Critters Attack!
review by Bobby Blakey
Through the years there have been numerous films focusing on little crazed creatures that offer up terror and laughs like only they can. During the height of these films in the 80s we got the likes of Gremlins and Ghoulies that both spawned their own franchises. One of the films that capitalized on this was Critters that spawned four films before being seemingly done. Now fans are getting to return to the world of the furry creatures with the all-new film Critters Attack! featuring the return Dee Wallace who starred in the original film. Could this latest chapter brings more of what fans love about the franchise or will it be an invasion not worth having?
Critters Attack! follows 20-year-old Drea who reluctantly takes a job babysitting for a professor of a college she hopes to attend. Struggling to entertain the professor’s children Trissy and Jake, along with her own little brother Phillip, Drea takes them on a hike, unaware that mysterious alien critters have crash-landed and started devouring every living thing they encounter. While being tracked by the ravenous critters, Drea and the kids encounter an adorable, seemingly harmless female critter named Bianca, an exiled royal fleeing the critter race. As the critters converge on the college campus, Drea and the kids, who are now inextricably linked to Bianca, rush to head them off. Will Drea discover her inner badass, and will it be enough to stop the critter onslaught? And is the critter princess as innocent as she seems?
I love the original films despite the obvious cheese of them all. The original film still had a dark horror monster element to it before the series got sillier and this film is looking to take it back to that original tone. Sure it’s silly and there are moments where the Critters themselves are over the top, but they have brought it back to the basics. I was so happy to see them keep with the old school puppet practical effects here and they were bigger and better than ever. The story is simple enough to get it moving and while a by the numbers feature it’s the fun of
seeing the Critters back to terrifying the screen is all worth it.
Make no mistake this movie is silly and ridiculous just like the rest in the franchise,b ut if you love the others then you will no doubt have a blast with this one too. The cast is fine with Dee Wallace only in it for a short amount of time but getting the time to kick some ass. There is the introduction of a new Critter character that I wasn’t overly impressed with mostly because it felt more cartoonish if that is even possible and in the end didn’t really do anything. Overall thought it is still fun and a great return to form for the franchise with some clear love from those bringing the creatures themselves to life.
This release not only features the feature film, but also bonus content including commentary and featurettes taking you behind bringing the cult classic creatures back once again. Grab your copy of Critters Attack! available now on Blu-ray and DVD ahead of its TV Premiere on SyFy in October from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.