Critters (1986)

 

Ah, the 80s... Not only did we get a slew of slasherfilms that had villains who became so iconic, they're mostly still either well-known or still going strong to this day (hello Freddy, Jason and Michael), but we also got the typical 'little creatures go nuts' variant. Obviously, this was because Joe Dante's 'Gremlins' was insanely popular, and for good reason. 

So every studio wanted their own brand of wacky horrorbeasties and New Line, then already famous for 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' gave us 'Critters' and even though this series never soared as high as 'Gremlins', it is still memorable and also just a lot of fun. 

The film jumps right in (and leans heavily into the science fiction element) when the Crites escape from a supermax prison in space, steal a ship and head to Earth, of course. Almost immediately, two bounty hunters are set after them, with a warning not to destroy too much. 

If this doesn't set the tone, I don't know what will. 

As is wont in stories of this ilk, the Crites land in a non-descript backwards town in Kansas. Ah, isolation, the perfect way to keep bizarre happenings in the realm of fantasy and also a nice way to keep the cast and budget fairly tight. Most of the action takes place around one farm, that of the Brown family. They soon find out that the power outage and the death of a cow isn't some random thing, but that there are angry furballs with teeth and attitude roaming around, bent on doing nothing but eating and growing.

Yes, the Crites get bigger as they eat more. 

Will the Brown's survive and will the bounty hunters get there in time? 

Not only is the setup simple, the film doesn't waste too much time with getting to what we all want to see: the Crites wreaking havoc. They try and hold off revealing them to us, but once we've seen them, they go all out. The reveal is actually pretty cool: first, we only see glowing red eyes, and then in the basement, the father discovers amidst some bottles and stuffed animals that there is something else present. 

The creature design is also very distinct. True, in essence, it is nothing more than a fluffy ball with a massive mouth, but it works. Maybe the best part is that the Crites actually speak to one another in a hoarse rasp. They get subtitled and at times, it is absolutely hilarious. By far the best scene is when they discover that the Brown's have a gun, so one of the Crites says: "They have guns." Another replies: "So what?" and when at that precise moment the mother blows one of them away, he actually exclaims something that they translated to: "Fuck!"

I can't stop laughing every time I see that. It is so unexpected and funny. The same goes for a moment when a Crite swallows a firecracker, and instead of exploding, he bulges like a cartoon character before dropping down.

Maybe that is the best way to describe this at times: a live action cartoon with horror elements. Because there are some decent scares and jumpscares, but the overall attitude of the Crites makes a lot of this film funny. 

The actors are also going all in with the insanity, as they know that most of this stuff is pretty silly and/or goofy, but committing to it, making it all the more endearing. 

So yes, while 'Critters' isn't a masterpiece, it manages to be funny and memorable for all the right reasons. They had a silly idea and went for it, which could explain why the franchise still exists to this day, even if consecutive installments did water everything down quite a bit (except for the direct sequel to this, which is probably the best one in the franchise). If you like little monsters going bananas, you could do a lot worse than this one.