Stephen Herek’s Critters (1986) may be the only comedy-horror film based on a “true” event, however loosely. It’s based (loosely) on a case referred to as “The Kelly-Hopkinsville goblins” – an incident that occurred on 22 August 1955, near Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
According to the Frank Sutton family, a “spaceship” landed in a field near their house, and a small, spectre-like figure approached the house. It appeared to be lit by an internal source, had a roundish head, huge elephantine ears, and a slit-like mouth which extended from ear to ear. Its eyes were huge and wide-set, and the creature had no visible neck, but long arms which ended in clawed hands. Although it stood upright, it dropped to all fours when it ran.
The Sutton family claimed several of the creatures converged on the house, climbing trees and onto their roof. At one point, Sutton fired a shotgun through the screen door at one of the little men. Although struck and knocked over by the blast, the little creature got up and scuttled away on his hands and feet.
The bizarre events continued for most of the night until the family piled into their car and drove into town to report the incident to the police.
When Deputy Sheriff George Batts and two state policemen arrived at the house, they found no evidence of the “little men,” although researchers who later interviewed the family “were inclined to believe the incident did take place.”
Whatever the case, it remains one of the most famous cases in the realm of reported UFO encounters.
Screenwriter Domonic Muir took the basic “facts” of the encounter and, along with director Stephen Herek, created Critters.
In the movie, the “little green men” became small, round alien creatures called ‘Crites’ who looked a bit like bipedal porcupines and rolled like tumbleweeds when they were in a hurry.
Two bounty hunters from another planet are hunting down the Crites and have landed their spaceship near the small Kansas town of Grovers Bend.
Mother of two, Helen Brown (Dee Wallace-Stone), lives in a nearby farmhouse with her husband, Jay (Billy Green Bush).
A young Billy Zane ends up eaten by Crites in a small role as the boyfriend of Helen and Jay’s daughter Alice (Nadine Van Der Velde).
The bewildered local police chief, Harv, is played by M. Emmett Walsh while stage actor Terrence Mann has the dual role of rock singer Johnny Steele and Ug, the interstellar bounty hunter who “borrows” Steele’s physical features during his stay on Earth.
Much of the humour in the movie involves the bounty hunters, who steal a police car and, due to their lack of knowledge regarding earthbound vehicles, drive it backwards around town.
While the filmmakers were criticised for trying to cash in on the success of Gremlins, the original draft of Critters was actually written months before Gremlins started production, and several rewrites occurred to eliminate many coincidental similarities between the two films.
The film was successful enough to spawn three sequels, none of them directed by Herek.
Helen Brown
Dee Wallace Stone
Harv
M. Emmet Walsh
Jay Brown
Billy Green Bush
Brad Brown
Scott Grimes
April Brown
Nadine Van der Velde
Charlie McFadden
Don Opper
Steve Elliot
Billy Zane
Jeff Barnes
Ethan Phillips
Johnny Steele/Ug
Terrence Mann
Preacher
Jeremy Lawrence
Sally
Lin Shaye
Zanti
Michael Lee Gogin
Ed
Art Frankel
Jake
Roger Hampton
Critters (voice)
Corey Burton
Director
Stephen Herek
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