Review of Critters (1986) by Arny B — 05 May 2011

Critters is an 80's creature feature about some little furry aliens that come to earth with great appetite. The movie has B written all over it, and if you are into B movies then you'll easily love this one.

After Gremlins' release in 1984, a lot of copycats tried to capitalize on its success. From all of those imitators, Critters is definitely the most fun and adorable. Not only are the special effects awesome (at least if you are into B movies), but the movie has great humor, wich you could say is taken directly from Gremlins, but with a darker tone.

The movie follows a southern family as they are stalked by the "critters" in their own farm. As one would expect, the movie lacks a decent story, the dialogue ranges from bad to terrible, and the whole film is just plain ridiculous, but no one would watch this for those reasons anyway. It is actually very fun in its simplicity.

The characters are not that bad. Scott Grimes is very likeable as Brad Brown, the young protagonist who lives in the besieged farm with his family, and Don Keith Opper doesn't make a bad job either, as he plays the immature adult Charlie McFadden. But the show is obviously stolen by the critters themselves. This vicious little creatures have some good puppetry work behind them, and they are just too much fun to look at.

If you are into B movies, then I'll recommend you give this a watch. It's not Gremlins quality, but it is still a very fun movie.