Main Cast: Scott Grimes, Liane Alexandra Curtis, Don Opper, Barry Corbin, Tom Hodges
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Critters 2: The Main Course is the sequel to the highly enjoyable horror comedy Critters. The people of the Kansas town first menaced by the little, furry creatures find that they are not yet safe as they are again assaulted when the creatures reproduce. Charlie (Don Opper) is joined by Lee (Roxanne Kernohan) as all join forces to save the town. The special effects, particularly the ""critters" are again, superb, but the direction by Mick Garris is less self-assured than in the original feature. While still enjoyable, Critters 2 is not nearly as much fun as the original, but still well worth a view. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Review
Sequels are made with fans of the original in mind, and those who were charmed by the first installment of this comic horror franchise will likely have fun the second time around. The first Critters, of course, was heavily indebted to the success of Joe Dante's 1984 hit Gremlins, borrowing the concept of a swarming horde of miniature monsters that are simultaneously cute and horrific, tearing up an unsuspecting small town until a coed team of young folks can discover a way to stop them. Critters was no match for its forerunner, but it was arguably the best of a bad bunch of rip-offs that included Ghoulies, Munchies, and Hobgoblins, most of which went straight to video but proved popular enough to warrant sequels of their own. Critters 2: The Main Course is a genial sci-fi story that offers no surprises to genre fans. Most of the film is suitable for children and seems to be aimed at a pre-teen audience, but there are some unusually graphic gore scenes for a PG-13 production, and brief but gratuitous female nudity. Sure, sure, the kids of today are more sophisticated, they can handle it, they've seen it all on the Internet, whatever. It's just that few viewers over the age of 15 are likely to care for this film, and parents with qualms about cinematic excess might consider it too gruesome for tender eyes. Perhaps Critters 2 can be thought of as training wheels for young film fans who are preparing themselves for stronger stuff -- too young yet for the grisly heights of Alien but yearning for something with more gross-out power than Back to the Future. Be forewarned: This film features Eddie Deezen. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
Sam Anderson - Mr. Morgan; Lindsay Parker - Cindy Morgan; Herta Ware - Nana; Lin Shaye - Sal Roos; Terrence Mann - Ug, Bounty Hunter; Roxanne Kernohan - Lee, Bounty Hunter; Douglas Rowe - Quigley; Frank Birney - Reverend Fisher; Eddie Deezen - Hungry Heifer Manager; Cynthia Garris - Zanti; Gregory Patrick - Lee/Ug "Nothing-Face"; J. Christopher Sullivan - Townie; David Ursin - Sheriff Corwin; Tom McLoughlin - Church Guard; Montrose Hagins - Farm Woman; Patrick Campbell - Farmer
Credit
Daryl Kass - Associate Producer, Robin Lippin - Casting, Lesley Lynn Nicholson - Costume Designer, Jerry Ketcham - First Assistant Director, Mick Garris - Director, Chalres Bornstein - Editor, Robert Shaye - Executive Producer, Nicholas Pike - Composer (Music Score), Philip Foreman - Production Designer, Russell Carpenter - Cinematographer, Barry Opper - Producer, Donna Stamps Scherer - Set Designer, Marty Bresin - Special Effects, Chiodo Brothers - Special Effects, Chiodo Brothers Productions - Special Effects, Donald Summer - Sound/Sound Designer, Dan Bradley - Stunts, Dan Bradley - Stunts Coordinator, Mick Garris - Screenwriter, David N. Twohy - Screenwriter
The film starts out in space on a desolate planet where Charlie, Ug, and Lee are hunting a vicious, worm-like creature. After successfully killing the beast, they depart the planet. Charlie contemplates why Ug and Lee let him tag along, to which Ug replies "Charlie bounty hunter". Soon afterwards, they receive a new assignment by Zanti, head of the High Council. He tells them that the Crites (Critters) are still alive and must be wiped out. With that, they set a course for Earth. Back on Earth, Brad Brown is visiting his grandmother in Grover's Bend and word gets around the town fast implying he became well known after the events of the first film. Shortly after the bounty hunters arrive the Crites begin terrorizing the town. They begin to grow in large numbers. Lee, Ug's brother, is killed (and devoured) by the Crites, causing Ug to slip into a depression and lose his human looks, reverting back into a No-face as Charlie calls them. (This frightens one woman, who mentions that "he's not breathing." Charlie consoles her by stating "Well, that's okay, he has no mouth.") The remaining people of the town devise a plot. They lead the Critters to a burger shop in an attempt to blow them up but fail. The Crites then come together into a large ball and begin heading to the church. Just before they reach the church, Charlie flies directly into them with his space ship heroically proclaiming "I'm a bounty hunter!" destroying them. Ug then takes on Charlie's facial feature, in honor of him. Although thought to be dead, Charlie survived on a parachute and stays on Earth becoming sheriff of the town. Ug departs in a new spacecraft, still wearing the guise of Charlie (however, he later reverts back to his previous human face, at an unspecified point, since in the 3rd and 4th film, he is featured looking thus).
