Critters 2 - The Main Course (1988)

When two-year-old Krite eggs hatch, a new litter of bloodthirsty hairballs is unleashed.

A must Have.

This is one of the best out of the entire series. Action, suspense a suggested good buy. February 13, 2008

It is what it is...

You can look at the cover and know it's not an A-list blockbuster. That being said, for a horror/comedy, I've always thought it was awesome. The aliens are reasonably original (obviously there was a first movie, but you know what I mean), they are cute and cuddly, with lots of teeth and poison darts in their heads; how can you not love them? The characters are reasonably well developed between the two films (they're best watched back to back, though I would skip parts 3 and 4). The special effects, while not stellar, are definately good enough to support the film in the necessary ways. And yes, who can forget the giant ball o' Critters rolling down fleeing citizens and leaving twitching skeletons in its wake (I tend to watch that part five or six times every time I watch this movie). Again, not a deeply fulfilling interpersonal drama, or whatever, but very entertaining, campy alien horror, with enough humor to keep it from being too dark. I definately recommend it. April 24, 2007

More Like 3.75 Stars

Critters is one of those sequels that actually tries to continue the storyline from the original film rather than just throw the Critters into a totally new environment and slap a "part 2" on it. Basically those Critter eggs we saw in the last shot of the first film have now hatched. Why it took two years for them to hatch is a mystery, but who can afford to be logical with a concept like this? At the same time as this goes on, Brad, the hero boy from the first film, comes back into town to see his hardcore vegetarian gramma. This time the whole town is under siege rather than one farm, coz there are many more Critters to deal with. The bounty hunters also return to help. Terrence Mann is back as the Johnny Steele bounty hunter. No poofy, blonde rocker hair this time, and he doesn't sing "Power of the Night"!! Charlie(Opper) has been hanging out with Mann and his faceless sidekick as an apprentice bounty hunter, and he returns as well. M. Emmet Walsh doesn't reprise his sheriff role, too bad. So, what follows is more Critter squishing/blasting, Brad finding romance, the faceless Lee constantly changing his appearance(one of them a hot Playboy centerfold), lame attempts at cutesy Critters humor, and that gigantic Critters ball that rolls over everything in it's path. This one was directed by Masters Of Horror creator Mick Garris, and hopefully isn't the film that gives him that "Master" qualification. Critters 2 isn't a failure. Like Halloween 2, it's about as good as it could be considering it's pretty much telling the same story. Kinda gruesome for a PG-13 too, but then again most of these films were. While not fantastic, it's a fun slice of schlocky nonsense and makes for a good double feature with the first film coz they do go together nicely. March 26, 2007

The infestation of grovers bend

This movie is the action packed to the orginal movie. As the movie s it's been two years since the last incident. The krites thought to be exterminated are still on earth. Somehow one of the krites in the previous movie was some how was pregnant was able to lay eggs. Bradly brown returns after being abscent for 2 years. Shortly after he arrives the city is infested with literally thousand of krites. It's up to brad Charlie and his bounty hunter buddies ug and lee to clean up the town old fashion way. Will they succed or will groves been be tuned into a ghost town over run by the alien meance. If you like this I also recomend Critters one. There are actually four of these but 3 and four were only half as good as the first 2 were. February 22, 2007

Critters 2: The Main Course

Director: Mick Garris
Cast: Scott Grimes, Terrence Mann, Don Keith Opper, Cynthia Garris, Al Stevenson, Tom Hodges, Douglas Rowe, Liane Alexandria Curtis, Lindsay Parker, Herta Ware.
Running Time: 93 minutes
Rated PG-13 for lots of critter violence, gore, language, and nudity.

The two alien bounty hunters from the original "Critters", Ug (the returning Terrence Mann) who still has the physical appearance of the rock star Johnny Steele while his partner Lee (Gregory Patrick) is still a 'nothing-face' & Charlie (the returning Don Keith Opper as Don Opper) who left Earth with them at the end of the original Critters is now a bounty hunter as well, are reintroduced to the viewer. After having successfully captured their latest bounty the threesome receive a message stating that residual Crite life remains on Earth & that they're payment is being withheld until all trace of the Crites on Earth have been destroyed, the three immediately head for Earth. It's been two years since the Crites tried to eat their way through the small American town of Grovers Bend & Bradley Brown (the returning Scott Grimes) is back in town to visit his Grandmother (Herta Ware) just as a local teenager named Wesley (Tom Hopges) finds some unhatched Critter eggs in the now abandoned Brown barn & sells them to an antiques dealer called Quigley (Douglas Rowe) who in turn sells them as Easter eggs. Predictably enough the Critter eggs begin to hatch & the little bloodthirsty hairballs start to eat their way through Grovers Bend. Only Brad & his reporter friend Megan (Liane Alexandra Curtis) know the truth, together with ex-Sheriff Harv (Barry Corbin) & the three bounty hunters they must convince the townspeople about the Crite's & wipe them out before it's too late.

Co-written and directed by Mick Garris, "Critters 2: The Main Course" is very similar to the original, it's almost as if the filmmakers said to themselves 'why fix it if it ain't broke?' The script by Garris & David Twohy as D.T. Twohy will seem very familiar to anyone who's seen the original. The comedy elements in "Critters 2: The Main Course" become distracting and feel a little out of place at times, when a Critter bumps it's head we hear birds chirping on the soundtrack, or when a Critter has the hair on top of it's head shot off it looks at itself in a reflective surface and says 'b*tchin' or when Lee turns into a topless model (Roxanne Kernohan) from a Playboy magazine complete with a giant staple in her stomach which she pulls out and throws away. There seems to be less straight horror this time around which is a shame, the atmosphere and threat is also missing because of the increased comedy elements. The special effects on the Critters themselves are moderately effective, yet they aren't noticeably any better than the original There is very little in the way of blood or gore, a bitten foot and flesh stripped skeletons and bones is as graphic as "Critters 2: The Main Course" gets, Technically the film is decent, while editing, music, direction, photography and acting certainly aren't going to win any awards. Overall, "Critters 2: The Main Course" is an good time waster especially for those who enjoyed the original, while this is not quite as good. Not a classic by any stretch of the imagination but certainly worth a watch as long as you have reasonable expectations. January 1, 2006

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