Critters 2

"It's everyone's turn for seconds."

1988 1h 26m EN

😐

6.2

MID

🥫

36%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.6

IMDB

★6.2TMDB · 551🥫36%Rotten Tomatoes●48Metacritic★5.6IMDB · 17,704

ComedyHorrorScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Three bounty hunters from space fly back to the town of Grovers Bend, hoping to save local residents from a new batch of Critter eggs.

“It's everyone's turn for seconds.”

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Cast

Scott Grimes
Brad Brown
Liane Curtis
Megan
Don Keith Opper
Charlie McFadden
Barry Corbin
Harv
Tom Hodges
Wesley
Sam Anderson
Mr. Morgan
Lindsay Parker
Cindy
Herta Ware
Nana

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Mick Garris
Writers: David Twohy, Mick Garris, Chris Pechin
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

86 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 85% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

38 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Critters Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Mick Garris, shot by Russell Carpenter. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nicholas Pike. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Charles Bornstein shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mick Garris directs. Russell Carpenter behind the camera. Nicholas Pike scores. Charles Bornstein cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

186 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Earned back only 85% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
438 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
5Part of the "Critters Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Mick Garris, shot by Russell Carpenter. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Nicholas Pike. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Charles Bornstein shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Scott Grimes and Liane Curtis and Don Keith Opper carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "It's everyone's turn for seconds.".
11IMDB entry: tt0094919 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 19 themes, including "spacecraft", "small town", "bounty hunter", "hamburger".

The technical file

Cinematography: Russell Carpenter
Original score: Nicholas Pike
Editing: Charles Bornstein
Production design: Philip Dean Foreman
Makeup / hair: Sheri Short
Sound: Wayne Heitman
Stunt coordinator: Dan Bradley
Runtime: 86 min · 1h 26m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.78:1 (16:9)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,500,000
Box office: $3,813,293
Return: 85% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Critters 2 (1988)
Rotten Tomatoes: 36% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 48/100
IMDB rating: 5.6/10 · 17,704 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

1 win & 3 nominations total

Part of

Critters Collection

The Critters film franchise, from New Line Cinema, comprises five movies that combine elements of horror, science fiction, dark fantasy and comedy. The first film, called simply Critters, was released in 1986 and received "two thumbs up" from Siskel and Ebert.

Also by

Mick Garris

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2019-08-25
★ 6/10
Critters 2 leans a bit more into the silliness of the series. Not to say that the original was a bleak take on gritty realism, but it did seem to take the danger a fraction more serious. It's not something that works particularly for or against the sequel, it's just a slight change, one that makes sense even. Establishes a real inter-connectivity in the franchise (that Critters would basically hold on to all the way up until that most recent one, which took some pretty wild liberties). Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go.
Sheldon Nylander2019-08-31
★ 3/10
The first "Critters" movie was a low-budget little monsters sci-fi/horror film that, despite its limitations in money and tech, still managed to strike the right chord in balancing the sci-fi, horror, suspense, and comedy elements, even with a PG-13 rating (despite its theme, only two people actually die in the first movie). Unfortunately, despite the fact that you can see them trying really hard to recapture it, "Critters 2" falls short of the mark. A couple of issues lead to this conclusion. First, despite this film's budget being double that of the first, it doesn't really show. Most of it must have been blown on extra puppets, as this time there's supposedly hundreds of Crites running around causing havoc. Which is weird because, honestly, the Crites feel like they barely have any actual screen time since the plot is also now divided between the attack of the Crites and the townspeople not believing the story of their previous attack and even blaming the attacks on the boy from the first film who has returned to town. Which leads to the second problem. In the first film, there was an effort to give the Crites some semblance of character. While still voracious eating machines, they still have some minimal interaction with each other and the environment, which fleshes them out a little more. Here, even though we see them talk a couple times (in their own language), it's little more than a one-liner here and there. There's too many of them with no standouts or leaders to give them any character at all. This all ends up making for a rather dull sequel to a surprisingly entertaining first film. Ultimately, it's not a worthy follow-up.
Wuchak2025-01-01
★ 6/10
Effectively continues the story, but it’s not as good as the first movie It is reported that Crites are still present on Earth, so Ug (Terrence Mann) and two other galactic bounty hunters return to wipe them out, including earthling misfit Charlie (Don Keith Opper). Brad (Scott Grimes) just so happens to be in town when they visit the planet. Along with his new girlfriend (Liane Curtis), they team-up to eradicate the extraterrestrial menace of furry critters. “Critters 2: The Main Course” (1988) has several highlights, but it’s just no where near as good as the original film from two years prior. For one thing, it’s more cartoonish and goofier, which makes it difficult to suspend disbelief as could be done with the first one. On the positive side, winsome Liane Curtis (Megan) is superior to the actress who played the young female in “Critters,” but the director failed to take advantage of her presence. Statuesque blonde Roxanne Kernohan is entertaining as a ‘playmate’ of whom bounty hunter Lee takes the appearance. Her brief top nudity is surprising for a PG-13 flick. Unfortunately, Roxanne would be deceased in just five years due to a car wreck. Speaking of bounty hunter Lee, this ‘nothingface’ alien combined with his partner, Ug, results in the team Ug-Lee. Get it? There are enough amusing bits to make this worth catching if you liked the first movie, such as the giant ball of critters rolling over a guy and leaving only his bloody skeleton. It’s just a letdown by comparison. It runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot in Santa Clarita, California, which is located 32 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. GRADE: B-/C+