Critters (1986)

Director: Stephen Herek

Writers: Domonic Muir, Stephen Herek, Don Keith Opper

Composer: David Newman

Starring: Dee Wallace, M. Emmet Walsh, Billy Green Bush, Scott Grimes, Nadine Van der Velde, Don Keith OPper, Bily Zane, Ethan Phillips, Terrence Mann, Jeremy Lawrence, Lin Shaye

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The original tasty entree!

Plot: A race of small, furry aliens make lunch out of the locals in a farming town.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

After having seen CRITTERS 4 (1992), the one in space, and then finally watching this one (it's OK) I really wasn't going to watch the second or third one...that is until I watched the trailer for the first sequel and saw who was in it.  That's one of the draws to the films in this series, the cast.  There are some great character actors (not always doing great work mind you...did you see CRITTERS 4?) and it's fun to people like Billy Zane in early roles (it's his second).  The critter design is great and I love it when they role.  Don't expect much gore but this answer to the very popular GREMLINS (1984) has a certain level of fun.  Besides the cast the camp factor mixed with a little genuine horror elevates this above what you'd expect.  I rather liked it but I don't think I'll need to see it again.  If I'm at a party and it's on, sure, I'll laugh along with.  Film music fans will dig that it's David Newman's first feature score and it's right after he did the excellent FRANKENWEENIE (1984) short for Tim Burton.  I'm a big fan of Newman and his music.
The New Line DVD (I've got the one in the 4 Film Favorites DVD set with the first 4 Critters films) has the trailer for this film and trailers for the 3 sequels and they're all anamorphic widescreen!!!.  Unfortunately that's it for any bonus features.