Critters 2: The Main Course (1988)

Movie Info

The Crites hate Easter bunnies…and I can’t say I blame them (they are scarier than the Critters)

Brad Brown (Scott Grimes) and his claims of monsters from outer space rocked the small town of Grover’s Bend.  When he returns to visit his grandmother (Herta Ware) for Easter, he finds himself once again caught up in an invasion.  Krite eggs have hatched and now the “critters” are eating their way through whoever gets in their way.  Teamed with former Sheriff Harv (Barry Corbin), local reporter Megan Morgan (Liane Alexandra Curtis), and bounty hunters Ug (Terrence Mann), Lee (Roxanne Kernohan), and Charlie McFadden (Don Keith Opper), Brad must stop the Krites before it is too late!

Directed by Mick Garris, Critters 2:  The Main Course is a horror-action-comedy.  A sequel to Critters from 1986, the movie the last Critters film to be released in the theater and received largely negative reviews.

I have a soft spot for Critters and Critters 2.  After Gremlins, a rash of “little monsters” movies came out, and I always found the Critters movies had the most fun with it.  While Critters was pretty standard fare horror comedy, Critters 2 seemed to push it a bit further and that was great if you were a fan of the genre.

We kill Crites!

I won’t argue that the movie is very good or that the plot entirely makes sense.  The eggs (which were seen at the end of the first film) happen to be discovered and hatch just as Brad returns to town (conveniently…which is even brought up in the movie).  You have the bounty hunters return and Charlie killed with a long “I wish he hadn’t died” sequence complete with an homage to Charlie from Ug…which is all null when Charlie shows up again.  Add to that stock characters and parts where the plot crawls…the movie actually feels a lot like The Blob remake which was released later that year.

The cast has Scott Grimes, Don Keith Opper (the only vet of all four Critter films), and Terrence Mann returning.  Horror vet Lin Shaye also returns in a slightly larger role.  Eddie Deezen and Roxanne Kernohan get to play the shifting bounty hunter Lee and Barry Corbin steps in to replace M. Emmet Walsh as Harv.

A rolling ball of Crite death

It appears that that the movie has a bigger budget than the previous Critters.  Not only are there more “critters” but there are more set pieces and the rolling Critter ball is memorable and well used.  The movie plays up both the horror and comedy with scenes with the Easter bunny and multiple times where the Critters are essentially hit like golf balls by the various actors.

Critters 2:  The Main Course is no masterpiece, but it is entertaining fluff for horror fans or fans of the ’80s.  In some ways, I think it improves on Critters in its tone and presentation and you can’t get that catchy Hungry Heifer jingle out of your head once you hear it.  If you have a problem with Critters 2, don’t expect to like any of the sequels which seem a step down.  Critters 2:  The Main Course was followed by Critters 3 in 1991 which featured the film premiere of Leonardo DiCaprio.

Related Links:

Critters (1986)

Critters 3 (1991)

Critters 4 (1992)

Critters Attack! (2019)