Critters

**_Entertaining popcorn flick from the mid-80s is both cartoonish and horrifying_** Small, furry extraterrestrials harass a farm town in America while two bounty hunters try to capture them. "Critters" (1986) takes the basic premise of 50’s alien-invasion flicks, like “The Blob” or “War of the Worlds,” but meshes it with the tone and furry creatures of “Gremlims” from two years prior. The Kansas farmhouse and small town setting recalls teen Clark Kent’s situation in “Superman” (1978). The movie expertly walks the balance beam between fun & amusing and deadly serious creature feature. The vibe is similar to "Neon Maniacs" from the same year, but this is superior, as well as superior to “Gremlims.” Dee Wallace is a highlight as the wife/mother, never looking better, while Nadine Van der Velde is worth a mention as the brunette daughter. On the other side of the gender spectrum, a young Billy Zane shows up as the latter’s beau while Terrence Mann has a memorable dual role, not to mention impressively wrote the catchy song for the soundtrack, “Power of the Night.” I like how this isn’t a typical alien-visitation flick. The addition of the galactic bounty hunters adds an interesting new dimension, a concept that would be ripped off the next year by “The Hidden.” It runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot in Valencia, Santa Clarita, which is a 45-minutes drive northwest of downtown Los Angeles. GRADE: B+/A-