Critters (Stephen Herek, 1986, USA)

Critters will certainly not go down in film history as one of the quintessential horror/sci-fi movies of the 1980s, but as an artifact of its time, it is a fun piece of Gremlins-inspired nostalgia. Directed by Stephen Herek, who went on to have an incredible career directing some of the most iconic family movies of the 1990s, Critters was supposedly conceived before Gremlins was released. The film was a success for New Line, which was riding high on the horror genre, and it spawned more sequels than one could imagine. Even critics were fairly lenient on the film, with Roger Ebert praising it and giving it 3 out of 4 stars. You could certainly do worse as far as cheap 80s horror films.

Perhaps one thing that elevates the film is the presence of a solid cast. Dee Wallace (the quintessential 80s movie - see Cujo and E.T.) plays the mother here, and Billy Green Bush plays the husband. The critters land on the family farm and are very quickly pursued by other aliens. These other aliens are able to morph into the physical form of the humans they observe. One of them ends up taking the form of a rock star he watches in a generic 80s metal music video.

The critters themselves are nasty little creatures, less easily defined as Gremlins. There are some fun visual effects, including exploding critters. They are maybe not as credibly menacing as the film suggests, but they still are able to create a significant amount of mayhem. The film ends with the critters being destroyed and the bounty hunters giving the family a device to help in the event of future attacks by critters. This must have been useful given the number of sequels that followed the original Critters. Overall, Critters is not amazing, but a fun ride.

6/10