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'Critters' TV Series

Started by St_Eddie, January 11, 2018, 01:52:21 AM

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St_Eddie


As per Bloody-Disgusting...

Quote from: Bloody-DisgustingOver 30 years after the original Critters arrived in theaters, the four-film franchise, which has been lying dormant since 1992, is now getting... its own TV series?!

In an exciting bit of news that comes totally out of left field, Variety reports today that Verizon's go90 has ordered Critters: A New Binge from Blue Ribbon Content, the Warner Bros. Television Group's digital studio. The series is produced by Abominable Pictures in association with Blue Ribbon Content for Verizon.

The plot for the series is as follows...

"The critters return to Earth in search of one of their kin, who was left behind years ago during an earlier mission. They land in Burbank, Calif., where they wreak havoc on a group of high schoolers and their families."

The creative team behind Zombeavers, Jordan Rubin, Jon Kaplan and Al Kaplan, will write and executive produce, with Rubin also directing.

Rupert Harvey and Barry Opper, from the original film franchise, produce.


I'm rather excited at this news.  The Critters films are an absolute hoot, with Critters 2 being the highlight, as it's genuinely funny, with some great gags (Ug's various transformations are surely the standout running joke; the Playboy model, with staples through her chest and almost transforming into Freddy Krueger).  I enjoy all four installments to varying degrees though, with Critters 4 perhaps being my ultimate 'guilty pleasure' film.

Hopefully, the return of Barry Opper as a producer means that his Brother, Don Keith Opper might return as 'Charlie' (who starred in all four films).  I'm saying this now though, like with a potential Gremlins revival; they damn well better use puppets for the most part!

To get you in the mood, here's a really fun Critters fan-film, from a few years back...


Shaky

Only interested if they get Leonardo DiCaprio back.

Bazooka

A favourite series of mines, used to watch them endlessly back in the day.

Charlie (Don Keith Opper) is 68 now.



My fear with this, will be lots of CGI.

JoeyBananaduck

Well up for this. They don't make 'em like that anymore, and they bloody well should.

Famous Mortimer

Blimey! Also enjoyed the first couple, and that (from a vague memory) part 4 was set in space because they had a bunch of space-ship sets from some film the Oppers had made in the early 80s and wouldn't have to pay to use them. Hopefully it'll be funny like part 2.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Shaky on January 11, 2018, 04:56:42 AM
Only interested if they get Leonardo DiCaprio back.

Heh.  I wonder if  he puts Critters 3 on his résumé?  He should.  He should own that shit.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: St_Eddie on January 12, 2018, 07:44:26 AM
Heh.  I wonder if  he puts Critters 3 on his résumé?  He should.  He should own that shit.
In much the same way as I wish George Clooney would show more respect to "Return Of The Killer Tomatoes". He's made a lot worse.

Shaky

Quote from: St_Eddie on January 12, 2018, 07:44:26 AM
Heh.  I wonder if  he puts Critters 3 on his résumé?  He should.  He should own that shit.

If I were a big Hollywood type that would be the only thing I'd look at on his CV.

Enrico Palazzo

When I was a kid I was convinced the long haired baddie was Pat Sharp.

At least one other person thought the same, according to Google Image.


Mini

Never seen Critters... is it better than Tremors?

JoeyBananaduck

Quote from: Enrico Palazzo on January 12, 2018, 02:00:20 PM
When I was a kid I was convinced the long haired baddie was Pat Sharp.

At least one other person thought the same, according to Google Image.


They are the spit, to be fair.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Mini on January 12, 2018, 02:17:37 PM
Never seen Critters... is it better than Tremors?

Debatable.  I'd say that they're on even footing, with Tremors perhaps taking a slight edge.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Mini on January 12, 2018, 02:17:37 PM
Never seen Critters... is it better than Tremors?
I agree wholeheartedly with the Red Letter Media fellows on Tremors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK7-tBuEoq4

Critters is good fun, but I don't think it's quite on the same level.

St_Eddie

As per Bloody Disgusting...

Quote from: Bloody DisgustingOver 30 years after the original Critters arrived in theaters, the four-film franchise, which has been lying dormant since 1992, is now getting its own TV series!

Verizon's go90 has ordered "Critters: A New Binge" from Blue Ribbon Content, the Warner Bros. Television Group's digital studio. The creative team behind Zombeavers, Jordan Rubin, Jon Kaplan and Al Kaplan, will write and exec produce, with Rubin directing.

The plot for the series is as follows...

    "The critters return to Earth in search of one of their kin, who was left behind years ago during an earlier mission. They land in Burbank, Calif., where they wreak havoc on a group of high schoolers and their families."

Speaking with Slash Film, Rubin just teased what we can expect from the return of the Crites. For starters, the series is *not* an origin story, but a continuation.

"I wouldn't say it's an origin story because the Critters already exist in the world," Rubin told the site. "They're returning to Earth because they left one of their offspring behind that they're trying to find. They're being chased by the bounty hunters. So it's a new binge, but it's not an origin story per se like Batman Begins where you're seeing from the ground up. This is a world that already exists that we're joining."

He continued to tease the storyline, "Let's just say there was an impregnation that happened. There was a seed that was left behind and now that maybe has come to fruition, so they need to find it because they think it will help them maybe take over the galaxy."

Rubin also noted that yes, there will be two bounty hunters in "A New Binge," though don't expect them to be Ug and Lee from the film franchise.

"I'd say it's two new guys," Rubin revealed. "But yeah, two new bounty hunters coming to Earth in their same Terminator type walk and taking on different forms as they encounter them."

Perhaps most exciting of all, Rubin says that the series will feature practical puppets – and there's a chance the Chiodo Brothers could be back to handle the effects!

"We spoke to [the Chiodos] and I'm trying to make that work. I think that would be amazing," said Rubin. "It's all a matter of budget and if it can work out with their schedule and where we shoot. If we shoot in Canada... I'm trying to make that work because I met with them and they were great, but we're speaking to a couple different puppet houses."

"I want to use animatronics as much as possible," he added.

What else did we learn from the chat? Rubin is aiming to start filming in a couple months, with eight episodes planned – each episode will be around 10 minutes in length.

That this is a series of 10 minutes episode is surprising but it doesn't bother me because it simply means that the total length of the series will amount to a single feature length film.  I'd rather that, than something which is drawn out and padded.  It's also lovely to hear that their aiming to use animatronics and puppets.

Bazooka

Thanks for the update, yes 10 minute episodes will help with budget also, especially with the focus on animatronics.

Bazooka

Apparently this series has been scrapped, but a reboot feature film is in the works for Syfy: https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/286691/feature-film-begins-production-in-january-but-is-critters-tv-series-still-in-the-works/

Its a shame if true, I was looking forward to it, Critters are a great creation and are the pinaccle of VHS shop memories for me.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Bazooka on January 13, 2019, 12:22:24 AM
Apparently this series has been scrapped...

Oh no!

Quote from: Bazooka on January 13, 2019, 12:22:24 AMbut a reboot feature film is in the works...

Oh?

Quote from: Bazooka on January 13, 2019, 12:22:24 AMfor Syfy...

Oh...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: It doesn't sound like the TV series has definetely been cancelled.  Fingers crossed.

St_Eddie

So, what with the upcoming film being made by SyFy (shudder), it looked as though humanity's only hope for killer hedgehogs from space lay with the TV series (the streaming service in question, ironically enough, being titled Shudder) and now a trailer has been released...


...oh well, it was a nice dream whilst it lasted but now the dream is dead.  Those effects! That cinematography! That acting! What a crock o' crap!

Bazooka

Dear fuck, I will watch it, but dear fuck.

Avril Lavigne

Quote from: St_Eddie on February 28, 2019, 11:41:13 PM
So, what with the upcoming film being made by SyFy (shudder), it looked as though humanity's only hope for killer hedgehogs from space lay with the TV series (the streaming service in question, ironically enough, being titled Shudder) and now a trailer has been released...


...oh well, it was a nice dream whilst it lasted but now the dream is dead.  Those effects! That cinematography! That acting! What a crock o' crap!

Yikes. All these years I've been wishing for something new to be done with the franchise and this is what we finally get. The Bounty Hunter short was better & more faithful to the movies than anything in this trailer. And as if the series hadn't suffered enough from comparisons to Gremlins right from its inception, they go and stick a big-lipped female version of the title creature in there.


St_Eddie

#21
Trailer Observations

* The Crites spaceship is shaped like a massive Crite, with smaller crites as its engines.  Urgh.  I hate this particular trope for alien species in science fiction.  It's not like NASA designs their spacecraft to look like human beings, so why would any species design their craft to look like them?  Also, it doesn't tally with what we were shown in the first film.

* The bloke screaming with an effeminate voice.  No, just no.  Sometimes that kind of thing can work (for example, Flanders in The Simpsons) but here, it comes across as one of those awful "movies" made by a YouTube personality (see; Fred: The Movie or Smosh: The Movie.  Or rather don't see because much like the personalities that made them, they're fucking atrocious).

* Speaking of YouTube personality "movies" (I flat out refuse to use the word "movies", sans the quotation marks in relation to such things), the aesthetic of this series is right in line with them (i.e. it looks like a dog's dinner).  Flat, cinematography; garish, over-saturated colour grading; CGI straight from half an hour in After Effects.  It's not only visually uninteresting but going by the trailer, how much do you want to bet that there will be next to no night-time scenes and if there are night-time scenes, then they'll be shot during the day and filtered to look like night arse in post?  I'm aware that night-time shoots are budget restrictive but still, something tells me that the people behind the camera are a little too keen to take the easy way out and that's not going to best serve the horror aspect.

* The use of practical effects was one of the things which had me excited for this series, upon its announcement.  However, the reality leaves a lot to be desired and by that I mean to say that a bunch of detached mop heads would have made for more convincing onscreen Crites.  Case in point, look at this photo and note the way that the Crite's legs remain in an upright position...



This is an official publicity photo, folks.  No, really.

* The effect used for the transformation of the bounty hunter is terrible.  Some cheap electrical spark effect, that once again, reeks of a 12 year old learning the ropes in After Effects.  What happened to the iconic transformation effect from the first two films?

Now at this point, I'd be tempted to say that perhaps I should cut this series some slack, given that they're working with a low budget and likely the best of intentions but then I'm reminded of what Avril Lavigne said...

Quote from: Avril Lavigne on March 01, 2019, 12:52:23 PMThe Bounty Hunter short was better & more faithful to the movies than anything in this trailer.

Those guys were working with NO budget and what they created is something which is not only a love letter to the original films but also damn good in its own right and with great effects to boot.  A series with a budget significantly higher than that really has no excuse to look this shoddy.

Quote from: Avril Lavigne on March 01, 2019, 12:52:23 PM
...as if the series hadn't suffered enough from comparisons to Gremlins right from its inception, they go and stick a big-lipped female version of the title creature in there.

I missed that the first time around.  Thanks for making me even more irate.

Quote from: ToneLa on March 01, 2019, 12:59:36 PM


This series wishes it had a effects on par with Fizzgig!

St_Eddie

Aside from that, it looks fantastic.

madhair60

Originals are shit, this looks shit too. Right in. Like a glove.

Critters? SHITTERS.

St_Eddie

Quote from: madhair60 on March 01, 2019, 02:36:09 PM
Originals are shit, this looks shit too. Right in. Like a glove.

Critters? SHITTERS.

How dare you!  Critters is a masterpiece of cinema.  A masterpiece, I tells ya!  CrittersCrittizen Kane more like.

ToneLa

Six degrees of Critters

A star of Critters 3 starred in Titanic (perhaps off the strength of Critters 3) which your mum saw. And your mum had you! And you're you!!

madhair60

Quote from: St_Eddie on March 01, 2019, 02:42:49 PM
How dare you!  Critters is a masterpiece of cinema.  A masterpiece, I tells ya!  CrittersCrittizen Kane more like.

More like Critterzen Lame!

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: St_Eddie on March 01, 2019, 02:08:48 PMIt's not like NASA designs their spacecraft to look like human beings

To be fair the International Space Station does look like my penis.*









*I was involved in a terrible accident in 1992.

Avril Lavigne

Quote from: St_Eddie on March 01, 2019, 02:08:48 PM
Trailer Observations

Spot-on as usual Eddie.  The look and feel of it puts me in mind of wannabe "so-bad-it's-good" garbage like the Sharknado movies and Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, where campiness, bad effects and awful jokes take priority over sincere attempts at good moviemaking.  Of course the original movies were campy but they still felt like real movies rather than lame parodies.

Quote from: St_Eddie on March 01, 2019, 02:08:48 PM
Case in point, look at this photo and note the way that the Crite's legs remain in an upright position...

Even before I read your post I looked at that photo and thought the Crite just looks like an action figure that's fallen over.

Quote from: madhair60 on March 01, 2019, 02:36:09 PM
Originals are shit, this looks shit too. Right in. Like a glove.

Critters? SHITTERS.

Well that may be but they're the only films I've seen.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Avril Lavigne on March 01, 2019, 03:26:20 PM
The look and feel of it puts me in mind of wannabe "so-bad-it's-good" garbage like the Sharknado movies and Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, where campiness, bad effects and awful jokes take priority over sincere attempts at good moviemaking.

Bang on the money.  As you suggest, it's a fool's errand to purposefully attempt to make a "so-bad-it's-good" movie.  The movies in that category which work, are those which were inept attempts at making something genuinely good.  You can't fake it because it's insincere and as such, the resulting movie is inevitably and invariably tiresome and desperate.

Quote from: Avril Lavigne on March 01, 2019, 03:26:20 PMOf course the original movies were campy but they still felt like real movies rather than lame parodies.

Preciously.  The filmmakers put their all into making something sincere and special and for the most part, it paid off.  The thing with Critters is that nobody was watching that film for the story and characters.  Those aspects merely existed to provide a basic narrative backbone, in order to prop up and allow the real stars of the show to shine; the creatures (be they Crites or bounty hunters) and the effects used to portray them.  Take away the entertaining and endearing effects and what are you left with?  Critters: A New Binge, I guess.

About the only thing that could save this series at this point would be some quality cheeseball gags (something which Critters 2 excelled at) but judging by the trailer, it doesn't look like it's even going to provide on that front.

Ah, well.  At least this series will serve me some fresh meat to critically feast upon and scathingly tear apart.  Critters: A New Whinge?