Critters 3 (1991)

I'll keep this short, because Critters 3 isn't one of the most multi-layered movies ever made, but that doesn't mean it's bad. I would say so far that the Critters franchise is one of the more even franchises produced, with a constant level of entertainment. I'm not saying any of them is masterpieces, but I've never looked for perfect movies - I want entertainment and Critters gave me more than I asked for. A few years after the sequel fiasco someone at New Line Cinema discovered that the first two movies made a lot of money on home video and asked Barry Opper and his brother Don Keith Opper to return to Critterland with yet another... no, two new instalments shot back-to-back. First out was Critters 3, this time using the old trick of moving the story from the countryside to the big city (just like Jason takes Manhattan).

A family moving to the big city gets a big surprise when a bunch of Critters follow them and takes shelter in the old apartment building they're living in. But watch out, both the little smartass Josh and bounty hunter Charlie comes to the rescue, but first after some minor bloodshed and a lot of furry mayhem!

What really works is the change of location. The dark, dirty apartment building - just like Mulberry Street - does a great job of making the monsters less silly and more dangerous. Just sharp teeth and red eyes in a dark corner boosts the horror-quality of the film and this is also a lot more horror than part 1 and 2, to great success I would say. I love my creature features nastier and darker and more adult and Critters 3 delivers. Sure, it doesn't shy away from slapstick and comedy and we're seeing farting critters, food-throwing critters, critters who blows bubbles and well, all the crazy stuff a critter do when he's bored. The well-made creatures by the Chiodo Brothers helps a lot creating menace and walks on the line between silly and macabre.

This was the feature film debut of Leonardo DiCaprio, and even if he's not bad in it's hard to imagine that his annoying kid would grow up to be his generations most famous and celebrated actor. Here he just deserves a smack on the mouth and being fed to the critters for being such a nuisance! Oh, I'm a bit harsh there - but he can't help it, he just carries on a fine old tradition that the Japanese started with their "little boy with cap and shorts" that plagued the Godzilla- and Gamera-films for years and years. Like always the best and coolest person in Critters 3 is Frances Bay, who played many weird old ladies - sometimes with axes - over the years, maybe more famously in John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness.

Surprisingly fun after all these years, and visually darker and almost a bit nastier (bloody bites, lots of them!) than the first two parts. Not bad at all I would say, even if it hardly comes up in the quality of - lets say... - Yeah, the rat-people in Mulberry Street.