Film Review: CRITTERS 3

By the time Critters 3 (1991) is released all the steam is out of the franchise but production company New Line Cinema decides to film 2 sequels at once (as parts 3 & 4 are released just a year apart). It is not explained how there can possibly be any more critters left after the last film only that Earth bound bounty hunter Charlie (Don Opper) is still at work making the world safe from the creatures the best way that he can.

This time a critters catches a ride with a impoverished family who have stopped over near Grover’s Bend. A father and his two children come into contact with a run-down Charlie who looks more like a homeless man than a bounty hunter. When the family returns home to their apartment complex they are unaware of their hitchhiker and soon the complex is overrun with critters.

If you thought the original film was light on violence then you haven’t seen anything as this film is far too kid-friendly for its own good. Even though the main characters are still kids this film makes you think as though the film makers were trying to make a film for the PG crowd and the overall films suffers for it as it is far to domesticated for my tastes. After an all too brief appearance at the beginning Charlie doesn’t reappear until half way through the film and he is played completely for laughs this go-around. Although the previous two films had their humor and the character of Charlie has always been the comic foil, there is no one in this film that can balance the comedy like Scott Grimes did in the previous films. The film makers try to do this with the three main children leads in the film but they can’t hold the film and the overall film suffers. This film is actually boring through many of the repetitive parts.

This being sad I enjoyed the ending of the film more than the film itself as the End Credit sequence sets up the events for Part 4 and it is a welcomed return to see Terrence Mann return as Ug (despite the fact that at the end of Part 2 he has the same face as Charlie).

Film Review: CRITTERS (1986)

In 1986 a creature feature was crafted to cash in on the success of the Joe Dante film Gremlins (1984). The result was this uniquely crafty horror film Critters. Similar in tone to that of its predecessor, Critters was the “Roger Corman” version of Gremlins in a similar way that Dante’s other film Piranha (1978) was a rip-off of Jaws (1975).

Critters concern a race of aliens that crash land on Earth in search of nothing more than food and to procreate. On their trail are two shape-shifting bounty hunters who will hunt the critters down at any cost. What stands in the critters way is the farm house of Brad Brown (Scott Grimes) and his family. Brad is the quintessential trouble maker who wars with his older sister and constantly makes a nuisance of himself for his mother and father. His only friend is the local drunk Charlie (Don Opper) who is the only person that believes him when he says that there are aliens that have landed. Now Brad must enlist the help of the bounty hunters in order to save his family from the hungry balls of critter fur.

The film works in a different way than Gremlins in that these creatures are intelligent and speak their own language (which makes for some very funny moments in the film) and they actually are the source of a lot of nice suspense in the film. The film is also dark in atmosphere while maintaining a nice balance with the comic tone and humor of the film. Despite the similarities that the film has with its predecessor it stands on its own due to the sci-fi aspects of the film (which Gremlins does not have).

Critters become such as success as to warrant three sequels and making it one of the more interesting franchises of the ‘80s.