All 5 Critters Movies, Ranked

There is nothing quite like a good creature feature. In part because, once a creature manages to break through in the broader cinematic cultural conversation, it's destined to live on for decades to come, well beyond a single movie. Such is the case with "Critters." First released in 1986, director Stephen Herek's tale about a rural town terrorized by sharp-toothed alien beings known as Krites was able to dovetail off the success of "Gremlins" in 1984, carving its own path to glory.

By no means a simple "Gremlins" rip-off, the film offers a certain '80s charm that caught on with horror lovers. It was a decent hit at the box office but became a (pardon the pun) monster on home video, paving the way for three sequels and an eventual legacy sequel in 2019. Five movies and even a short-form TV series titled "Critters: A New Binge," also released in 2019.

But nearly 40 years after the Krites first touched down on Earth, which of these movies is the best? How many of these movies are worth one's time? Are there any outright stinkers in the bunch? We're going to tackle those very questions as we rank all five movies in the "Critters" franchise, from worst to best. For the purposes of this list, we won't be looking at the series "A New Binge," but completionists out there can consider that bonus viewing. With the ball teed up, let's dive in.

Thanks to the folks at Syfy, the "Critters" franchise was brought out of retirement after more than 25 years in 2019. The resulting film was a relatively simple, lean creature feature in the form of "Critters Attack!" Though it had good intentions and some admittedly charming, impressive, practical creature effects, that's about where the good ends when it comes to director Bobby Miller's addition to the series.

The film follows 20-year-old Drea (Tashiana Washington), who reluctantly takes a job babysitting for a professor at a college she hopes to attend. Struggling to keep the professor's children entertained, she takes them on a hike where they encounter — you guessed it — Krites! Carnage ensues. We'll get into this a bit more later, but the fact that Krites arrive on Earth in 2019 does contradict the canon a bit, but that might be unnecessary nitpicking, relatively speaking.

"Critters Attack!" is in spirit faithful to the original movies, but the performances are so wooden, and none of the characters have enough charm to keep the energy going when the Krites aren't devouring unsuspecting townspeople. Dee Wallace was brought back as Dee from the first movie, getting to kick ass as a bounty hunter this time around. But even that only goes so far. The movie has some good ideas, including the introduction of a new type of Crite affectionately named Bianca, but between the stiff human characters and a frustratingly abrupt ending with little payoff, it serves as a disappointment after such a long break between installments.

Right off the bat, I should mention that "Critters 3" has a big fat 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Put mildly, that's never a particularly great sign. That having been said, I would wager this is one of the more enjoyable movies with that distinction, one is likely to come across, right up there with Stephen King's "Graveyard Shift," in my humble opinion.

Directed by Kristine Peterson, the third installment sees the Krites invade a low-budget L.A. apartment building, with the unsuspecting tenants forced to contend with the deadly creatures. Josh, the son of the building's shady owner, leads the battle against the beasts, alongside the returning Charlie MacFadden, aka the simple former town drunk turned intergalactic bounty hunter. Let it never be said that the "Critters" movies weren't afraid to get weird.

The movie is notable as it was the feature debut of future Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio, who takes on the role of Josh. While nobody would accuse it of being one of DiCaprio's best movies, the actor's charm is there, to be certain. It's a pretty straightforward movie with some fun kills, special effects that are in line with what fans had come to expect, and the added fun of a new location. When it comes to DTV creature features from the '90s, one could do a whole lot worse. It also boasts a pretty wild ending that sets up an even wilder sequel. Its only real sin is not being quite as good as the two that came before it. Though that's hardly a sin in my eyes. 

I can't in good conscience sit here and say to anyone that "Critters 4" is an out-and-out great movie. That would be disingenuous. But as someone who has seen more than his fair share of low-budget trash in his day, I can say with confidence that "Critters 4" is what all low-budget trash should aspire to be. With very little money and as the fourth entry in what at this point had become a direct-to-video franchise, director Rupert Harvey did anything but phone it in. This remains the biggest swing in this fun little franchise, taking the cliffhanger we were left with in "Critters 3" and running with it admirably.

After killing all Krites, bounty hunter Charlie McFadden is inadvertently shot into space in a capsule with the last two Crite eggs. Not unlike Ripley in "Aliens," he's found in the year 2045 by a spaceship that brings the pod to a defunct space station. Charlie, now awake in space in the future, is left to deal with the Krites after the eggs hatch.

The fact that Harvey decided to make an ambitious, spacebound sequel set in the far future is nothing shy of admirable. As space-set horror movies go, it's miles above "Leprechaun 4: In Space," for my money. New Line also assembled a shockingly great cast, including a young Angela Bassett and the voice of Chucky himself, Brad Dourif. The performances are a cut above many of the other movies in the series for that reason. 

Sure, some of the space sets look cheap, and it shows the limitations of its budget at times, but it's paced great, there are some genuine character moments, and the kills are top-notch. This movie's big, bizarre swing is hard not to appreciate.

This is the one that started it all. Director Stephen Herek certainly didn't set out to make a "Gremlins" rip-off, and, for as much as "Critters" is dismissed as such, it truly is a creature feature with its own, unique identity. Case in point, we're still here talking about it nearly 40 years later. As Eric Vespe put it, writing for /Film in 2021, "Critters is still a lean, mean entertainment machine." I'm inclined to agree. It wastes zero time. It features a truly excellent bit of creature design, a design that would carry this franchise for years to come, and remains a delightful little relic of its time.

More contained than many of the sequels that would follow, the original film sees the Crites arrive on a farm with the Brown family forced to fend off the deadly, hungry little aliens. Meanwhile, two bounty hunters with superhuman abilities have tracked the vicious beasts to Earth.

It's truly the introduction of the bounty hunters from space, led by Terrence Mann as Ug, that helps assure audiences that they're in for something delightfully weird. Ug would become a recurring figure in the series alongside Charlie, the unlikely hero of the series. But it all starts here. The cast is solid, with Dee Wallace leading the Brown family, while Scott Grimes is charming AF as Brad Brown.

The bizarre space stuff set against the backdrop of this quaint farm in the middle of nowhere really works. The creature effects still hold up. It's still fun. In many ways, when someone says the words "creature feature," this is what comes to mind.

It would be irresponsible to go so far as to say that "Critters 2: The Main Course" is "The Empire Strikes Back" of the "Critters" franchise or something hyperbolic of that nature. But I would say it is akin to the "Final Destination 2" of this franchise in that we have a sequel that managed to improve upon its predecessor by delivering more of the same, but better. All the while, going bigger and satisfyingly expanding the world. Director Mick Garris understood the assignment.

The sequel picks up several years after the first film and centers on a teenage Brad Brown who is visiting his grandmother in Grover's Bend, Kansas. But the events of the first film haunt him, as these tales of aliens have made him somewhat infamous. Meanwhile, Ug, Lee, and Charlie make their way to Earth to deal with a Krite infestation in Grover's Bend. It gets crazy from there, culminating in a gigantic rolling Krite ball that may be one of the most hilariously inventive ways to up the ante in a low-budget sequel ever.

"Critters 2" feels like a movie tailor-made for the era when one would watch movies out of order. Maybe you saw "Dream Warriors" before seeing the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street," but it gets the hooks in all the same. "Critters 2" feels like the best version of that imagined scenario. It's more fun. The set pieces are a blast. The creature effects still look great. Garris really leaned into the dastardly nature of the Krites in this one. There's a watchability and a buoyancy to the proceedings.

Not to make this bigger than it is, but if you could only put one "Critters" movie in the Library of Congress to preserve for all time's sake, this would be it. It's the perfect distillation of this franchise's best ideas working together to deliver something super, duper fun.