The original Critters is one of my favourite movies of all time, so when I heard about this TV show, I was extremely excited. However, after seeing the trailer, I felt my excitement turn to disappointment and dread. Not only did it look really low budget, to the point where the Critters looked tacky and unrealistic (the originals were masterpieces of their time), but the series also seemed to venture into parody territories. The original had a lot of comedic elements, but overall had a different tone to what is presented in the trailer. It reminded me a little of how disappointed I was with Gremlins 2, as the writers just didn't seem to get the vibe of the source material. Here in the Critters - A New Binge trailer, there's a scene with two of them wearing comedy suits, which doesn't bode well. The trailer admittedly looks fun, but it very much gave me the impression that its creators have got Critters wrong. However, let's not forget how shit Critters 4 was, so surely this new series has to be an improvement?
After binging on all eight episodes back to back (which added up to just over an hour!!), I am pleased to say that A New Binge wasn't the train wreck I thought it was going to be. Yes, the puppets are cheap and the CGI is just awful, but what saves this series is the quality of the dialogue and the pacing. As I suspected, the tone is different to the original with this series being far sillier, and the storyline being utterly absurd. What saves Critters - A New Binge is that it is funny as fuck. It has plenty of hilarious one-liners and is littered with pop culture references. There are even homages to both Terminator 2, and the end of Avengers: Infinity War that have been sneaked in there.
I think that it was wise that the writers effectively re-imagined Critters instead of making this a sequel. As a die-hard fan of the original, it made this series easier to digest as opposed to me being left feeling that the source material had been treated disrespectfully.
Critters - A New Binge is far more enjoyable than Critters 3 or 4, and despite its flaws is a success. It's a given that it would have been considerably better on a budget bigger than what you'd put aside for a packed lunch, but the team involved have clearly done the best they could with what they had. The actors were great too which really helped to make it work.
Hopefully, the powers that be will realise that there is still plenty of love out there for the Critters and the franchise is worthy of a bigger-budget reboot. Chucky and even the frigging Leprechaun have had some serious dollars thrown at them, so let's hope that The Crites get the comeback that they deserve. Until then, A New Binge will have to tide us over.
After binging on all eight episodes back to back (which added up to just over an hour!!), I am pleased to say that A New Binge wasn't the train wreck I thought it was going to be. Yes, the puppets are cheap and the CGI is just awful, but what saves this series is the quality of the dialogue and the pacing. As I suspected, the tone is different to the original with this series being far sillier, and the storyline being utterly absurd. What saves Critters - A New Binge is that it is funny as fuck. It has plenty of hilarious one-liners and is littered with pop culture references. There are even homages to both Terminator 2, and the end of Avengers: Infinity War that have been sneaked in there.
I think that it was wise that the writers effectively re-imagined Critters instead of making this a sequel. As a die-hard fan of the original, it made this series easier to digest as opposed to me being left feeling that the source material had been treated disrespectfully.
Critters - A New Binge is far more enjoyable than Critters 3 or 4, and despite its flaws is a success. It's a given that it would have been considerably better on a budget bigger than what you'd put aside for a packed lunch, but the team involved have clearly done the best they could with what they had. The actors were great too which really helped to make it work.
Hopefully, the powers that be will realise that there is still plenty of love out there for the Critters and the franchise is worthy of a bigger-budget reboot. Chucky and even the frigging Leprechaun have had some serious dollars thrown at them, so let's hope that The Crites get the comeback that they deserve. Until then, A New Binge will have to tide us over.
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