Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. When Gremlins became a massive hit there was a string of Gremlins rip-offs that hit the genre circuit. You see this happen still today, but mostly in the form of Sy-Fy cheap-o knockoffs. It's all part of the cyclical nature of the film industry. Everybody's always chasing the latest money-maker. It's much easier (and less risky financially) to follow a fad than to start one.
Now, this isn't always a bad thing. A lot of my favorite genre films are cash-ins on certain trends. Pretty much every slasher film I love that isn't Halloween or Friday the 13th is trying to grab some of that money. Gremlins spawned a few mini-franchises, like Ghoulies... my favorite is Critters.
Critters works because it's super fun, but also really dark. The cinematography is that great early/mid '80s dark and gritty, the design of the Crites themselves is both silly and creepy and the filmmakers aren't afraid to bring weird sci-fi into their little small town horror movie.
The Chiodo Bros were behind the effects here. They'd later on make the absurdly awesome Killer Klownes From Outer Space.
Today's picture shows Stephen Chiodo working one of the Crite puppets during the making of the original Critters! Enjoy!
You'll consider yourself well in with tomorrow's BTS pic! See ya' then!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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