crites attack, growing stronger and bigger with every meal. Coming to the rescue is intergalactic bounty hunter Ug (Terrence Mann), who’s taken on the appearance of a famous rock star to help calm the humans, embarking on a mission to destroy the invaders, backed by his partner, who resembles the town drunk, Charlie (Don Opper).

“Critters” could’ve easily been another alien attack movie, but the writing tries to build a bigger world for the Crites and their rampage. They’re beasts on their way to prison at the start of the film, giving them fugitive status to go with their hunger pains, which brings them to Earth to begin feeding. There’s Brad and his family, living a quaint life with traditional cohabitational issues, and an assortment of small-town characters, including skittish Sheriff Harv (M. Emmet Walsh) and Charlie, who’s nursing a drinking problem, reinforcing his status as the town nutball. “Critters” goes above and beyond when establishing the personalities in play, with Herek making sure the community has depth and people have dilemmas before unleashing the Crites. It’s not much, but the effort helps to give the picture shape, while the addition of the bounty hunters adds an amusing level of comedic escalation, watching Ug and his partner remain once step behind the Crites, weirding out the locals before graduating to major property damage with cannon-like space guns.

The Crite sequences are the highlights of “Critters,” blending enchantingly low-budget puppets from The Chiodo Brothers with crafty cutting and staging, giving the dangerous balls of fur a real presence and threat level, soon exposing an ability to shoot quills from their neck and expand in size, giving the invaders kidnapping opportunities. “Critters” maintains a sense of humor, giving the Crites their own language to curse in, and Herek is also focused on their quick movement, which helps pace, creating controlled chaos as the monsters trade quips and growls before rolling over to a new position of threat. The war between Brad’s family and the Crites takes up most of the second half, while a few bloodier encounters are included just to make sure the audience doesn’t discount the horror of a Crite bite.

Critters Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation. The results respect the original cinematographic challenges of the low-budget feature, offering a softer but secure look at the endeavor, keeping a cinematic appearance with filmic grain. Detail is compelling overall, getting a look at facial surfaces and grotesque wounds, while set decoration is open for survey, highlighting small town buildings and some spaceship tech. Colors are refreshed tastefully, presenting slightly hotter primaries, keeping costuming (including Brad's pink shirt) bright and skintones flush. Crite antics are boosted by glowing red eyes and bloody teeth. Delineation is comfortable, maintaining frame information as the action heads into the evening and rolls around dimly lit areas of the farm setting. Source isn't plagued with damage, and some mild banding is briefly detected.

Critters Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix doesn't do much to create a circular listening experience, with surrounds mostly handling atmospherics, delivering a feel for farm activity and outdoor locations. Some alien spacecraft supplies mild panning effects. It's largely a frontal event, and it does well, working with the sometimes unsecured production audio, which isn't always pristine. Still, intelligibility isn't an issue, with dialogue, shouted and whispered, satisfactory. Scoring supports as intended, offering a thin but active synth that sells moods accurately.

Critters Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: While the packaging lists the participation of actor Scott Grimes, he doesn't appear in the supplements.

• Commentary #1 features producer Barry Opper and star Don Opper.

• Commentary #2 features Crite designers Charles, Edward, and Stephen Chiodo.

• "They Bite" (71:05, HD) is a blissfully comprehensive look at the making of "Critters," which brings in a fair amount of cast and crew from the original production to discuss the creation of the cult classic (director Stephen Herek doesn't appear). Screenwriting duties were handled by Brian Domonic Muir, who wrote the feature longhand at the age of 19, finding an excited collaborator in Herek, with both men working for Roger Corman, ready to graduate to their own film. While the picture was prepared for Corman, New Line Cinema eventually bought the script, requesting a less violent tale to fit sellable PG-13 standards. Casting is extensively covered, with Terrence Mann pulled from Broadway to star as an alien bounty hunter, and Dee Wallace warmly recalls her co-stars. Creature design is also explored in full, with the Chiodo Brothers recalling the testing phase for Crite design, also identifying special challenges and issues with fur. We meet select members of the crew, with a firearms specialist describing how the alien guns actually worked, and amazement is shared over the climatic (and quite dangerous) house explosion. The documentary examines scoring demands with composer David Newman, a reshot ending meant to add some lightness to a grim conclusion (weirdly, prints with the original ending were also sent to theaters, giving "Critters" a "Clue"-like release), and MPAA battles to preserve the PG-13. Memories from the original release are offered, and a celebration of the movie's legacy is examined.

• "For Brian" (21:57, HD) is a memorial piece for Muir, who passed away in 2010, with friends and collaborators sharing anecdotes and thoughts about their time with the "Critters" screenwriter. It's quite a candid featurette, examining Muir's loss of the directing gig to a coin toss with Herek, and his removal from the franchise once sequels were produced. There's talk of his industry struggles and love of writing, also sharing details from his multiple bouts with cancer. To celebrate his life, a memorial screening of "Critters" was held, with attendees paying their last respects to the man who created it all.

• Behind-the-Scenes Footage (11:52, SD) showcases the testing phase of the Crites, with the Chiodo Brothers working out ways to add articulation to the puppets, get them to walk, roll, and deal with surprise attacks.

• Alternate Ending (4:23, SD) is the aforementioned original conclusion of "Critters," which doesn't have the magical house reconstruction addition, leaving audiences with a semi-bummer final moment before the end credits.

• Still Gallery (5:49) collects lobby cards, poster art, publicity shots, and newspaper ads.

• T.V. Spots (2:05, SD) provide four commercials for "Critters."

• And a Theatrical Trailer (1:30, SD) is included.

Critters Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Gremlins" has polish and wit, "Critters" is scruffy and wildly entertaining. Herek maintains an impressive genre batting average with the picture, which moves smoothly between humor and danger, wisely keeping the Crites in view as much as possible as small town in the midst of a creature invasion becomes an intergalactic war zone, making some real B-movie magic along the way.