"CRITTERS: ATTACK" (2019, Miller) deserves plaudits in not substituting the puppets that the fans wanted for CGI Krites (although there are a couple of CGI moments elsewhere in the film and they're poor) and the gore effects are better than those in its predecessors.
"CRITTERS" (1986, Herek) was the top of a big pile of "GREMLINS" (1984, Dante) -like films and boasted very good puppets, a good plot, good effects, decent directing, a good cast, and plenty of darkly funny moments. Don Opper and Terrence Mann reprised their roles in the three follow ups and all four films are dramatically different from one another in many ways.
"CRITTERS: ATTACK" isn't CRITTERS 5, it's not a remake of CRITTERS either, it's a reboot. That fact gave the filmmakers the freedom to break away from the well established Krite lore and inject some new ideas into the mix- a bad idea, really.
First of all the Queen Krite. The one thing the franchise never had was its own Gizmo and it never should have had one, but now it has a Gizmo. Making the evil Krites all male is not clever, funny, sensible or meaningful in any way in fact, it raises a lot of questions.
Secondly the baby Krites spawning in a human body before popping out and growing into Krites, who asked for that? Also it conjures up images of Mogwai and Gremlin reproduction. So another imitation that shouldn't have been.
Thirdly sound kills them now? So they stopped short of having death by sunlight and opted for an "ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES" (1978, De Bello) deal? Hmm.
Dee Wallace Stone's appearance was not nice. Firstly she has a heart sinkingly corny entrance, secondly she smiles at the sight of people being massacred in front of her, and thirdly she just isn't a bounty hunter despite professing so (everyone, a bounty hunter hunts for a bounty (money). No one offered a payout for killing the Krites here. Unfortunately the term bounty hunter has been wrongly applied...).
The directing is slow and often lingers uncomfortably on the most boring moments or poorly acted scenes. The script is not good. Neither is the story. The acting is bad all round and this film might break new ground when it comes to poor decision making by characters in a film (new but not good ground).
The music is bland, like stock music, which is unfortunate because horror needs effective music.
That being said the Krites (although strangely large) are still puppets and it was nice to see the big critter-ball roll back in. There are some funny moments involving the Krites too. In that respect it is true to the forerunners and the fans.
In short it's a film that completely lacks direction and creativity. I am glad that there's a Krite revival going on now though and I hope something great comes of it.
"CRITTERS" (1986, Herek) was the top of a big pile of "GREMLINS" (1984, Dante) -like films and boasted very good puppets, a good plot, good effects, decent directing, a good cast, and plenty of darkly funny moments. Don Opper and Terrence Mann reprised their roles in the three follow ups and all four films are dramatically different from one another in many ways.
"CRITTERS: ATTACK" isn't CRITTERS 5, it's not a remake of CRITTERS either, it's a reboot. That fact gave the filmmakers the freedom to break away from the well established Krite lore and inject some new ideas into the mix- a bad idea, really.
First of all the Queen Krite. The one thing the franchise never had was its own Gizmo and it never should have had one, but now it has a Gizmo. Making the evil Krites all male is not clever, funny, sensible or meaningful in any way in fact, it raises a lot of questions.
Secondly the baby Krites spawning in a human body before popping out and growing into Krites, who asked for that? Also it conjures up images of Mogwai and Gremlin reproduction. So another imitation that shouldn't have been.
Thirdly sound kills them now? So they stopped short of having death by sunlight and opted for an "ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES" (1978, De Bello) deal? Hmm.
Dee Wallace Stone's appearance was not nice. Firstly she has a heart sinkingly corny entrance, secondly she smiles at the sight of people being massacred in front of her, and thirdly she just isn't a bounty hunter despite professing so (everyone, a bounty hunter hunts for a bounty (money). No one offered a payout for killing the Krites here. Unfortunately the term bounty hunter has been wrongly applied...).
The directing is slow and often lingers uncomfortably on the most boring moments or poorly acted scenes. The script is not good. Neither is the story. The acting is bad all round and this film might break new ground when it comes to poor decision making by characters in a film (new but not good ground).
The music is bland, like stock music, which is unfortunate because horror needs effective music.
That being said the Krites (although strangely large) are still puppets and it was nice to see the big critter-ball roll back in. There are some funny moments involving the Krites too. In that respect it is true to the forerunners and the fans.
In short it's a film that completely lacks direction and creativity. I am glad that there's a Krite revival going on now though and I hope something great comes of it.