New Line Cinema

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Smart Egg Pictures

Critters Collection

Critters

Name: Critters
Released: 1986-04-11T00:00:00.000000Z
Rating: 6.5

The battle began in another galaxy. It's about to end in the Brown's backyard.

1986 • 86 min • ★ 6.5 (1,139) • Released

Comedy Horror Science Fiction

Carnivorous aliens arrive unannounced at a Kansas family farm; two intergalactic bounty hunters soon follow, determined to blow them off the planet.

IMDb ↗

Original title: Critters
Language: EN
Country: US
Budget: $2,000,000
Revenue: $13,167,232

Reviews & Ratings 5

r96sk

Apr 22, 2025 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

<em>'Critters'</em> is <em>'Gremlins'</em>-esque fun overall, though it isn't supremely enjoyable all the way through; I felt some pacing issues. The titular aliens do look the part though, even all these years later. The practical effects are nice, that house explosion is particularly great. Scott Grimes is the actor that stood out most to me whilst watching. I do like how the kid is written, usually in these sorta films they tend to be only annoyingly bratty but here there are a couple of moments where you can see Brad's good; e.g. with Charlie, or with his mum. A nice touch, I thought. It is a movie that I'd say lacks consistent thrill, but all in all it's one I'll still be considering as passable. Hopefully the sequels are more critter-centric than human-centric though, that's the only way I reckon a franchise like this could avoid bad follow-ups.

Wuchak

Dec 28, 2024 · via TMDB

★ 8.0

**_Entertaining popcorn flick from the mid-80s is both cartoonish and horrifying_** Small, furry extraterrestrials harass a farm town in America while two bounty hunters try to capture them. "Critters" (1986) takes the basic premise of 50’s alien-invasion flicks, like “The Blob” or “War of the Worlds,” but meshes it with the tone and furry creatures of “Gremlims” from two years prior. The Kansas farmhouse and small town setting recalls teen Clark Kent’s situation in “Superman” (1978). The movie expertly walks the balance beam between fun & amusing and deadly serious creature feature. The vibe is similar to "Neon Maniacs" from the same year, but this is superior, as well as superior to “Gremlims.” Dee Wallace is a highlight as the wife/mother, never looking better, while Nadine Van der Velde is worth a mention as the brunette daughter. On the other side of the gender spectrum, a young Billy Zane shows up as the latter’s beau while Terrence Mann has a memorable dual role, not to mention impressively wrote the catchy song for the soundtrack, “Power of the Night.” I like how this isn’t a typical alien-visitation flick. The addition of the galactic bounty hunters adds an interesting new dimension, a concept that would be ripped off the next year by “The Hidden.” It runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot in Valencia, Santa Clarita, which is a 45-minutes drive northwest of downtown Los Angeles. GRADE: B+/A-

Kamurai

Jul 10, 2021 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

Good watch, could watch again and do recommend. This is a good one to jump into the way back machine for, and I'm waiting on a reboot to happen. (Actually...."The Tomorrow War" is sort of on the same track) The critters themselves are (in a horrible way) cute and vicious looking, the acting is decent, the story is good, and I'm a big fan of the shape shifting hunters sent to kill them. When it comes down to it, the movie is a lot of fun and worth giving a watch.

Sheldon Nylander

Sep 2, 2019 · via TMDB

★ 6.0

"Critters" is one of those rare movies that comes along that, despite all odds against it, manages to strike just the right chord. A little-monsters mix of scifi, horror, and comedy, the film uses its low budget as part of its charm. It scales the film farely small, that being a family farm that's attacked by Crites, voracious little eating machines from outer space, rather than a world-spanning threat. This is likely due to the low budget, but it works very well because the lower scale gives the audience a chance to know and identify with the characters, including the Crites themselves. The Crites are more than just Gremlins from space. They have their own language (subtitled, of course) and given that there are only a handful of them gives the filmmakers a chance to give them some character as they interact with each other and the environment (watching one of them try to talk to an ET doll is worth a chuckle). It's not a great film, but it's still a fun way to spend an hour and a half. Just don't expect the same magic from the sequels.

Gimly

Aug 25, 2019 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

It's great when you re-visit a film you enjoyed as a kid and find that as an adult it still totally holds up. Sure _Critters_ almost definitely found its start as nothing more than one of the slew or various _Gremlins_ rip-offs that were being written up at the time, but it's precisely the differences **from** _Gremlins_ that make _Critters_ any kind of success. The more overt sci-fi elements of the film have become a mainstay in the franchise, and are a big part of what makes this thing worth coming back to. _Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time._

User reviews courtesy of TMDB.

Keywords 18

alien alien creature alien fugitive alien invasion barn bounty hunter brother sister cat creature exploding house explosion family kansas, usa sheriff sibling relationship small town spacecraft toilet

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Cast 15

Dee Wallace

Helen Brown

M. Emmet Walsh

Harv

Billy Green Bush

Jay Brown

Scott Grimes

Brad Brown

Nadine Van der Velde

April Brown

Don Keith Opper

Charlie McFadden

Lin Shaye

Sally

Billy Zane

Steve Elliot

Ethan Phillips

Jeff Barnes

Terrence Mann

Johnny Steele

Jeremy Lawrence

Preacher

Michael Lee Gogin

Zanti

Montrose Hagins

Organist

Adele Malis-Morey

Woman #1

Corey Burton

(critter voices)

Crew 11

Don Diers

Set Dresser

Russell Carpenter

Second Unit Director of Photography

John Goodwin

Special Effects Makeup Artist

Don Keith Opper

Additional Writing

Vince Deadrick Jr.

Stunts

Stephen Herek

Director

Mark Helfrich

Second Unit Director

Robert Shaye

Executive Producer

Rupert Harvey

Producer

David Newman

Original Music Composer

Stephen Herek

Screenplay

Gallery

113

Videos

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Containment

US Release Dates 1

Apr 11, 1986

PG-13 Theatrical