Critters 2: The Main Course

"BOMB" (TV Movies, Maltin.) "1/2" (Movies On TV, Scheuer.) "Radical. Totally awesome, dude." (Editor's daughter.) Nepotism aside, we have to agree with critic number three. If you're unfamiliar with the original - Critters, no problemo; "2" is basically the same movie with a larger budget. The "critters" are actually Krites, little furball creatures that talk in subtitles ("Let's roll") and eat human flesh. Alien bounty hunters and folks in a small town team up to kill the Krites. O.K., this is basically another in a long line of Gremlins rip-offs -and nowhere near as good, but, hey, it's like fun, you know?DVD Review--September 9, 2003--New Line, 94 min., PG-13, $19.98--"Let's roll." Long before Lisa Beamer's husband made the courageous phrase a haunting and poignant reminder of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it was used in a much more benign and humorous sense as the subtitled attack command of a troupe of Gremlins rip-off furballs in the four-film sci-fi horror Critters series, a cult classic guilty pleasure now available on DVD in handsome widescreen transfers, with Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks, and…not…much…else. Here's the lineup: Critters (1986, Stephen Herek's [Life or Something Like It] directing debut, featuring Dee Wallace-Stone), Critters 2: The Main Course (1988, written by Pitch Black scribe David Twohy), Critters 3: You Are What They Eat (1991, Leonardo DiCaprio's feature film debut), and Critters 4 (1991, with Angela Bassett). Bottom line: fans will enjoy this cult favorite series. (R. Pitman)