Critters

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Critters

PG-13,

1986,

1h 24m,

Horror/

Sci-Fi/

Comedy

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Watchlist

Watchlist

52%

52 Reviews

Tomatometer

45%

50,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

52%

Tomatometer

52 Reviews

45%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

When strange fuzzy creatures from outer space arrive on a farm, the Brown family -- Jay (Billy Green Bush), Helen (Dee Wallace-Stone), their daughter, April (Nadine Van Der Velde), and their son, Brad (Scott Grimes) -- must fend off the malevolent little aliens. Two bounty hunters with superhuman abilities follow the aggressive beasts from beyond, but the warriors aren't terribly effective, leaving the Brown family to battle the fur balls and rescue April from their clutches all by themselves.

Critics Consensus

While Critters ekes out some fun from a game cast and screwball tone, the titular monsters fail to deliver the credible menace that makes a creature feature satisfying.

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Kim Newman

Empire Magazine

Oct 28, 2021

3/5

The lead monsters are sort of endearingly nasty and the movie has fun with its small town setting, but the film is perhaps a little too derivative to pass muster with the best of retro-chic [science fiction].

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Variety Staff

Variety

Oct 28, 2021

Critters resemble oversize hairballs and roll like tumbleweeds when prodded into action, the perfect menace for this irritatingly insipid and lightweight film which unfolds with plodding predictability and leaves few cliches unturned.

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Alexander Walker

London Evening Standard

Oct 27, 2021

It's so pitifully plain that the budget won't stretch to showing bigger Critters that the pathetic effect becomes laughable.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Oct 2, 2025

1.5/4

...a mostly misguided disaster.

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David Day

Horror Movie Talk

Sep 23, 2025

7/10

It’s not going to blow you away or even make you feel scared. But it’s not really supposed to make you scared. It’s supposed to be a somewhat risque and fun film for you to sit down with your youngsters on a Friday night and munch on some popcorn over.

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Joe Lipsett

Horror Queers Podcast

Sep 4, 2024

3.5/5

More than a ripoff of Gremlins, Critters is a fun, Amblin-esque family adventure with plenty of amusing sequences and extremely memorable titular creature design, though at times the events at the farm and in the town feel disconnected

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Hagrid P

Apr 17, 2019

Hungry monsters and bounty hunters reeking havoc to an earthly family. It all makes for a fun and hilarious watch.

Mar 3, 2019

Awesome, needs a remake

Luke W

Jan 17, 2019

Critters is very vintage sci-fi / light horror. Its somewhat on the same track as "gremlins" which came out 2 years before. The special effects and comedic scenes are really enjoyable. The story isn't quite as engaging or moving as Gremlins was but its still a classic. I still liked it and it brought me back to the easier more chilled out times of the mid 80's.

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Luke M

Dec 6, 2018

Sure Critters may be a ripoff of Gremlins which came out 2 years earlier, however, it is an extremely entertaining film, the comedy in this film is superb and is certainly not short on laughs. However, despite this Critters is not a great film, it is pretty poorly written with some of the dialogue seeming forced or cheesy at times. Despite this, the actors do a rather decent job at portraying the characters despite this flaw.

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Rey G

Sep 20, 2018

Awesome 80's sci-fi comedy that has fur ball aliens attacking a small Kansas town. This is a fun movie , good characters and pretty good special effects for a 80's B-movie. Nostalgia entertainment

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Ron R

May 29, 2018

Silly funny crappy B-movie with surprisingly good effects for being low budget. Cute and fun and entertaining. Short but sweet. It's no Gremlins but neither is it Feeding Frenzy. 5.5/10

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Stephen Herek

Director

Dee Wallace

Helen Brown

M. Emmet Walsh

Harv

Terrence Mann

Johnny Steele

Billy Green Bush

Jay Brown

Scott Grimes

Brad Brown

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Synopsis

When strange fuzzy creatures from outer space arrive on a farm, the Brown family -- Jay (Billy Green Bush), Helen (Dee Wallace-Stone), their daughter, April (Nadine Van Der Velde), and their son, Brad (Scott Grimes) -- must fend off the malevolent little aliens. Two bounty hunters with superhuman abilities follow the aggressive beasts from beyond, but the warriors aren't terribly effective, leaving the Brown family to battle the fur balls and rescue April from their clutches all by themselves.

Director: Stephen Herek
Producer: Rupert Harvey, Barry Opper
Screenwriter: Domonic Muir, Stephen Herek
Production Co: New Line Cinema, Sho Films, Smart Egg Pictures
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 1, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $11.3M
Runtime: 1h 24m

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