Critters: A Four Course Feast! Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

5 star remastered gnashing bundle of fur and teeth.

Critters: A Four Course Feast! is a collection of all four of the films from the beloved critters franchise.

These ravenous and toothsome aliens make their UK Blu-ray debut with this Limited Edition box set on 2nd December 2024 courtesy of Arrow Video.

“They’re from outer space like Charlie says…Maybe they’re some government experiment gone haywire. They used to be gophers but got zapped by some radioactive…”

Critters 1 was first released in 1986. Directed by Stephen Herek (The Three Musketeers, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure), it was an immediate success, with audiences falling in love with the cheeky killing machines.

At  a prison asteroid in Sector 17, a maximum security prison transport approaches, with eight very dangerous creatures aboard, the Krites. A calamity occurs and they comandeer a ship and make their escape. Two bounty hunters are dispatched to take care of them before they have chance to feed.

Meanwhile, on Earth in the small town of Grover’s Bend, Kansas, the Brown famioly are going about their daily lives on the farm. Helen (Dee Wallace – Cujo, Nix) and Jay (Billy Green Bush – The Hitcher, Rampage) live happily with their two children April (Nadine Van der Velde – Munchies) and Brad (Scott Grimes – Robin Hood, The Orville (TV Series)), but all that changes when a spaceship crashes to Earth nearby, carrying the ravenous Krites.

Handyman Charlie knows they are coming, he can hear them through his fillings, but no-one believes him. The shape shifting bounty hunters arrive, with Ug (Terrence Mann – Freedom, Eavesdrop) taking the form of superstar Johnny Steele. Local sheriff Harv (M. Emmet Walsh – Blade Runner, Blood Simple) and his assistant Sally (Lin Shaye – Max Reload and the Nether Blasters, The Final Wish, Insidious: Chapter 3) have their work cut out as this small town fights for it’s survival. But have all the eggs been destroyed?

“Hadn’t your Granny ever told you about those space porcupine things?”

Critters 2: The Main Course was released in 1988 and directed by Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers, Psycho IV). This time we see Brad (Scott Grimes) return to Grover’s Bend to visit his Nana in a stunning display of bad timing. The locals are not very pleased to see him due to the events of two years ago, but he finds a friend in the form of Meghan (Liane Curtis – Sixteen Candles, Benny and Joon), the daughter of local newspaper man Mr Morgan (Sam Anderson – Forrest Gump, Water for Elephants).

When local ‘dealer’ Quigley (Douglas Rowe – Redwood Highway) takes some mysterious eggs from the old Brown farm and distributes them to the local nursery, the stage is set for another epic showdown in Grover’s bend, this time with Charlie and the Bounty Hunters to help out against an alarmingly large and toothy ball of Critters.

“You have to believe her. They’re big, they’re huge, they’re like badger possums, they’re big cats, they’re…you gotta listen to her, they’re awful!”

For Critters 3 in 1991, the helm is taken by Kristine Peterson (Slaves to the Underground), who brings the Krites to the big city. Clifford (John Calvin – The Cheap Detective) is driving his two children Annie (Aimee Brooks – Monster Man, Open Season) and Johnny (Joseph Cousins – Kindergarten Cop) home to their apartment block, where they will be looked after by their neighbours while goes away to work.

They take a break at a rest stop near to the town of Grover’s Bend, where they meet Josh (Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street, Inception) and his father Briggs (William Dennis Hunt – Flesh Gordon, Life Inside Out), as well as bounty hunter Charlie, now back on Earth and still hunting Critters. When some eggs are stowed on their camper van, life in the already run down apartment block suddenly becomes a fight for survival. Evil handyman Frank (Geoffrey Blake – Contact, Midway) is the first to meet the new tenants and it’s very satisfying.

“Are you it? Just you? Better be something other than you in here.”

Critters 4, released in 1992, is directed by Rupert Harvey, his only feature film. It takes up the story immediately after the events of the end of 3, as Charlie is stopped from destroying the eggs. They are the last remaining Krites and it is against the law to wipe out a species. The council send a pod to collect them, but Charlie is trapped inside with them and put into cryogenic stasis.

The year is 2045, and in the Saturn quadrant, a ship captained by the deeply unpleasant Rick (Anders Hove – The Quiet Ones, Hell Hole) comes across a pod floating in space and order it brought aboard. Al Bert (Brad Dourif – The Exorcist III, Mississippi Burning) gets it aboard with the help of crew members Fran (Angela Bassett – Black Panther, Strange Days) and Bernie (Eric DaRe – Starship Troopers, Ted Bundy), as well as passenger Ethan (Paul Whitthorne – Prey of the Chameleon). But when the pod is opened aboard a deserted space station, it’s yet another recipe for mayhem.

“You ever seen a piranha?…Well, they don’t look anything like a piranha. But they’re hungry like a piranha.”

This is a belting box set, packed with special features and with our favourite sweary, flesh tearing, red eyed, fur balls rolling around all over the place and causing their own brand of bloody fear and laugh out loud comedy, what’s not to love?

Granted some of the films are better than others, but they’re all great fun and look good on Blu-ray (you can see a few wires in places, but what’s a wire between friends?). Just in time for Christmas, this will make a great gift for the horror fan in your house, or even just to add to your own collection. A must own for lovers of The Krites.

“We’ve come for the Krites.”

Critters: A Four Course Feast! is available to own now on Limited Edition Blu-ray from Arrow Films.

4-DISC LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of all four films
• Original lossless stereo 2.0 and 5.1 audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• 60-page hardbound collectors book featuring new writing on the films by screenwriter Shane Bitterling and film critics Meagan Navarro and Heather Wixson, plus select archival material
• Double-sided fold out posters for all four films
• Limited edition packaging with newly commissioned artwork by Pye Parr
• Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Pye Parr

DISC 1 – CRITTERS

• Brand new audio commentary by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain with screenwriter Shane Bitterling
• Audio Commentary with producer Barry Opper and star Don Opper
• Audio Commentary with Critter designers Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo and Stephen Chiodo
• They Bite!: The Making of Critters documentary
• For Brian: A Tribute to Screenwriter Brian Domonic Muir featurette
• Behind-the-Scenes Footage
• Alternate Ending
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Image Gallery

DISC 2 – CRITTERS 2: THE MAIN COURSE

• Brand new audio commentary by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
• Audio Commentary with director Mick Garris
• Audio Commentary with Critters designers Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo and Stephen Chiodo
• The Main Course: The Making of Critters 2 documentary
• Behind the Scenes Footage
• Additional TV Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot
• Image Gallery

DISC 3 – CRITTERS 3

• Brand new audio commentary by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
• Audio Commentary with producer Barry Opper and star Don Opper
• You Are What They Eat: The Making of Critters 3 featurette
• Trailer
• Promo
• Image Gallery

DISC 4 – CRITTERS 4

• Brand new audio commentary by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
• Audio Commentary with producer/director Rupert Harvey
• Space Madness: The Making of Critters 4 featurette
• Trailer
• Image Gallery