The Critters Collection - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Critters Collection

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

WARNING: THE SCORES ABOVE ARE A COMBINED SCORE FROM ALL 4 FILMS, THE INDIVIDUAL SCORES ARE CONTAINED BELOW IN THE INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS OF THE REVIEW

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Movie
Back in the mid 80s Gremlins took the horror-comedy world by storm and everybody and their mother was trying to replicate it. While we waited for the inevitable sequel (and the newfound PG-13 rating) a host of other studios were trying to make the same thing. Films like Ghoulies and Critters came out as direct competitors to the “mini monsters” with a grudge and had their own modicum of success. I was honestly delighted to see Scream Factory resurrect the franchise as they have been doing a great job of picking up these films and giving them collector’s editions. I’ve had this box set on my wish list for quite some time, so when the opportunity presented itself I was more than happy to sacrifice my viewing time to check out this fantastic set. The first two theatrical films have been given brand new 2K masters to enjoy, and all 4 films have a host of brand new and older special features, giving this a near collector’s edition status for the prolific horror company.

Critters
Coming a mere 2 years after the hit film Gremlins, Critters uses some of the same processes and base plot lines to craft their own horror-comedy using a shoe string budget, a little bit of wit, and lots and lots of inventiveness. When a group of itty bitty creatures known as Crites escapes from a maximum security space prison a duo of shape shifting bounty hunters are sent after them with the goal of destroying them all before they eat and feed off of whatever planet they come to. Yup, you guessed it, the little Crites are on their way to earth and they crash land on a small rural countryside town that has no idea the amount of terror they’re in for.

Brad (Scott Grimes) is a young kid who just wants to have some fun, but is always getting in trouble with his parents and sister. However, he may be there only hope when the voracious Crites crash land in their back field and start munching on anything they they can find, growing larger and larger with each feeding. Soon enough the little beasties have run out of livestock and those humans are looking mighty tasty right about now.

Hot on their heels are the bounty hunter Ug (Terrence Mann), who has taken on the visage of a popular rock star as his “face”. He and his partner are about as destructive as the Crites, shooting everything they see on their path to destroying the beasts. However, Brad, Ug, and the rest of the town are in for a nasty surprise when the Crites have grown to enormous sizes and even the space age weapons the bounty hunters bring may not be enough to destroy the monsters before they either escape, or eat the entire town.

Critters is a hilarious romp of a film, dancing around with sly humor and a gritty ultra violent (for the 80s) style that gives it a flair all it’s own. While there is most likely some tenuous connection between Critters and Gremlins, Critters is it’s own movie, and Stephen Herek crafting a film that’s darkly disturbing, yet hilariously comical at the same time (The Crites talking to themselves brings some of the best lines of the movie). It’s not exactly the pinnacle of 80s horror, but Critters is a blast to watch, and the cheesy acting only makes it all the sweeter.

Critters 2: The Main Course
After Critters gained support after mediocre box office results, the powers that be decided to go ahead with another continuation, and through even more money and more effort into crafting the sequel (which was rare back in the 80s). Bringing back Scott Grimes as Brad, Terrence Mann as Ug, and Don Keith Opper as the town drunk Charlie, kept the movie anchored to the first, and Director Mick Garris spent a lot of effort trying to keep it tonally similar to the fist movie, while going even more over the top with the insanity and blood and gore of the demon beasties known as Crites.

After Ug and Charlie left Earth (Charlie took over Ug’s old partner’s job as a bounty hunter) it seems that they didn’t finish the job. The Crites had left some eggs behind, and the people who hired Ug to wipe out the Crites on Earth realized their mistake. Sending the two back to Earth to fix their mistake, the bounty hunters are locked and loaded, ready to kick some Crite butt again.

Brad (Scott Grimes) has grown up over the last couple of years, but he’s kind of become the pariah of the town too. No one believes his fantastic tale of monsters from outer space, and those who do befriend the young boy are outcast as well. However, someone has found the Crite eggs, and is selling them as high end Easter Eggs, so you can be pretty certain that the town is going to find out the truth sooner rather than later.

As expected, things go south in a hurry, with dozens and DOZENS of Crite eggs hatching, and the newborn space monsters starving for meat. Hitting up the local burger bar only takes the edge off, and soon enough townsfolk are getting munched left and right. Ug, Charlie and a third bounty hunter (who hilariously transforms into a female playboy model) are just in the nick of time, but this time it’s not just 8 Crites. The eggs are 10 fold that number and the huge quantities of Crites may be too much for even the three bounty hunters to handle.

Critters 2: The Main Course is about what you would expect from a sequel to a film like Critters. The monsters are bigger and nastier, and the stakes are higher as well. Instead of a farm house full of terrified people, it’s dozens of Crites with a whole town full of people who are just waiting to be eaten. Garris isn’t the greatest of directors if you look at his pedigree, but he gives the film his all, making the monsters bigger, the scope of the town bigger, and even adds in some emotional resonance with Ug and having to lead a team of rogues.

Critters 3
If anything, Critters 3 is change of pace for the franchise. Instead of just sticking to the little rural town with Brad, 1991’s Critters 3 decided to take things to the big city, which is the only reason this sequel is talked about anymore. Ok, I take that back. The real reason that Critters 3 is still talked about is because it was the film debut for a child actor named Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio refuses to even TALK about the film to this day (which is understandable, as starting your career in a low budget DTV monster flick from the horrible days of 90s horror isn’t something you really want to brag about), but it’s hilariously fun to see him in the flick, and see how far he’s come since then.

Mourning the loss of their mother, brother and sister Annie (Aimee Brooks) and Johnny (Christian and Joseph Cousins) are spending some tired with their frazzled father, Cliff (John Calvin), only to get interrupted by the fun of a flat tire. While Cliff fixes the bum tire, Annie and Johnny run into Josh (Leonardo DiCaprio), who’s father is a slumlord looking to evict his apartment tenants and rake in a bunch of cash. As you would expect (and for some bizarre reason), the trio of traveling family members have picked up a few unwanted Crites along the way, bringing a whole host of hungry monsters to an apartment complex just FILLED with tasty humans.

Critters 3 was a change of pace from the originals not only in location, but in budget. Critters 2 bombed at the box office and New Line Cinema decided to stop all plans for theatrical sequels. At least in the theatrical aspect, instead continuing on the series with a straight to home video pattern that would continue for the next film as well. The budget has obviously been slashed, as the locations are nothing but a rest stop and the apartment, but director Kristine Peterson does a good job at stretching what budget she has to it’s max. The apartment complex is tight and confined, adding a sense of claustrophobic terror to the series that wasn’t found in the previous incarnations. The addition of the character development with Annie having to be sister/mother/daughter all in one, and the conflict with Josh’s dad trying to evict his tenants is a welcome change, and while it’s not exactly Titanic in scope (which would come out in only 6 years), it is a decent schlock sequel to a schlocky franchise.

Critters 4

I have no idea what it was with these 90s horror franchises, but they ALWAYS seem to end up in space near the end of their runs. Leprechaun In Space, Jason X, and Critters 4. It seems like the idea of a futuristic monster movie is the appeal here, and they are ALWAYS the death knell for their respective franchises (well, Leprechaun was killed , but then given new life, and Jason X was the end before they started combining and rebooting things, even though there ARE sequels). But, this was the final nail in the DTV coffin for the Critters series.

After the monsters had been killed in Critters 3, bounty hunter Charlie (Don Keith Opper) is shot into space in a capsule along with the last two remaining Crites. In the year 2045 a space ship comes upon Charlies capsule and the man is revived. Unfortunately that means the little critters in his pod are revived as well, and a confined space ship gives them all the room they need to spread out and feed on the crew.

Earth is no longer in the picture, but director Rupert Harvey is still given a razor thin budget and only a few set pieces to work with. The confines of the ship make it easier to save money, with only the limited crew on board, and a set of repeating hallways and quarters that are easy to duplicate on the cheap. The use of a space station with a nuclear count down also means that the crew has to work against a clock to make up for the fact that there are only two Crites on board as well. Ug is back once more, the addition of horror icons Angela Bassett and Brad Dourif are greatly appreciated.

The frustrating part about Critters 4 is that only half the movie is about the critters. It takes 41 minutes for the crew to actually GET to the Crites, content to spend time bickering among themselves instead. This leaves the film feeling a bit long in the tooth, and I’m guessing it’s because Rupert Harvey was trying to cut the budget down as much as possible, and delay the heavier effects laded munching scenes until later. It’s not a bad movie, it’s a truly TERRIBLE movie. But still a movie that fits in well with the schlock and cheese of the Critters franchises.




Rated PG-13 by the MPAA (all 4)




Video:

Critters / Critters 2: The Main Course
Critters and Critters 2 have both been lauded has having brand new 2K masters, and the new restoration REALLY shows in a big way. Both films are heavily grainy and full of that 1980s ruddy looking color grading, but the films themselves look stunning. There’s some mild print damage, with speckles here and there occasionally, but both films look about as perfect as natural film can look. The low budget of the films can not be denied, which leads to some inherent softness, but this is counterbalanced by incredible detail levels on the farm, Ug’s space outfit, and the oeey gooey bloodiness of the puppets used for the critters themselves. Black levels are deep and inky, and I couldn’t notice more than a smidgeon of crush to mar the dark shadows. Faces can be a bit ruddy and pushed towards the red/orange end of the spectrum, but contrast levels are great, and there are more than enough moments that had me marveling at how GOOD these discs looked.


Critters 3 / Critters 4
While Critters and Critters 2: The Main Course were both given new 2K scans, Critters 3 and 4 were not given that luxury. Still, Scream Factory hash done what they could with the aging DTV masters, giving them a bit of a cleanup job and a solid encode that does the bet it can with the low budget material. Due to the fact that the 3rd and 4th films were shot back to back for the DTV market, they look remarkably similar, with strong primaries and decent enough detail levels. The 3rd film tends to look more earthy and orange/red tinged due to the location on Earth, with the 4th movie having a more slate blue and iron look considering that it was their version “evil in space”. Fine detail look moderately better than normal, with some shots actually standing out with exceptional clarity. They’re not the greatest looking discs on earth, but they are a decent step up from the horrible New Line Cinema DVDs from back in the day.




Audio:

Critters
Critters is the one and only film in the set to contain a 5.1 mix, and the DTS-HD MA lossless track does quite well with the limited surround usage it gets. The movie showcases some neat background noises such as space ships landing, gunshots going off, and the hubbub of the farmhouse when the Crites attack the family. The front heavy nature of the track means that the mains get the majority of the heavy lifting, and while those surround and sub elements are rather lean, intelligibility of the track is never in question and the clarity is quite clean and sharp.

Critters 2: The Main Course
Critters 2: The Main Course is given a more basic 2.0 DTS-HD MA track on the disc instead of a 5.1 mix (never was a theatrical 5.1 mix), but it is remarkably similar to the 5.1 track of the first movie due to how front heavy that is. The dialog and ambiance is captured well in the front of the room, and the action sounds hot and heavy when need be. The constant space gun blasts from the bounty hunters tracking down the Crites is solid, and there’s even a little bit of LFE baked into those 2 channels. Voices are distinct and clean, and I heard no imbalance in the mix that I could detect.

Critters 3
Critters 3 sports the typical 2.0 DTS-HD MA track, and considering the DTV source, it doesn’t sound bad at all. The mix is a little bit flat, with not a whole lot of spice and pizzazz to it, belying the super cheap nature of the budget. Gunshots are moderately good, with the sounds of the critters screeching and terrorizing the place to fill out he 2 mains. LFE is near nonexistent in the track, and the dialog is a bit thing and underwhelming. Everything is done adequately enough for a low budget flick, it’s just not going to shock and wow anyone, although the basics are handled well enough.

Critters 4
Critters 4 fares the same as the previous film does, giving way to a fairly basic audio mix that does everything adequately enough, but without some of the bells and whistles of a theatrical mix. The dialog is well done and placed up front, with some thinness and lack of crispness to the vocals, but the score and ambient effects on the space ship come through with relative ease. The classic 90s synth waves for the music are acceptable, and while the track never gets wild with the action, the rumbling and chattering of the Crites is readily heard at all times.





Extras:

Critters
• NEW 2K REMASTER OF THE FILM struck from the original film elements
• NEW Audio Commentary with producer Barry Opper and star Don Opper
• NEW Audio Commentary with Critter designers Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo and Stephen Chiodo
• NEW They Bite!: The Making of CRITTERS featuring interviews with actors Dee Wallace, Don Opper, Terrence Mann and Lin Shaye, producer Barry Opper, writer Brian Muir, Critters designers Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo and Stephen Chiodo, make-up artist R. Christopher Biggs, special prop supervisor Anthony Doublin, composer David Newman and second unit director Mark Helfrich, Critter Voice actor Corey Burton and Miniature Effects Supervisor Gene Warren Jr.
• NEW For Brian: A Tribute to Screenwriter Brian Domonic Muir
• Behind-the-Scenes Footage
• Alternate Ending
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Still Gallery

Critters 2: The Main Course
• NEW 2K REMASTER OF THE FILM struck from the original film elements
• NEW Audio Commentary with director Mick Garris
• NEW Audio Commentary with Critters designers Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo and Stephen Chiodo
• NEW The Main Course: The Making of CRITTERS 2 featuring interviews with director Mick Garris, actors Liane Curtis, Don Opper, Terrence Mann and Lin Shaye, producer Barry Opper, Critter designers Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo and Stephen Chiodo and make-up artist R. Christopher Biggs
• Behind the Scenes Footage
• Additional TV Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Still Gallery

Critters 3
• NEW Audio Commentary with producer Barry Opper and star Don Opper
• NEW You Are What They Eat: The Making of CRITTERS 3 featuring interviews with producer Barry Opper, screenwriter David J. Schow, stars Don Opper and Terrence Mann, director of photography Thomas J. Callaway and Critters designers Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo and Stephen Chiodo
• Trailer
• Still Gallery

Critters 4
• NEW Audio Commentary with producer/director Rupert Harvey
• NEW Space Madness: The Making of CRITTERS 3 featuring interviews with producer Barry Opper, screenwriter David J. Schow, stars Don Opper and Terrence Mann, director of photography Thomas J. Callaway, Critters designers Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo and Stephen Chiodo
• Trailer
• Still Gallery

Final Score: ​

The Critters Collection is one of those guilty pleasures every 80s and 90s monster movie fan has been waiting for. They’re goofy, never meant to be taken seriously, and another homage to Gremlins, like so many other franchises (Ghoulies, Leprechaun, Critters). Scream Factory has treated both the first two theatrical films right with great new masters and TONS of special features. Sadly the 3rd and 4th films are using older audio/video masters, and don’t get nearly the boost in quality that the previous two films enjoyed. Still, their special features are pretty rich as well, and the whole set is given a nice chipboard box with it’s own case to enjoy itself on your shelf. While I won’t ever consider the 4 film set to be classic cinema, they are the sort of gleefully self aware 80s and 90s fare that every horror fan loves to watch. Definitely a cheesy fun buy (pick this set up!).



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Dee Wallace, M. Emmet Walsh, Ethan Phillips, Billy Zane, Terrence Mann, Don Keith Opper, John Calvin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Aimee Brooks, Angela Bassett, Brad Dourif
Directed by Stephen Herek/ Mick Garris / Kristine Peterson / Rupert Harvey
Written by: Stephen Herek, Domonic Muir / Mick Garris, David Twohy / Rupert Havey, Barry Opper / Rupert Havey, Barry Opper, Joseph Lyle, David J. Schow
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC / 1.85:1 AVC / 1.85:1 AVC / 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: Spanish: DTS-HD MA 5.1 (Critters) , English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (Critters 2-4)
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: PG-13 (All 4)
Runtime: 86 Minutes / 86 Minutes / 85 Minutes / 94 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 27th, 2018

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Awesome Cheesy Buy​

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I remember this one and it was enjoyable. lol.

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. I remember seeing the first two for sure. I may buy the set when the price is right.