Critters 4

After locating the last two Crite eggs in an abandoned apartment complex, bounty hunter Charlie McFadden is contacted by fellow hunter Ug who stops him from destroying the eggs, stating that they are the last of the species & that a specimen collection pod will shortly arrive. Charlie places the eggs in the pod but is accidentally trapped inside the pod which takes off & drifts through space for the next fifty years.

In 2045 a salvage crew on their way home from a mission stumble upon the pod. The crew are told by their superiors to travel to a nearby space station in order to receive payment, as well as not to breach the pod. But once they arrive, they find that the station has been abandoned & that some top-secret experiments have been performed inside its labs.

The nuclear reactor is also on the verge of meltdown. As they wait for help to arrive, the crew accidentally free the Crites & Charlie, is shocked at how long he’s been in space. As the Crites begin to attack the crew, Charlie & the surviving crew must band together to destroy the Crites once & for all. The Critters series has been one of New Line Cinema’s cult franchises, the original made a motza on VHS afterlife in 1986 while the three sequels that followed have been somewhat less than impressive (indeed they are being regarded as laughing stocks by most mainstream & cult genre reviewers) but still made money.

This fourth & last instalment was one of two DTV sequels made to end the series for good (although rumors of a remake have been floating around for a while) & returns stars Don Opper & Terrence Mann to their trademark roles for one last time.

A number of 1990s’ sci-fi & horror franchises have set their final chapter in space as some sort of novelty setting in order to kill themselves off for good. Not just Critters 3 but also Hellraiser: Bloodline, Project Shadowchaser III & the fourth Leprechaun film. In most of these, the setting is a sort of death blow to the franchise. With Critters 4, this proved particularly true – the series has stayed silent for the next twenty-three years.

As far as things go, Critters 4 is a routine Alien clone posing as a Critters sequel. The action takes place on a large space station; there is a small crew who are mostly moaning about their paychecks & their superiors want the save the monsters for weapons research. Some of the writing seems rather primitive in terms of motivation, Anders Hove’s captain tries to rip off the pod only to release both Don Opper & the Crites, and Eric DaRe tries to steal an entire pharmacy only to die a moralistic death.

The film has some reasonably good acting from all involved, especially from Angela Bassett & Brad Dourif (Chucky himself) who give their roles a certain dignity. The sets look okay & the models have been mostly recycled from other films. For a Critters sequel, this one is strictly average but has a certain charm about it that belies its cheap mercenary budget.