Critters (film)

Critters
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Herek
Screenplay by	Stephen Herek Domonic Muir
Story by	Domonic Muir
Produced by	Rupert Harvey
Starring	Dee Wallace-Stone M. Emmet Walsh Billy Green Bush Scott Grimes Nadine van der Velde Don Opper Terrence Mann
Cinematography	Tim Suhrstedt
Edited by	Larry Bock
Music by	David Newman
Production company	Sho Films
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	April 11, 1986 (1986-04-11)
Running time	85 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3 million[2]
Box office	$13.2 million (US)[3]

Critters is a 1986 American science fiction comedy horror film directed by Stephen Herek in his directorial debut, and co-written with Domonic Muir. It stars Dee Wallace, M. Emmet Walsh, Billy "Green" Bush and Scott Grimes in his film debut. The plot follows a group of small, furry aliens with carnivorous behavior escaping from two shape-shifting bounty hunters, landing in a small countryside town to feast on its inhabitants.

Although widely believed to have been inspired by the success of Joe Dante's 1984 film Gremlins,^[4][5] Herek has refuted this in interviews, pointing out that the script was written by Muir long before Gremlins went into production and subsequently underwent rewrites to reduce the apparent similarities between the two films.^[6] The film grossed $13.2 million during its release in the United States, and spawned a Critters franchise consisting of three sequels and a web series titled Critters: A New Binge released on Shudder. The fifth entry Critters Attack! serves as a reboot of the series.