Critters, a lo-fi creature feature from 1986, was built for two things: scares and laughs. And so, 40 years later, it’s not the film’s fault that, watching it back, I felt an entirely different emotion: embarrassment.

Not embarrassment for anyone in the film, mind you. As we’ll discuss, Critters might be kind of cheesy, but that’s what’s endearing about it. It’s also a love letter to cinema of the era, with nods to everything from Ghostbusters and Poltergeist to Halloween and Alien. No, my embarrassment stemmed from the fact that before rewatching the film this week, I would have listed it on a very short list of films that scared me as a child. And, having now seen it again, that is maybe the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever said.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Critters was co-written and directed by Stephen Herek, who’d immediately follow it with Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, and The Mighty Ducks. A truly incredible run, worthy of some note.

The film centers on a group of creatures who have been captured in space, but escape as they’re being transferred to a prison asteroid, and end up on Earth. There, they devour and terrify a small Kansas town. These creatures, referred to as Critters, are tiny, black balls of fur about the size of a basketball, which roll around and eat people with their mouths full of sharp teeth.

And while Critters does have this larger, cosmic mythology to kick it off, really, the movie mostly takes place in a few key, Earth-bound locations.

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