Critters 2 (1988)

Eggs of the small, furry alien carnivores are left behind on Earth and, after hatching, again set their appetites on the town of Grover's Bend.

Director:

Mick Garris

Writers:

David Twohy (as D.T. Twohy), Mick Garris

Stars:

Scott Grimes, Liane Curtis, Terrence Mann

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Terrence Mann	...	Ug
Don Keith Opper	...	Charlie (as Don Opper)
Cynthia Garris	...	Zanti
Scott Grimes	...	Brad
Al Stevenson	...	Bus Driver
Tom Hodges	...	Wesley
Douglas Rowe	...	Quigley
Liane Curtis	...	Megan
Lindsay Parker	...	Cindy
Herta Ware	...	Nana
Sam Anderson	...	Mr. Morgan
Lin Shaye	...	Sal
Barry Corbin	...	Harv
Eddie Deezen	...	Hungry Heifer Manager
Frank Birney	...	Reverend Fisher

Storyline

A batch of unhatched critter eggs are mistaken for Easter eggs by the country-folk inhabitants of Grover's Bend and, before long, the ferocious furballs are on the rampage again.

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Plot Keywords:

egg | easter | outer space | second part | shape shifter | 

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Taglines:

Get ready for seconds... they're back!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG-13

Did You Know?

Trivia

The props they use for the eggs are Sugar Apples.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 8 mins) When the Critters are rolling together to the Polar Ice Burger, you can see in several shots that the furry balls are connected together to some device pulling them all along (there are often visible wires).

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Quotes

Hungry Heifer PA system: At the Hungry Heifer, we won't give you a bum steer.

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Crazy Credits

Critter translation is provided by the Karl P Anno institute of intergalactic semantic research

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Alternate Versions

The scenes are based on the screenplay even in the first 2 drafts. After the opening sequence, during the bus-driver scene where Brad is on his way to Grover's Bend from the big city to visit her, the bus driver describes the critters as smurfs and what they do. When Megan picked up Brad after an attempt fight with Wesley, Brad explains to Meg that he could had hurt him pretty bad. Megan doesn't think so, yet Brad does know about karate as he explains a bit more. Once Quigley left the store for a bit when Nana did business buying some eggs, the leftover eggs by the heater hatch as baby critters are out as we see from the POV when Chili dog is sniffing it. He barks at it, then cuts to the store sign with the dog yelping. The ladies at the church are helping out putting easter eggs by the yard of the church, then when the ladies with Nana are done she exclaims "what a beautiful day". Cindy is secretly carrying an easter basket as she was hidden as shes hunt for a small bit of eggs before the services to cheat kind of. However, a baby critter has hatched and is searching around from POV. During the Easter morning church scene, after that "resurrect your church going habits" scene Wesley the punk drives then stops in front of the church to attend just to see Megan. He picks out flowers from the garden in front of the church, he goes in to give them to her during services as he sits down to enjoy the sermon with her but her father doesn't want his arm around her. Alternate/deleted scene of the famous Lee scene as our bounty hunter heroes arrive in the fields as Charlie finds the playboy magazine, Ug and his faceless partner Lee sees what Charlie is reading. Ug ask Lee to transform as he/she/it does just that, as Charlie pleads not to have Lee change into him as he uses magazine to defend, Lee transforms into the beautiful blonde playboy centerfold. Ug looks at Lee all surprised, Lee has eyes open as "she" feels face then "her" body with a surprise look on her face with jaw dropped. Charlie is smiling at her, holding the playboy centerfold with staple shining in the sun then Charlie stares at her like he is in love. Lee pulls out the staple and confirms "body fit" as Lee wanted a female form this whole time. Charlie agrees saying "body fit alright" as he smiles implying he has a crush on her the whole time in this movie in the centerfold form, then Lee says a more feminine softer less tough-sounding "Kill Krites" yet walks away with clothes/cape on instead of being nude, Charlie says "Hey guys, wait up". When everyone gathers in town in try to stop the critters, Wesley and Brad stop to a gas station to fill tanks with gasoline as they look at each other to forgive about the bad things they did. Finally for the finale, as morning has come with everyone repairing the town Brad and Megan are talking to each other about him going back to the big city and she wonders if he has a girlfriend. Including talk on the next time he'll visit Grover's Bend.

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Connections

Referenced in The House That Freddy Built (2006)

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Soundtracks

Frauline
Performed by Love Hate
Published by New Line Music Corp./BMI
Swade Publishing

User Reviews

CRITTERS 2: THE MAIN COURSE

"CRITTERS 2: THE MAIN COURSE" (1988, Garris) is the direct sequel to "CRITTERS" (1986, Herek) and although it ramps up the Krite action it is too pastel-coloured and whimsical to outdo the original in dark humour and horror, despite Garris's aim to make it scarier than its predecessor.

The Krites, while more present and certainly more destructive, are not as well made as the original bunch that laid them. The damage they do, while farther reaching than in '86, is numbed by the nursery-wall colour scheme and rather weak score.

Good to see various cast members reprise their roles, great to see Krite puppets in droves, and a fun watch overall.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 April 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Critters 2: The Main Course

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,898,751, 1 May 1988

Gross USA:

$3,813,293

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,813,293

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Sho Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1