Review #998: 'Critters 4' (1992)

It seems that there is an unwritten rule when it comes to horror franchises that are teetering dangerously on the edge of bargain-bin hell. When the basic premise has been stretched so far that it is well past the line of self-parody, just transport the action to space. The Hellraiser franchise did it, the Friday the 13th films came to an embarrassing end with Jason X (2001), and even the Leprechaun series tried it, all to no avail. With the charm of the crites, or 'critters', all but disappearing by the time Critters 2 (1988) came around, it was never going to be long until the red-eyed killer pillows found themselves drifting through the cosmos.

We were given a brief glimpse at the next instalment at the end of Critters 3 (1991), which was shot back-to-back with number 4, as the recurring, hapless bounty hunter Charlie (Don Keith Opper) found himself face-to-face with the last remaining crite eggs but halted from exterminating them by his alien friend Ug (Terrence Mann). It is against intergalactic law to cause a species' extinction and so Charlie is ordered to place the eggs in a preservation capsule but manages to stumble into it himself, and they are blasted off into space where they float around for 50 years. Luckily, or unluckily, for Charlie, he is found by a junk ship who are ordered by the Intergalactic Council to take their prize load to a nearby station to await further instruction.

It is here that the crew of archetypes spend the bulk of the film bickering amongst themselves, and the film takes its sweet time for douchebag captain Rick (Anders Hove) to finally lose the plot and open their cargo, unleashing the crites on the unsuspecting bunch. Wasting an impressive cast that includes Angela Bassett, Brad Dourif and Twin Peaks' Eric DaRe, Critters 4 is just plain boring for the most part. With the crites themselves barely registering until the climax, the film stumbles around looking for interesting sub-plots to distinguish its characters but ultimately, like most movies of its ilk, ends up just ripping-off Ridley Scott's Alien (1979). A whimpering end to the Critters franchise that arguably should have ended two movies ago, although I'm sure a Hollywood remake is inevitable.


Directed by: Rupert Harvey
Starring: Don Keith Opper, Terrence Mann, Paul Whitthorne, Angela Bassett, Brad Dourif, Anders Hove, Eric DaRe
Country: USA

Rating: *

Tom Gillespie