Critters 4

During my childhood time I have seen the first three "Critters" movies and enjoyed 'em.They were fun and entertaining horror comedies perfect for adventurous horror loving kids.I have never seen "Critters 4",so I finally decided to check it out.My verdict:forgettable and pretty bad flick with strikingly low body count.The script by Joseph Lyle and David J. Schow is both predictable & clichéd,the plot rips off "Alien" and "Star Wars" and the sets look bland and murky.The tone of the film appears to be deadly serious throughout making it slow and dull."Critters 4" was apparently so low budget that the filmmakers couldn't afford any optical effects;the ones taken from "Android" look seriously dated.4 out of 10.One to avoid.

Yes, those nasty killer rolling fur-balls did technically come from space, so seeing them back there isn't that much of a stretch. However, it does just seem like a bit of a gimmick by the film-makers to try and keep a – slightly – tired horror film franchise going.

Critters 4 was made back to back with Critters 3 (a fact that you'll probably have guessed if you watched the 'in-credits' scene that preceded Marvel's in-credits scenes by nearly twenty years), therefore it does follow on perfectly. The last of the Crites' eggs are sent up into space, but naturally they hatch and cause mayhem. Basically, if you've seen one 'monster-on-a-spaceship' film made after 'Alien' then it's basically like this. Or, another way to describe it would be a 'slasher/monster film in space.' You have a load of disposable characters who are there to be killed off by the escaped Crites, a few that you're supposed to care about (but probably don't!) and Charlie – the only major character who's been in all four movies (and this time he's been given top billing!). He's just about the only person you'll care about, as he's from 'our' time and is even more of a fish out of water in space than he is on Earth. However, one good actor can't really help how mundane the overall package is. It just feels rather cheap overall. The sets all look – well – like a set! And I read online that some of the external shots of space and spaceships have been reused from a previous sci-fi movie.

As I've said, if you've seen any monster-in-space film made after 'Alien' then you'll probably have seen this, or better, as it will give you all you need to know about the genre. The kills aren't much to write home about and long time fans of the franchise may disapprove of the way they've changed one of the other long-running characters (or was that just me?). If you love the Critters franchise that much, you may like this. I own it because I have the four disc DVD box set, so I kind of watch it out of duty when I've already seen the first two (same could be said for the third, but this one doesn't even have Leo as a kid to laugh at).

At this point the CRITTERS series has pretty much lost its flare, this entry seemed to have taken itself more seriously because there was virtually no humor where the other films each had a fair share, the Crites never once shoot their trademark darts so the writers seem to have forgotten to add that small little detail and there is very little excitement because there's barely anything that happens.

On the plus side the acting was good all around and the script wasn't exactly terrible but the fact that this film leaves out certain key elements like I mentioned before is probably the film's biggest downfall, because for a film that has three others to live up to, this was rather disappointing.

The only thing that kept the film from being a total waste was the good performances by the cast, its not a bad movie and its mainly and okay entry but fails to reach any of the previous films due to the fact that several notable elements were left out.

Angela Bassett and Brad Dourif join Leo DiCaprio in the short list of Oscar-nominated actors to have played second fiddle to the Chiodo Brothers' crap Critter hand-puppets; in this fourth outing for the voracious extraterrestrial fur-balls, Bassett and Dourif play part of the crew of a deep space salvage craft who retrieve a cryogenic pod containing the last two surviving Krite eggs (and Charlie the bounty hunter, once again played by Don Opper). When the pod is opened, the eggs hatch and the aliens go on the rampage.

Krites causing chaos in outer space could have made for a lot of fun, but rather than continue with the camp, B-movie spirit established over the first three Critters films, this effort goes for a much more sober style—something akin to Ridley Scott's Alien (but on a much lower budget).

This approach results in countless scenes of characters wandering down dark corridors littered with ducts and vents from where the toothy creatures might launch an attack, but while this might work wonders when the monsters are truly the stuff of nightmares (like H.R. Giger's genuinely terrifying xenomorph from Alien), the effect isn't anywhere near as effective when the threat is from dumb looking hedgehogs with naff glowing eyes. In the end, Critters 4 is far from scary, never funny, and ultimately very tedious.

Now this isn't saying much but this is actually better then part 3 in some way. The story takes place in space (finally) as it stars some great actors like Angela Bassett, Brad Dourif and the same actors from 1,2 and 3 Don Opper and Terrence Mann. Now the Critters acted really silly in 2 and 3 but in 4 they reduce the silliness and make them serious. But its a bit awful in a way. The actors at some moments say some bad acting and at moments the Critter puppets look really cheap. But I still enjoyed this movie and thats where the Critters Franchise finishes. They kind of finished the series good but not that good. And thats all I've got to say. So thank you for reading all my Critters reviews and I hope to for some more reviews for you guys to read.