Critters

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

1986 1h 26m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

🥫

52%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.1

IMDB

★6.5TMDB · 1,158🥫52%Rotten Tomatoes●52Metacritic★6.1IMDB · 42,075

ComedyHorrorScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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

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

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Cast

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

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Stephen Herek
Writers: Stephen Herek, Domonic Muir, Domonic Muir
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom, 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 $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 6.6× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Stephen Herek, shot by Tim Suhrstedt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Stephen Herek directs. Tim Suhrstedt behind the camera. David Newman scores. Larry Bock cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, 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 $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Made its money back 6.6× over at the box office.
440 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
5International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
6Part of the "Critters Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
7Directed by Stephen Herek, shot by Tim Suhrstedt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
8Original score by David Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
9Editor Larry Bock shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
10Dee Wallace and M. Emmet Walsh and Billy Green Bush carry the top of the cast.
11Marketing tagline: "The battle began in another galaxy. It's about to end in the Brown's backyard.".
12IMDB entry: tt0090887 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
13Classified under 19 themes, including "spacecraft", "small town", "sheriff", "bounty hunter".

The technical file

Cinematography: Tim Suhrstedt
Original score: David Newman
Editing: Larry Bock
Production design: Gregg Fonseca
Makeup / hair: Teresa M. Austin
Sound: Richard Beggs
Stunt coordinator: Michael Cassidy
Runtime: 86 min · 1h 26m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,000,000
Box office: $13,167,232
Return: 658% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Critters (1986)
Rotten Tomatoes: 52% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 52/100
IMDB rating: 6.1/10 · 42,075 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

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

Stephen Herek

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2019-08-25
★ 7/10
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.
Sheldon Nylander2019-09-02
★ 6/10
"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.
Kamurai2021-07-10
★ 7/10
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.