Critters attack Comic-Con: Puppet steals the show at Critters Attack! SDCC panel

The Critters are coming!

Puppeteer Keith Arbuthnot brought out a Critter, or Crite, puppet at the Critters Attack! panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, much to the delight of the audience. 

“The critters are scary as hell in person,” said Critters Attack! (aka Critters 5) star Tashiana Washington at the panel, letting attendees see for themselves. 

Director Bobby Miller agreed that nobody wants to see a GCI Critter, which probably explains why there were roughly 20 puppets made for the film. 

“I grew up on Critters and Gremlins and ‘gateway horror’ films you shouldn’t see as a kid,” Miller confessed to the crowd. “Critters was the first movie that screwed me up.”

Continuing the horror/comedy film series launched in 1986 with Critters, Critters Attack! follows 20-year-old Drea (Washington) who takes a job babysitting for a professor who teaches at a college she hopes to attend. In an attempt to entertain the professor's children as well as her own little brother, Drea takes them on a hike, unaware that mysterious alien critters have once again crash-landed and started devouring every living thing they encounter.

Also starring and in attendance at the panel was Dee Wallace, who was confirmed to be reprising her role from the original film. 

“All my family has been eaten by the Crites. I have become a bounty hunter to take them out,” Wallace said, adding: “I really loved the fact that I wasn’t a housewife [but] that I was a badass.”

Washington admitted that “working with [Dee Wallace] is like … greatest day ever.”

Critters Attack! is the first full-length Critters film since Critters 4 was released 27 years ago, in 1992.

Producer Peter Girardi also noted on the panel that he definitely wants to do more Critters films, including a “Merry Crit-mas” holiday special. “When I go home to see my family [over the holidays] it’s a horror show,” Girardi joked. 

“Fans love Christmas horror stuff,” Wallace agreed.

Critters Attack! lands on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital on July 23, and will premiere on SYFY in October.

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