445: Critters (1986)

SPEAKER_03 0:04

The critters of the Booyong Cube in this movie. Three years before Gremlins hit theaters, 19-year-old screenwriter Dominic Muir wrote a script about small alien convicts who crashline near a farm town. By the time the movie reached theaters in 1986, the comparison was unavoidable to Gremlins. Even though Muir's original draft dated back to 1981, the Project Eventually landed in New Line cinema with Stephen Herrick making his feature directorial debut and the Kyoto Brothers bringing the creatures to life for practical effects. The film follows a group of escaped extraterrestrial prisoners who arrive in rural Kansas where a local family gets caught between hungry alien fugitives and the shape-shifting bounty hunters that are sent to stop them. This week we're talking about critters. Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

Sean 1:07

A total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_05 1:10

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

My name is Chris. I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the classic horror connoisseur Sean.

Sean 1:18

They were wearing really funny clothes like they were from Los Angeles.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

And the paranormal paramore.

Sean 1:26

You're tuning into critters, but if you support the show, you'll also get to hear our B-side at the end of this episode where we get into what horror icons we would recruit to do our bounty hunting.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

Well, bounty hunters be damned. The real question on everyone's minds is who's seen this one before?

Sean 1:41

I can tell you, I'm actually amazed I've never seen a single critters in my entire life. Can you believe that?

SPEAKER_03 1:48

You've seen critters, you've seen raccoons, you've seen squirrels, you've seen muskrats, probably.

Sean 1:55

All kinds of actual critters, but not these critters. I've never seen this one. I thought it was like mind-blowing because I don't know. You look at the title, you're like, yeah, I probably saw that at some point growing up. And who knows, maybe I did, but I have no recollection of it at all.

SPEAKER_05 2:09

That is pretty shocking, I have to say, because I thought I was gonna definitely be the one coming in here, being the loser that's never seen this or even actually heard of it. Ugh, don't crucify me. I swear I really had no idea what I was walking into, aside from maybe some kind of Gremlin's adjacent chaos, of course, you know, small creatures, rural setting, maybe a little goofy, but yeah, I had no idea what to expect because I really had never heard of this before. I live under a rock.

Sean 2:40

Yeah, I don't know why I never got around to seeing this one. Maybe it's because it felt really similar to Gremlins, and I know I, you know, I grew up loving Gremlins, and you know, it's unfortunate that this one was written before Gremlins but came out after Gremlins because I feel like it's just always just now gonna be in the shadow of that film, and it definitely felt like Gremlins in a lot of ways, but also some other things. It had a lot of other kind of sci-fi vibes to it as well. So it's I don't know, it was an interesting feel.

SPEAKER_05 3:10

I'd say that what's interesting is they aren't as cute as Gremlins, but they are kind of in their own way. First impression-wise, I was like, okay, they're ugly, they're loud, they're hungry, I'll take it.

SPEAKER_03 3:23

I am completely floored that neither of you two have experienced this movie. That is crazy to me. I watched this a ton when I was a kid. Now I haven't seen the entire scope of the franchise, I've seen the first three for sure. And then actually, as I was experiencing this movie, Blessed be Tubi, because To Be has the franchise, and I restarted this movie multiple times, having to like get through it with the ads, but then in a fever dream, as I was sick, continued to just watch the entire franchise. So I've got critters on the brain, critters in my mind. And one of the things that I remember the most about this movie is it's one that knows exactly what lane it's in. It's not trying to be prestige horror by any means, it's not trying to terrify you. It's trying to give you a weird little creature feature with personality, and on that level it works. What is wild to me though is watching this now as an adult, having the context of knowing that Kyoto Brothers had a hand in this, and then never having before in my life made the connection to Killer Clowns from Outer Space. Like I completely was lost on that going into it now with that refresher and that context helped me re-examine this movie in a whole new light. Like I've seen critters and I think, oh, it's everything on the farm. It is the gremlin's adjacent energy of family is terrorized by cute little ugly things. I completely forgot that this starts in space. This is basically Lilo and Stitch.

Sean 4:57

Oh my gosh, it is. It is.

SPEAKER_05 4:59

That's a good connection. That's a good connection. And you know, I will admit that this movie does have Watch When You're Sick energy. It doesn't surprise me that in a quite literal fever dream you watched all of these movies. But I can also see how, in a way, it would kind of fall into this world of conversation where we ask people, like, were you a critter's kid or were you a gremlin's kid?

SPEAKER_03 5:26

Yeah, to be fair, I watched this and okay, and I kept having to watch this. I was just in a point of being exhausted by everything else I had happening in life. And Tubi makes what is a actually relatively brief, fun movie, very difficult to get through with ads on Tubi. So watch this literally anywhere else because I kept falling asleep during the ad breaks. All of that before I even got sick. And then when I got sick and we had to postpone the recording, I'm like, I need to refresh myself again and I have to take a fresh look at this. Did I rent it? No. No. I fucking did it on Tubi again like a dummy, but then continued the franchise. Saw Leonardo DiCaprio, had a great time.

Sean 6:09

Dang. You literally just watched the whole franchise as you brushed up on this. That's wild.

SPEAKER_03 6:15

Listen, my commitment to critters is unrelenting, apparently. Do I know a lot about the franchise? Absolutely not. It's alien creatures on a fucking farm, my guy. There's a guy from Greece too who is in Critters 2. So I just, you know, I had a great time making these small connections.

Sean 6:35

Well, now look, now you're very well versed in the franchise, I feel like. You know, you've got all the facts.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Ask me anything that matters.

Sean 6:42

Well, maybe those are the only things that matter.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Leonardo DiCaprio and this fucking guy whose name I don't remember, but I remember who he plays in Greece too. That's it.

SPEAKER_05 6:50

That's all I got. Wild. I'm hearing essentials. I'm hearing pop culture facts. And I respect that as we know.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

You're hearing narrowed focus in my lane, unbothered, not to be distracted by anything else.

SPEAKER_05 7:05

We'll take it. Much like this movie. Because one thing is for sure, I don't think that it is trying to be Gremlins exactly. Again, it was written beforehand. It knows its own kind of world with this little creature feature, cutie siege in the farmhouse energy that it has, right? I I think it establishes its tone quickly. It's got this sci-fi comedy bit to it. Personally wish it leaned a little bit more on the funnier side. I think there was some potential there. I personally was expecting maybe a bit more camp to it too. But then I also was potentially and unfairly comparing it to something as crazy as Summer Party Massacre 2 or something nuts like that, right? Or like the sleepaway camps of it all, which is not fair because this is a creature feature. Those are slashers, it's different. And I will say maybe it's because I watched it on Tubi. Maybe there's something to it now that I say that out loud. I'm I'm expecting Tubi energy and camp. And maybe that's not right. Maybe that's not fair.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

It's not fair because this movie predates Tubi. Now I know that we've given Tubi a pretty fucking bad rap in the past. Tubi comes through. They have some actual properties.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

They have a lot of shit on there.

SPEAKER_03 8:21

With Tubi, the wild shit that people talk about on Tubi is because it's the stuff that doesn't get put anywhere else that's current content. Tubi's also just home to a lot of older things that are actually hidden gems.

SPEAKER_05 8:36

Yeah, absolutely. I can see how it's got its little pocket of treasures, you know, kind of like you go to a goodwill and you find some gold there, some like movies that you haven't heard of in forever and a half. But I just kind of thought that maybe there was gonna be a little bit more to it than what I got, but there's nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with it at all.

Sean 8:56

I think it's a little bit wild. I I was reading a lot of stuff about this movie, and I, you know, I'm just trying to get brushed up on the history of this movie after I watch this movie. And I think that I was reading stuff like this movie still creates this kind of buzz with some of the, I don't know if you want to call it the cult fans of this movie, the I don't know what would you call them, the criteheads, the critters. I don't know what you want to call them. But if you're like a fan of this movie, I feel like there's some people that really do, you know, remember this movie and were traumatized as kids back in the day for whatever reasons. I mean, this is like they look a little scarier than maybe Gremlins at first, right? So like when you're comparing the two side by side, these guys don't really start off looking cute in any way, and they got a little bit of an attitude. So I feel like that whole thing, maybe I could see that. But to me, as an adult watching this, I think this is where this is gonna be pivotal for me as I like reflect on this movie. Is that I think if I had watched this movie as a kid growing up with this movie, I might I might have had a lot of more fond memories. That nostalgic piece might hit a little bit stronger. But somebody growing up watching Gremlins and then trying to go back to this at 38 years old, I'm feeling like I don't know. It's that it's a little bit hilarious. It's less of the it's less of the nostalgic for me. It's less of the buzz of like these were kind of scary as a kid for me because this is my first introduction to them. And so it kind of that aspect kind of fizzles out a little bit. I think the movie creates this feeling like it definitely wants to create some sort of suspense, but then it immediately undercuts itself with some of the comedy, which kind of weakens some of the horror. And I get it, it's like when you're looking at what they did with Killer Clowns from Outer Space and all that, it's supposed to be a little bit zany, a little bit campy, a little bit like that, but it just didn't hit for me.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

It's interesting to me that the nostalgic element didn't work for you. Obviously, I know that and I understand the logic here, you hadn't seen it, you don't have the sentimental attachment.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

But part of what I think really works for this movie is it does have this nostalgic charm. Even if you don't have a relationship with it, which maybe I'm being proven wrong right here, right now. But I was thinking about this, even if you haven't seen Critters before, the whole energy and vibe of this movie and the way that it's constructed feels like something you'd find on sci-fi on cable TV in the 90s with Pizza Hut. You just finished your reading list, you got your personal pan pizza, you're home, maybe you got some insert popular 90s soft drink here. And that's where fe that's where it lands for me. So there's something about the time that it captures that feels nostalgic, even if it's not about your relationship to the movie. But damn, it's crazy that you didn't get that.

Sean 11:48

I can see where you're coming from for sure. I just I can get the vibes of the you know that 90s feel, the sci-fi, that kind of stuff. I can kind of get that feel for sure, late 80s, whatever, but it just didn't, I just didn't resonate with me the same as if I was gonna go back and watch something like Gremlins or go back and watch ET or go back and watch something like that. And so I don't know, that's where it kind of got lost for me. I will say, on a side note, on a more lighter note, I think that there's a couple of things that really were hilarious to me. There's two things. One that stood out to me. One, was was power of the night the only song in this movie? Was that the only song? I don't know. It felt like the whole music video vibe was power of the night. This whole movie was brought to you by power of the night.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

Listen, when it's not broke, don't fix it. It's called a through line, Sean.

Sean 12:38

I need that song, I feel like. I need to have that song. I want the music video, I want this guy to come perform for me. I want to see this song in action. But that was one thing that stood out. I'm watching this movie, I'm like, damn, I can't escape this power of the night. But also, let me just tell you folks bowling tournaments is how you know nothing the fuck is going on in your town. If you are putting together a bowling tournament, that means you have jack shit to do in your town. Let me just put that out there.

SPEAKER_03 13:05

Now I have a feeling that we're gonna get lit up and roasted by every major metropolitan area and the bowling enthusiasts that live there and also like horror movies.

Sean 13:16

Throw it in our subreddit, whatever. If you are in an active bowling league right now, I want to see if you can come out of the woodwork. Let me know who's out there bowling every week on a team. Tell me.

SPEAKER_05 13:27

This is crazy because I'm literally going bowling this weekend.

Sean 13:30

But are you on a team?

SPEAKER_05 13:32

No, of course not. Look at me.

Sean 13:33

Are you going to a tournament or you go into cosmic bowling on a Friday night? You know what I mean? Like that's the whole difference. You're bowling, you're not good. You just throw some balls, you listen to some music, you eat some shitty food, you have a beer, pitcher of beer, whatever. It's good. You're actively on a team, you got the jackets, the name on the back, you're gonna go bowling, and it's you're like, you're like serious. This is how you know you need to do something else with your leg.

SPEAKER_05 13:54

You okay, you never watch Ali Cats. You never watch Holly Cats.

Sean 13:58

It's a dying thing. I'm just saying, it's a dying thing.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

Okay, well, Alley Cats, incredible. In addition to that, there's a great grease to song that's about bowling. It's great. You walk right into it. Third across the universe, incredible musical scene with a bowling alley. Oh my god, it's true, iconic, iconic. Okay, however, two of my nephews, so this is like Gen Z, by the way, were um in a bowling league in high school.

Sean 14:24

Get the hell out of here.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

It's actually like after high school, there was a fucking bowling team, and not just their high school, because there were high schools to compete with. That is wild to me.

SPEAKER_05 14:34

The first high school I went to, their bowling team was like the fucking team to beat. Shout out Miami Springs, senior high. That was like that's wild. That was the bowling team back in the day.

Sean 14:45

Did I have a bowling team in high school? I don't even know.

SPEAKER_05 14:48

You probably did, bitch.

Sean 14:49

You probably didn't, but I definitely wasn't on it. Well, anyways, there's a whole lot of bowling going on in this town, and there's a whole lot of fucking power of the night. Those are the two main the outside of critters, those are the main themes of the movie. All right.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

You're not wrong. It is it is simple. It is super, super simple, which lends itself to a really playful energy that kind of exists all throughout the movie. It feels like it's winking, but it's not winking so hard that it stops caring about the story. This for me felt like a great juggle of we don't have a ton going on here. We know it is what it is. However, comma, these critters are funny as fuck, especially when you get down to the subtitles of what the critters are saying. Absolutely incredible.

Sean 15:33

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

But what I think is great, look at the scale of Gremlins. And you talked about Gremlins, you talked about E.T. My guy. Look at the people behind those two movies. And then look at a young scrappy team putting this together and critters, and it is incredible what they were able to achieve. And to know that while it doesn't get on to the upper out echelons of gremlins, they still did a pretty damn good job. And I think it's because of the efficacy of the critters, they're nasty little bastards. So they're they're cute and ugly at the same time, they're effective. We start out with understanding exactly who they are because there's a fucking prison break. It's literally Lilo and Stitch. But then in addition to that, you have the pressure cookier of a small family that's affected in a small town in a farm setting. So it's contained. It's pressure, but it's contained even when it's super silly.

Sean 16:33

Yeah, but I think this also the pacing is pretty solid. I will give it that. So the critters, the effects, that kind of stuff, cool. The little, you know, we'll talk about the personalities and the attitude of the critters too. Great. The the pacing also works at at basically 80 minutes, it definitely doesn't spend a ton of time setting up this unnecessary lore. It gives you just enough of what you need to understand the movie. It also just doesn't drag once the creatures do kind of arrive on screen. And so the movie definitely just moves. So if nothing else, it's not just lingering around for the sake of being on screen, you know?

SPEAKER_05 17:08

Yeah, I'd agree. And I think that with a movie that doesn't take itself entirely seriously at all, there's a lot of commitment to making at least the critters themselves look great. I mean, they do a lot, and they're shooting quills and coordinating attacks and doing all kinds of ridiculous things and strategy that's quite memorable.

SPEAKER_03 17:30

Bro, they're tactical. They are military strategists.

Sean 17:33

Yeah. I think you mentioned it already. The subtitles, so good. The grunt, the little grunts, the attitudes, the all of the stuff super memorable. So, like 100% on that.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

The thing is, you never saw Gremlins say fuck. Like that's true, true. Come on, come on, come on. That's true.

Sean 17:49

Give it that.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

Greml, honestly, in a lot of ways, critters are what Gremlins thought they could be, being a little less family friendly. If we were to take Gremlins out of the family-friendly realm and give it the critters treatment with the subtitles, oh my god, I would erupt with laughter. Because Gremlins are already pretty damn great.

Sean 18:08

True. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm with you. I think it's tough though, because yes, these guys, these little critters, they definitely have an edgier attitude than the Gremlins did with the foul language and stuff, sure. But this is also where I feel like maybe the movie comes up short in just a little bit of however, like it just comes up short a little bit here. And I think it never fully commits to where it could lean in with the horror, the sci-fi horror aspect of it all. I think that they had an opportunity to take that Gremlins concept. You know, even though this was written before Gremlins, obviously the movie was made after Gremlins. So now that you know that Gremlins is out and you're making this movie, you have an opportunity, a unique opportunity to take this concept and go even darker and more horrific. And I feel like that's not a hundred percent what we got, but it was on the surface. They could have leaned in a little heavier on that end. Didn't have to be super serious, but it could have been a little bit heavier.

SPEAKER_05 19:07

Yeah, there is definitely potential left on the table. And I think it would have been kind of cool to see that camp come through even more in gore or in like in general horror, personally. And another piece to that too, I would say, is the characters themselves. There's one character in particular that felt like it just kind of came from I don't know where, like maybe maybe an entirely different sci-fi movie in a way. I'm not here for deep development, obviously. No one should be. But at the very least, it was like entertaining enough, or at least this character was entertaining enough where I was like, okay, but you don't quite fit completely here, or maybe this is just set up for what eventually is obviously the whole franchise that I have yet to see. So who knows?

SPEAKER_03 19:53

Yeah, I you know the characters for me are one of the things that kind of bring this movie down a little bit because the only characters that I actually give a damn about are the critters themselves.

Sean 20:03

That's well, they're so bland.

SPEAKER_03 20:05

I'm gonna ask you this actually, Sean.

Sean 20:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

When if you were to make a homemade soup right now, uh huh, what's one of the first steps you would do? What were some of the ingredients that you would look for?

Sean 20:15

Well, a standard chicken soup, I mean, I need a chicken. That's the that's that's what I need. I need to throw a chicken in there. I need to start boiling with some water, get some seasoning going, gotta chop up some celery. Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

It didn't take you long until you got to seasoning it, right?

Sean 20:30

Garlic, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

You got probably maybe a little bit of salt in there for the water.

Sean 20:34

Salt, a little pepper, you know, who knows?

SPEAKER_03 20:36

Now, if you have a fucking buyon cube, how much seasoning are you gonna put in that bitch? How much salt are you gonna put in that?

Sean 20:42

Maybe less.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

Exactly. The critters are the bouillon cube in this movie. Whereas in a normal movie, you would have multiple ingredients really anchoring things together. You have the critters who are doing a lot of fucking heavy lifting to turn this basic ass water into broth.

SPEAKER_05 20:59

That's it. Okay. Incredible. All right, yes, that was beautifully said because it's also funny because they're just so small in there, but they are tactical, so together as one unit can carry on the weight of this movie.

Sean 21:12

If you like quick broth and you don't want to put in the work, maybe you go see this movie, all right? Maybe I'm sure there's a lot of I'm sure there's a lot of creature feature fans on in all honesty that would probably really like this movie for the practical effects because it is actually pretty good for for what it's worth.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

For sure. But I do want to also point out that just like the bullion cube, there are some people who are working very hard on these critters.

Sean 21:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

So that's not to diminish the effort that goes into anyone else.

Sean 21:40

All right. Well, somebody had to make the bullion cube, you know?

SPEAKER_03 21:44

And how scientific that is to compress all that flavor into one fucking dissolvable cube and then package it correctly. It's honestly a modern Marvel, just like these critters.

Sean 21:55

Yeah. Well, if you're really interested in how the bouillon is made, this. Is the movie for you, okay? If you really want to know where those cubes come from, this is it right here. Throw on critters.

SPEAKER_05 22:07

And it with the Booyang Cube lasts for about 40 years still. So look at that.

Sean 22:12

There you go. Not a bad gig.

SPEAKER_05 22:14

Some preservatives, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 22:16

I think this is a great movie to get you started. Not unlike the Buoyang Cube. Sean, you said it, right? If you don't want to put it on the work, but yeah, the quick broth. I think if you're looking for horror movies to introduce people to, and you actually need to be a little bit exactly. But you're also ready for it to be a little nastier than Gremlins. This movie is nastier than Gremlins for sure. I think this is a great angle to go for. Now, aside from those recommendations, we also have to start working our way down to what this movie possesses in terms of its intensity. So, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

Sean 22:52

Actually, for a PG 13 movie, this one gets away with more than you'd expect. So there is that. I mean, that to your point, if you're if you want to see a little bit of an edgier type of you know creature feature, this might be the one for you. I think you have some solid little flesh biting injuries, some blood spurting, you got some gun blasting, body puncturing, and just a lot of creature mauling fun. So I think, you know, it's not it's not that the movie is really drenched in gore, the violence is super fast, it's cheeky, it's a lot, you know, oftentimes edited to make it more of a fun brutality. So it it earns itself a respectable low gore score, but it is fun and it is a little bit edgier than you'd expect.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

And what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_05 23:34

Unfortunately, we are not safe here. You know, these critters are basically little ravenous piranhas, space piranhas, to be exact. So anything I want to say small, really, but anything is that is edible is technically fair game. So if you're sensitive here, I would not recommend.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings. Critters from 1986. Was it a hack or slash?

Sean 23:56

Critters is one of those movies that horror fans remember fondly for its fuzzy little alien monsters and creature feature, practical effects, charm. And I can I can definitely respect it. As I said earlier, I think that this for me, this movie suffers from me not watching it until this stage in my life and me growing up with a different bunch of critters. And so I think you know, the Kreites definitely in this one have some personality. There's enough campy fun here to see why this earned this kind of cult status over the years. But the problem is that the nostalgia probably does all the heavy lifting for most people. It didn't hit as much for me. I never watched it before, and I and I just think that maybe that's it's a little less fun as an adult for me watching it for the first time because of that. And I think between the lovable chaos, there is a movie that never quite becomes as scary or sharp or original as it wants to be for me. And I understand written before Gremlins, but for me, it wasn't. Do you know what I mean? And so that's a tough one to get past. I think it spends much of the runtime feeling kind of like a lighter, sillier cousin to those monster movies. And I think while it's entertaining and burst, it never fully escapes the fun but forgettable category for me. And I haven't watched all of the franchise, but the characters in this movie outside of the critters, very, very bland. And so none of them really stood out. That was a hard one to get by. But this is this is one of those beer and friends horror, right? You can throw this on, pass the popcorn, drink some some cold ones, have some fun, have it on in the background. It's it's definitely not like something you just want to say, like, toss it in the trash by any means. It's a fun movie, it's not something that I would ever feel like I'm gonna come back to. I think the emotional connection mostly comes from the practical effects, the nostalgia, the practical creature chaos, all that stuff. It's not something that that I think that I'm gonna want to revisit. Maybe I'll go to the franchise just based on what who you're saying is in it and just see if it gets any better. I don't know. I am shocked that I have never seen any of these films. I'm actually even more shocked that there's so many other critter films out there. That's wild to me. But for me, I don't know. I think these little half porcupine alien furballs may have some sharp teeth, but this movie mostly just nibbles when it should have gone for the jugular. And I think because of that, I have to give it a hack. It's not a strong hack, it's just not my thing. I just don't think it it holds up with all of the the creature features that I grew up watching. So it's unfortunate, but that's my vibe.

SPEAKER_05 26:27

Honestly, I did have a decent time with this movie, which was a pleasant surprise for me specifically. Let's be honest. I think everyone feels that way. It is creative. I agree with a lot of what you're saying, Sean. I think the crit the critters themselves are are pretty fun. And although, yes, grew up with gremlins, I think that I can see myself remembering critters in their own way, right? The design of them and differentiating them pretty easily, obviously, from gremlins. The practical effects are solid. There's even moments in this movie, I will admit, that had me thinking, okay, yeah, that's why people like this. I can see this. It's kind of funny. But I'm with you, Sean. If I can be real, this just isn't my kind of creature feature. I can see myself leaning more towards other franchises that either go a little harder on the horror or just have a tone that feels a bit more consistent. And I think for me, Critters has a little bit of the sci-fi, has a bit of the comedy, the chaos, but for some reason it didn't feel as cohesive as other films where I've seen this be the case. And matterspect, it could work for a lot of people, just didn't fully click for me. I think that there was just so much potential, and it didn't really get fully realized. And as a result, I can see this being a movie that I'll quickly forget, unfortunately. Now, I can recognize that it's fun. I can recognize how this is like a really good comfort throw-on when you're not feeling well or you just want to feel the nostalgia. But I think it I just missed that wave. And I already have the gremlins and I have all of these other like creature feature adjacent films that serve that for me, right? That are that bouillon cube, as we like to say. So it's a decent time, it's got its moments, but not my personal pick. So for me, this is also a hack. Respectfully, though. Respectfully.

SPEAKER_03 28:23

Y'all listening real respectfully is if you're not completely disrespecting this movie's legacy, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 28:30

The two people that had never seen this movie are saying, nah, son.

SPEAKER_03 28:34

Yeah, it's giving you had to be there. And I don't know how I feel about this at all. This movie is goofy. And even if you've expected more camp, for me, it still gives camp. And it's 80s horror done right. This movie knows the strength of its concept, and it puts the critters front and center. It gives them also enough personality to become memorable beyond the plot that they're placed in. Even if you forget everything else from this movie, I'm sorry, jailbreaking critters as a fuck in subtitles is something to behold in your memory. They are cute and also ugly. I've said that a few times. Cute in the worst way, which helps make them work. They're eating machines with attitude. The more I think about the Lee Loosich parallels, the more I fall even more in love with them, quite frankly. And this movie has more going on than I remembered, which is such a great credit to it. I completely forgot about the opening premise of this movie, which is a prison break. There's also framing that gives the critters and their backstory a bigger sense of identity. And it's not just a knockoff, it's not just another creature movie where monsters show up and who knows where they came from, but now they're here and it's trouble. It has this sci-fi fugitive structure complete with bounty hunters and shape shifting and uh weird intergalactic nonsense that the movie only explains as much as it needs to. And perhaps that's something that you're gonna find if you're into. Okay, and you can maybe explore more of that franchise, but it gives itself a lot to stand on. Now it's not perfect. I'm not saying that it is. Some of the characters are way too thin. Actually, I would argue even that our center protagonist is this kid that I absolutely cannot stand. I wish the movie the franchise was would move on from him. The horror is also pretty light in some areas. The movie shows its budget and its skill levels in some areas. But Critters does not need to be sleek. It needs to be entertaining, it needs to be memorable, and it needs to commit to the premise of a creature feature. And I think it does all of those things really fucking well. On that front, and all those fronts, this movie actually delivers. Now, again, I'm not arguing that this is one of the greatest all-time horror movies. Nobody's saying that. But I'm arguing that it succeeds at being the version of itself that it wants to be. And I also would offer that the army, the US Army, used to have a motto, be all you can be and never quit. Not only is Critters the Booyon Cube of horror, it's also the be all you can be and never quit of horror. It gives iconic monsters, practical effects, a fun premise, a brisk face, and enough camp to make it all feel like Ah, okay, I get why this is such a cult classic. This is absolutely a slash, and I cannot believe the way that its good name has been slandered today. But for now, Critters has earned two hacks and one slash. Clearly, I have some defending to do when we get back from our break in just a bit. Go check this out. Preferably not on Tubi, but if you eat it free, it's on Tubi. And we'll see you in a bit.

Sean 31:49

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SPEAKER_03 34:20

But before we do that, Sean, let's do that sleigh by sleigh.

Sean 34:24

You know, it's very interesting this one because when you really look at the grand scheme of things, we have, you know, when we're if we're looking at a real body count, we have what two actual body counts. Like the rest are like we're outnumbering the crites being killed off versus actual human kills. I think we we get a bunch of deaths in this one. We start off with two right off the bat. Uh, they're killed by some crew members that were mentioned, and then oh, no, that's true. We get three Q crew members that get blown up by the Krites at the beginning. So maybe we have five total actual human or some kind of non-krite deaths outside of animals that are happening in this one. So it's an interesting kill count when you think about it.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

Hey, start with a bang, is what we say. Really introduce yourself. And we also had an animal death pretty early in the movie.

Sean 35:16

I mean, we had the cow, it was literally eaten alive off screen. He just saw it completely just just I don't know, skinned and eaten. I don't know. It was it was a gnarly shot for sure.

SPEAKER_03 35:27

It it does a good job of being ravenous.

SPEAKER_05 35:30

That's why I was like when I started to say small, I was like, hmm, not quite actually. Did forget about that large cow. I was thinking of the chickens.

Sean 35:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:39

Because the chickens are small.

Sean 35:40

Yeah, the chickens were small.

SPEAKER_05 35:42

The goldfish really was the smallest, but yeah.

Sean 35:44

Yeah, there was a whole plethora of animals that went down in this one. But yeah, so a lot of crite deaths. You have early on, you get deputy barnes. He's this is actually one of the coolest kills because he literally gets pulled underneath the the police car and eaten alive by the Krites. I mean, what what would have been great is if we got to see a little bit of the no, you're not the full-on eating alive, but you saw that just a just enough of that death, just to maybe like a limb got thrown out of there or rolled out of there, or you saw some blood spewing from outside. Like they'll give me a little bit more on that one, but I absolutely loved the theme of getting dragged under the car to be eaten alive.

SPEAKER_03 36:23

Nom nom nom.

Sean 36:25

It was good. It was good. And we get another person. Steve also gets eaten alive. Steve Elliott also gets eaten alive by Kreitz right after this.

SPEAKER_03 36:33

Listen, Steve, my boy. Long before he tore up audiences in Titanic.

Sean 36:40

Oh my god, that's so true. I totally forgot.

SPEAKER_03 36:43

He was not he was not, as it turns out, in the mummy. You're thinking of someone else. Same, same but different, and very similar faces in some points. However, what I loved here was getting to see him as a younger man in this role, obviously fulfilling the were this Halloween or Friday the 13th, they would have been stabbed through the back while they were trying to do it. And so it's like the classic setup of an 80s slasher kill, except being consumed alive.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_05 37:13

It it fits, it fits that that would happen to him in particular. It almost feels like the the typecast was set so freaking early on.

Sean 37:22

Yeah, it is true. Listen, I I we do like some of these krite deaths were actually really fun too, because right after we get through Steve, then the three chickens, right? We have the we have the showdown in the barn, and we have Brad that literally throws the firework into or at the crite who then swallows it whole and then gets blown up from the inside. Doesn't explode, takes it like a champ, you know what I mean, but slowly just peels over and dies.

SPEAKER_03 37:50

Yeah. Come on, how does this movie not win you over? Like these guys were durable, and they said, I'm gonna jump on this grenade. Not only will I jump on it, I'm gonna eat it. And I'm gonna I'm gonna just take it for the team. As they say, Darling, I would eat a grenade for you. Yeah, yeah. Now we just need to get critters and do our own subtitles for it. It's that's gonna be the next fucking piece. However, uh Firecrackers, Molotov cocktail, exploding ships. Yeah, like what I love about this movie and and the increasing ways that we see the critters go, because holy shit, they get smattered. The movie does not treat them like sacred little monsters, which I really appreciate. They are nasty criminals. Nasty, nasty, nasty, and they get very creative with their deaths.

Sean 38:41

Yeah. They definitely do. They definitely do. Yeah, a lot of these deaths with these crites took it like they got the firework Jay shooting one with a shotgun. You've got one getting crushed underneath this ceiling fan that's knocked down by or shot down by Brad as well. So, like you've got some really good stuff there. And then a lot of, yeah, just more like getting shot up or shot with a with a cannon, like a space cannon of some kind, you know. That that was kind of fun. And then we finally get introduced to this giant crite, right? The giant one that maybe just I don't know, maybe that's already like always big, or did they eat too much? I don't know. Like, did they they get bigger when they eat? I don't know, something like I don't know. I was trying to figure it out, but this giant crite was big and it got blown up by a Molotov cocktail, like you were mentioning, Chris. And I think that, yeah, obviously, really fun. We're just throwing Molotov cocktails at the end of this, like we're in GTA 5. I don't know. That's wild.

SPEAKER_03 39:36

Thinking about GTA when you said Molotov. I don't know why I didn't click when I said it, but I was thinking even far back from GTA 5, the original couple Grand Theft Autos that were top-down, like fucking pixelated shit on the PC. And I just remember like chucking fucking Molotovs. That and the Uzies, two big two best weapons.

Sean 40:00

So good.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

Oh my god. Iconic.

Sean 40:04

Yeah, they're great. So yeah, you it the movie ends with the Molotov cocktail. The giant Krites gets taken down by a Molotov cocktail, three more Krites get taken down by Molotov cocktails, and so that's how we wrap up this movie and this kill count is with all of these Molotov cocktails. It was, it was, it went out with a bang, to say the least, for sure. It definitely went out with a bang, but it definitely the Kreites deaths outweighed the human or whatever other Krite deaths out of there. There was like only five total deaths outside of the what, like almost 11, 12, 13 krite deaths that we got. Wow.

SPEAKER_05 40:40

As it turns out, the Kreitz, there was many of them, but many did take hits.

Sean 40:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

Bad in the body count.

Sean 40:46

I mean, yeah, it's true. But then and so that's kind of what I feel like was to your point, you know, when we go through this whole spiel of like the crites of the critters are the bouillon cubes. That's what elevated this movie. It was the practical effects of these things. That's is the answer. It's the the puppetry, the rolling rigs, the animatronic faces, the glowing eyes, the teeth work. The crites feel tactile, they feel gross in a way that CGI could never make it right. You know what I mean? It could never make these things come to life the right way. The practical creature work is probably one of the most consistently praised aspects. Whether you're a fan of this one or just coming into it decades later, it's just, it's, it's even when the mechanics are visible, it still adds charm. So, like the practical effects are the highlight of this movie.

SPEAKER_03 41:34

I feel like someone is gonna feel so disrespected when they learn that all this work they put into these nasty little critters just to be reduced to a buoyant cube on this episode.

Sean 41:48

No, there's so much that goes into the Buoyan cube, you know, that takes so much work to condense that much flavor into one little cube. You should feel very proud of the work that you did because you're the only thing that has flavor in this movie.

SPEAKER_05 42:01

Exactly. I want to be clear, I thought that analogy was frickin' solid. That's great. Who doesn't?

SPEAKER_03 42:08

I was honestly just like whipping that shit out in a little bit of a six-date in a half-baked idea, but I'm glad it landed. Did not think it was gonna continue to be referenced here.

SPEAKER_05 42:18

No, it is because I mean two out of the three of us are not doing well, and quite frankly, I could use a booyang cube too. Like now I need chicken soup stats. So honestly, maybe this is gonna by the end of the episode, if we keep saying Booyang Cube and chicken soup, I might just slash it for the sake of it being a really good advertisement for this meal.

SPEAKER_03 42:38

So it's chicken soup for the broken millennial soul. There it is. There it is in this economy with gas, these prices, you can't afford Sean's kitchen soup. You need a you need a bouillon cube, you need a booyan cubes worth in a dose of joy, and that's what critters give. The teeth, the fur, the eyes, bless a Kyoto brothers, fucking stellar work all around.

SPEAKER_05 43:06

Look, at the end of the day, I'm gonna remember these critters and the look. The rest of the movie, I don't know about all that, but the critters themselves, a thousand percent. I couldn't have said it better.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

I I do want to acknowledge for just a moment, because obviously these these critters look amazing, and there's so much for you to learn when you look into the puppetry of the critters and the crites overall, the rolling that they did. Like there's so much love that got poured into every aspect of this movie from its production. And I think it's incredible to see what they're able to deliver despite the relative youth of the casting crew on top of the budget constraints that they had for this movie in a post Gremlins world. That's crazy to me. However, the setting for this movie again, I think allows the crits to shine because. You have this onslaught of people. But imagine what this movie would have been if it was the critters take Manhattan. Maybe it would have been badass and great. Like sure. But that could have just been a lot more fucking chaotic, a lot more difficult to navigate in terms of production. But this being an isolated family in a farmhouse almost works because it is a very sci-fi playful approach. Even on like Night of the Living Dead, it is a legitimate siege by these things. And then you have the bounty hunters that come into it. What I appreciate about this is that it the house as like this survival space becomes way more interesting to me as an adult watching this. I never once considered that in the past because all the attention's on the critters. But the choice of where to put this, especially because it's so connected to what we all think of with sci-fi, aliens crash landing in Earth, crop circles. You think about Superman landing in rural America from the planet Krypton. So it's just a deeply nostalgic and familiar setting, but it works so well.

Sean 45:06

Fair enough for sure. It definitely does. There were some really key standout moments in this movie. I want to start with early on in the film, like very early on, when we're introduced to these bounty hunters and the whole transformation scene. It was kind of a cool concept. That the whole faceless bounty hunters, and then they're turning in, like the one dude turns into the rocker dude from the one song that we have in the movie, the power of the night, you know, but he's got to be that rocker. Because of course he has to turn into the one guy that sings the one song in the whole movie. But it was cool, like just to see the whole transformation of that, how it kind of went from like reverse into transform into transformation into this dude's face. You've got the skeleton, the blood, the the you know, like the muscles and all that stuff going into then the skin coming on, and then it was, yeah, it was just that reverse build that was kind of awesome.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

There is a hilarious bit in the sequel where one of the bounty hunters is turned into this like a beautiful blonde woman, and as this bounty hunter is engaging other people, they start to morph into the worst possible scenario. So, one example is this annoying character from Grease 2 who's in the sequel. And then this character has to be like, please don't, and it's fucking hilarious. Like, I I I actually do love the morphing mechanic. Mighty Morphin bounty hunters.

Sean 46:42

Mighty Morphin bounty hunters.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

But this is what I was saying, because I thought that they were kind of cool, but they were a little out of left field. Left field in the sense of like they felt like if this was a potential spin-off of some kind that could have been fun or maybe a little bit more realized. Like I found them entertaining in their own way, but still not enough where like I could remember them long term. The whole bit of them being rock stars and all that was fun, but every so often when we would go back to them, I was like, Oh, that's right. They're in this movie and they're chasing them down.

Sean 47:16

Yeah, we needed more. We needed more bounty hunter action, right?

SPEAKER_03 47:19

Listen, it's the Galactic Federation coming back for 626.

Sean 47:23

Yeah, we just needed more of that presence. Like it we got some some fun scenes with them, but yeah, I I agree with you, Binks. Like every time we went back to them, we're like, oh yeah, this is a thing. This is okay, cool. Where are we going with it? It's not till like they get to the farm that it we're like actually seeing some action, but I kind of want to, I was here for like more of that early on, you know. Give me some more of that action early on. So yeah, I'd I agree with you on that. I gotta also just give it up for the porch critters in this one because the porch critters that was a moment for me where I was like, okay, I kind of like the personality that these critters have. You know, they're literally sitting on the porch, and I think one of them literally says, Oh, they have weapons in the subtitles, and the other one's like, so what? And then they get blasted with the shotgun. It was just like a perfect kind of like slapstick type comedy moment that just had me chuckling a little bit, and that's when it really stood out the personality that we were talking about with these critters that stands out so much.

SPEAKER_03 48:21

The personality is so palpable in so many areas of this movie, and that's where it honestly even takes me back just to the beginning. I know I've I've mentioned a few times that this movie opens up with a prison break, but what I love here specifically is this taking on the introduction of a history of the Kreitz. So you already immediately have an understanding that these little bastards are not to be contended with or dealt with in any way. Just lock them up. And it's also wild because when it starts, it's almost unclear how they're quantifying or or discussing what these things are. And because you would think, okay, there's too many of them, so we gotta kill her few so that the food would last longer. So it's okay, maybe this isn't that much of a threat. And then as you get uh just mere moments into that scene, you think, oh no, they're actually escaping. This is actually a big fucking deal and a big problem, which I really, really appreciate. And I think it again, like it sets the movie up to make it feel bigger, it gives it almost like a comic book quality to it. It it gives like a strong frame for the narrative, and I really, really appreciate that. It also helps the bounty hunters feel way less fucking random.

SPEAKER_05 49:37

That's fair. That's fair. But that being said, and you've kind of swayed me a bit on like how important the setting is in a way that I hadn't truly considered because we've talked a bit about characters in general and how like a lot just felt kind of forgettable in a sense. Maybe there just wasn't fully fleshed out, at least to what seems to be like Sean and I. But for what was captured this essence of rural America, like you've been talking about, I felt like it was just pretty basic, like standard. I think that I would have loved to have seen a little bit more conflict within the family a bit, like a little bit more of a dynamic that felt very rushed. Also, in general, the family members felt very confusing. I didn't know who was who at one point very early on, like the first five or ten minutes or so. But it is a part of America that I definitely don't like relate to or know much of. So when I see it on screen, I'm kind of like, well, why are you looking at me like that face? Hylian's ruling America.

SPEAKER_03 50:36

Did you like work in Iowa for a while?

SPEAKER_05 50:39

No, I that was a week at Iowa State. Also, it's Iowa State.

Sean 50:43

It's the most happening part of Iowa.

SPEAKER_03 50:45

Anyway, it's crazy.

Sean 50:46

Midwest shit is what's great slipknot album as well, Iowa. There you go. There's a lot of good uh good stuff coming out of Iowa there.

SPEAKER_03 50:53

What I'm saying is, Banks, you are familiar with the Midwest.

SPEAKER_05 50:56

Yes, to be honest with you, like the Midwest that I know is still pretty suburban. That's the Midwest that I know. Because think about it. When I traveled, I was working at universities and colleges. You know, some levels, if there were students or like there or the populations that were attending these colleges already had some level of middle class society level, right, or wealth to have even accessed this that kind of level of education. So although, yeah, maybe there were there was like a cornfield outside of the sorority house in Idaho, like or Iowa State specifically. And also technically also funny enough, Washington State as well. I don't know. It's not like I oh, and I guess I did drive through a ton of hay barrels. That's what I learned what a hay barrel was. But I don't know. Like I just didn't get to meet people that I would have thought were a part of families that were constructed in movies like this. That's why I find movies that are based in rural America or whatever compelling because I just don't know too much about it, right? I I I'm curious about what those dynamics are and like what day-to-day would look like, the pearl of it all, you know?

SPEAKER_03 52:02

Meanwhile, I spent what felt like a significant portion of my youth in East Texas in the rural countryside. And that was enough for me. Thanks.

Sean 52:12

Man, uh give me more Emmett Walsh in this movie, though. Give me Harv, the the sheriff of the town that just feels like he doesn't give a shit about what's going on. This guy did absolutely nothing, but also added absolutely everything. I loved Emmett Walsh's Harv in this movie. He, I don't know, there's just something about his attitude that I it sounds like he's to me even that different in a lot of movies that he's in, but he is just a character and I love to see it.

SPEAKER_03 52:40

Who I loved to see and actually appreciated more, granted, the binge of the franchise after was Charlie. I actually really love that Charlie, who starts out as a town drunk in a local joke, has this almost crazy Ralph energy to him from Friday the 13th.

SPEAKER_04 52:56

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:57

His belief in the alien contact makes him seem so ridiculous to everyone around him. But the movie energy proves that he's closer to the truth than people realize. And his journey is one that I find super wholesome when we see what his fate is and him reappear in the sequel. I was like, oh, damn, Charlie, I didn't give a fuck about you in my childhood watching this movie, but now like I'm I'm a fan. Give me more Charlie, less Brad, honestly.

Sean 53:28

That's great. I didn't even realize Lynn Shea was in this movie. How did I miss that?

SPEAKER_03 53:33

My guy, this franchise is stacked.

Sean 53:35

What in the holy hell? I have to now I have to like just skim through this movie again just to see because I don't even remember her as a character in this movie. We talked about how much we kind of like the bounty hunter concept in this movie. Let me ask you, like, would you that just seems like it's such an interesting gig. Would you want to be a bounty hunter in space? Would you want to be hunting things like these critters down? Would that be a gig that you would pick up? What are you doing in deep space?

SPEAKER_03 54:02

Okay, well, here's the thing for me. Am I down to hunt the critters or imprison the critters? You know what I mean? Like that's a little tough. I think you could ask a similar question if you're to watch The Mandalorian. Are you just bringing these people into custody or what's up? However, if these critters are like roaches, oh, I can handle that. I got it. I'm happy to I'm happy to do it. But I think where I would personally struggle is think about the fact that these are sentient creatures. And not only are they sentient creatures, and okay, obviously they the scale of like a roach to a fucking criminal. I mean, what's the critter's story? We know they're nasty little bastards, but also are they victims of a system? I don't know, who knows, right? Like maybe these critters have families that they're relying on. I don't know enough about the critters to say whether or not I would be totally down to clown and actually kill them. That's insane. If they're invading my planet, yeah, okay. But to be in space and to be bouncing around, not only trying to contain these things, but then also being okay to just like bam bam, pow pow. I don't know, dog. I don't know. Because also they're pretty fucking funny.

Sean 55:13

So you're trying to hang out with these critters.

SPEAKER_03 55:16

I took this way too seriously. My brain is too literal for this.

Sean 55:19

Yeah, I mean, it doesn't even have to be the critters, you know, but just in general, do you want would you want to be like a space bounty hunter? You know, it could be you could be thinking from the Mandalorian type of angle, you could be thinking of these bounty hunters, you could just be a bounty hunter that's going after any kind of space invader, as it were.

SPEAKER_05 55:38

Well, then in that case, yes, because the outfits would be really cool. And just the overall vibe.

SPEAKER_00 55:44

Yeah, it'd be fun. You know, it'd be fun.

SPEAKER_05 55:46

I feel like it'd be cool to be a badass. But then, Chris, you framed it as if we were like orc in pest control, and that that changes things.

Sean 55:54

We're space poachers at that point. It's a fun concept, nonetheless. I do think overall, I think this movie I did a lot of really fun stuff with the practical effects, the attitude of the of the Krites and the critters, I think was good. But for me, I just think that the missed opportunity was the chance to to make these critters go a little bit harder in the paint, make them a little bit more evil. They definitely are edgier. If you're someone that hasn't seen this and has seen Gremlins or something like that, this is definitely an edgier take on some of these little kind of creature feature critter things. But I wanted to wanted this movie to almost take that opportunity and run with it.

SPEAKER_05 56:34

Yeah, I'm with you on that. And I think that in addition to it, it has these like several sub-genres and tones that it's playing with, but all of them don't kind of get cranked up enough to keep it overall entertaining and memorable as a whole, rather than just it being memorable for just the critters, right? Like I dead ass, I walked into this thinking like, could this be like leprechaun energy, like leprechaun in space type shit? Or could this be with like a smidge of gremlins? Like, I thought it was going to be ridiculous, like funny, funny, ridiculous. I was actually ready and preparing myself saying, Bianca, we're going to start liking camp more. And then it wasn't quite that, but it also just wasn't my overall entertainment value that I needed for a creature feature. Because those are that already is something that I don't usually consume.

SPEAKER_03 57:29

So what fucks me up about this Binx is that you spoke more highly of the original Ginger Dead Men than critters. That is crazy work. And not something that is.

SPEAKER_00 57:41

Gary Bucey, Gary Busey, you know?

SPEAKER_03 57:43

Nah, he he offered nothing. Before I give you what is the worst part of this movie, the thing for me, when I consider like the whole scope of the experience here, is how stacked the cast is. Again, I'm just gonna run through a couple samples here, right? We have D Wallace in this movie, iconic Scream Queen D. Wallace, Lynche, and Billy Zane. Very true. Critters 2, the main course, you have Lyn Che. You also have this guy from Greece 2. Critters 3, you have Leonardo DiCaprio, and then you also have in Critters 4, Brad Duriff. And then in Crit in Critter's Attack from 2019, you have D. Wallace making a comeback.

Sean 58:26

2019?

SPEAKER_03 58:28

2019.

Sean 58:29

There's oh my gosh. Is there anything past 2019?

SPEAKER_03 58:33

Not yet. No.

Sean 58:34

There is not anything past getting a 2027 Critters release here. What's going on?

SPEAKER_03 58:39

Bro, there's actually a white alien crite in Critter's Attack named Bianca. So we're gonna get there. Nice. It was gonna be great. But what I have listed here are just a few shining stars that are peppered in the cast in each film. So there's something to really watch for here, but the humans continue to be the worst part of this franchise for me. In the similar way that in Tremors, I didn't love the people in the original Tremors, and they kind of won me over in Tremors 2. That is where I'm at with this franchise. The critters do all the heavy lifting, and it makes it very difficult for me to sit through anything where a critter is not on screen, so I don't I don't really care about the characters, aside from a couple of sterling performances. Now, what I will say is despite this movie's flaws and its weaker parts with its characters, the critters are funny enough as a character to make this a great group watch. The next time I watch this, I want to watch it with other people because I think this is best enjoyed among friends and not in a singular vacuum.

Sean 59:43

That's what I'm saying. It's a beer and friends kind of film, you know. You just it's a it's one of those movies you have fun with that you want to crack open some some drinks, some cold ones, have some popcorn, make fun of it, have fun with it, whatever it is. It's just that kind of vibe for sure. It's just the problem is that I don't know. I maybe wasn't the right time, maybe you gotta watch it again, give it another shake, but I just don't think it's not like when I think of like wanting to watch something like this, that I don't feel like this is gonna be the one that I think of. I will maybe give the rest of the franchise, you know, a chance and see like what happens in the second and the third one and go from there. But yeah, I don't know. I don't know if or when I will watch this one again. We'll see.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:24

Yeah. If I were to continue at least watching films in this franchise, it's more of like what famous person will show up next, clearly, because Cast is stacked. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:36

Next week on Critters. It's giving that previously on critters.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:41

Right now I just don't know. I don't know if I would go out of my way to to click this one. I've got my, you know, like my comfort watches and creature feature once, although very small and very limited. Um, I've got them secured.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:54

And that's what you missed on critters. And listen, that's it's fair. I get it. I think you both will find love for this franchise the further we go in. It gets goofy, it gets a little it gets a little dumb. But I think there's more critters on the table to be had. And maybe what needs to happen is when we revisit this, we do it in a watch party with our friends so that you can have the joy of a group watch to really help you earn the favor of this film. But for now, there you have it, folks. Critters has earned unbelievably here, honestly, two hacks and one slash. Now we certainly had a robust discussion here, but the conversation doesn't end here by any means.

Sean 1:01:35

Yeah, if you want to find out how you can get on our spaceship and explore even more of the podcast, check out patreon.com slash hacker slash. Maybe check out our subreddit. This is where you can enjoy even more of the show, including bonus content with early access, extended episodes with our B sides, movie nominations, and live shows.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:56

See you next time, folks, and remember, no movies for two weeks.