I cheated a bit with "Critters Attack" as I watched it on SyFy, not streaming, but to be honest, I just willing to pay extra to see it and it wasn't included with any of the streaming services I had access to when it was released. It did hit SyFy in October and I watched it as part of my Halloween viewing.
This is the fifth movie in the official feature franchise and it took nearly years to get here since the 4th. I like all four of the original Critters movies, so when this came out I was curious about it. A bit afraid it would be full of CG monsters. It wasn't, but maybe it should have been. The "new" Crites had an odd look to them. They were still fairly well put together puppets, with the exception of one, however, they didn't have the same onscreen impact as they did in the original movies. I think brighter lighting and 28 years of picture quality improvement makes bringing creatures to screen through puppetry a lot trickier and they often missed the mark here. The "cute one" in particular, looks like she auditioned for Sesame Street, but didn't get the gig and so wound up in this movie instead.
But, I still prefer puppets to CGI most of the time, so I was able to overlook that.
Dee Wallace returns to the franchise as a bounty hunter, but whether or not she's playing her original character is left rather ambiguous. I feel like she's not. Maybe she's a bounty hunter who adopted the persona of Helen Brown from a previous visit. Whoever her character is meant to be, she's a bright spot in the film and a nice nod to the past.
The rest of the core cast is made up of young adults and kids, which is pretty true to the Critters formula. Most of them play their parts and do okay with the script they were given.
Like in the 4th installment, there are some new concepts thrown around here. I'm not sure I cared for them, but it's really up to the viewer to decide upon that.
The "final stand" is a bit of a letdown, but there's enough action spread throughout to keep the movie watchable. Unfortunately, I don't think this is the movie to bring the franchise back, but I could be wrong. It didn't quite capture the fun of the originals like the recent Tremors sequels have done. (Another favorite franchise of mine.)
If you're a huge fan of the Crites or a completist, like me, it's worth a watch. I don't think many people will feel a need to watch it multiple times or tell their friends about how great it is.
I think the reason I was disappointed in it was partially due to this excellnt fan film, which set my expectations high.
And of course, if you like your aliens rubber, your action slimey and your acting a bit hit and miss, there's always the "Alien Vengeance" franchise, from yours truly.
This is the fifth movie in the official feature franchise and it took nearly years to get here since the 4th. I like all four of the original Critters movies, so when this came out I was curious about it. A bit afraid it would be full of CG monsters. It wasn't, but maybe it should have been. The "new" Crites had an odd look to them. They were still fairly well put together puppets, with the exception of one, however, they didn't have the same onscreen impact as they did in the original movies. I think brighter lighting and 28 years of picture quality improvement makes bringing creatures to screen through puppetry a lot trickier and they often missed the mark here. The "cute one" in particular, looks like she auditioned for Sesame Street, but didn't get the gig and so wound up in this movie instead.
But, I still prefer puppets to CGI most of the time, so I was able to overlook that.
Dee Wallace returns to the franchise as a bounty hunter, but whether or not she's playing her original character is left rather ambiguous. I feel like she's not. Maybe she's a bounty hunter who adopted the persona of Helen Brown from a previous visit. Whoever her character is meant to be, she's a bright spot in the film and a nice nod to the past.
The rest of the core cast is made up of young adults and kids, which is pretty true to the Critters formula. Most of them play their parts and do okay with the script they were given.
Like in the 4th installment, there are some new concepts thrown around here. I'm not sure I cared for them, but it's really up to the viewer to decide upon that.
The "final stand" is a bit of a letdown, but there's enough action spread throughout to keep the movie watchable. Unfortunately, I don't think this is the movie to bring the franchise back, but I could be wrong. It didn't quite capture the fun of the originals like the recent Tremors sequels have done. (Another favorite franchise of mine.)
If you're a huge fan of the Crites or a completist, like me, it's worth a watch. I don't think many people will feel a need to watch it multiple times or tell their friends about how great it is.
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