Joins Night Of The Creeps as my favourite cult movie of 1986 as some nasty alien furballs called "Krites" escape from an outer space prison planet and end-up landing on Earth in the small town of Grover's Bend looking to eat.

Hot on their trail are a pair of shape shifting bounty hunters (one takes the form of a popular rock star, the other the local priest) who have to help farming family the Browns (Dee Wallace Stone, Billy Green Bush, etc.) when the critters invade their quiet country house.

This campy horror/sci-fi from New Line Cinema marked the directing debut of Stephen Herek (who would later go on to many Hollywood movies such as Mr. Holland's Opus and, most recently, the stinker Life Or Something Like It) and he's crafted an entertaining B-movie that has a quirky small town feel mixed with some amusing comedy (I personally like the "they have weapons" part and when the Critters cause general mayhem in the house), a bit of blood, some cool title creatures created by the Chiodo Brothers (of Killer Klowns From Outer Space fame), and a more horror tone than any of the sequels managed to have.

If you're looking for an evening of charmingly goofy horror fun then this is a great bet.

Followed by three sequels. (Chris Hartley, 2/19/05)

Directed By: Stephen Herek.
Written By: Stephen Herek, Domonic Muir.

Starring: Dee Wallace Stone, M. Emmet Walsh, Billy Green Bush, Scott Grimes.