Munchies

source: Munchies

This 1987 horror comedy stars Harvey Korman, Charlie Stratton and Nadine Van der Velde. This begins with archaeologist, Simon (Korman) and his son, Paul (Stratton) finding a mysterious, alien creature that likes junk food. Paul names it Arnold and lets him eat snacks in the house. Simon's twin brother, Cecil (Also played by Korman) tries to steal Arnold, but Arnold multiplies a batch of hungry, mischievous creatures, "Munchies" and the only way to stop them is by means of electricity. Van der Velde (Critters) plays Paul's girlfriend, Cindy, Robert Picardo (The Howling), Wendy Schaal (The 'Burbs) and Paul Bartel (Chopping Mall) also appear. This is an ok creature feature that obviously follows the footsteps of "Gremlins," Ghoulies" and "Critters," but with dumb-founded/cheesy humor. Korman is amusing in it though and I'd still give it a try at least once.

OK, now... I won't lie... This film IS basically a Gremlins rip-off, but many reviewers like to trash films solely on how they felt about it, instead of at least appreciating the artistic integrity of the film and seeing it for what it is, a rather good comedy, and may I say a blatant stab at Gremlins. It seemed obvious to me, even as a boy, that it was intended to have a similar plot to Gremlins. This being a lighter touch on such a film, which was deemed scary by many youngsters at the time... The more comedic creature features are a fine way to introduce and draw kids in to the wide world of horror, of which I am now an avid fan and obsessed collector. I haven't even seen this movie in years, in fact since I was about 12 or 13, but I still remember it clearly as one of the funniest B-grade 'critter-comedies' I saw as a youth. Let's face it people... Reviews are never that much help anyway. They really are nothing more than one person's own humble opinion. My advice: Watch any film that YOU think sounds even remotely interesting and make up your own mind. What have you lost in the end? The few bucks it takes to hire a movie and maybe the 2hrs of your time it takes to watch it.

This movie was made for people who found Gremlins too serious and Critters to hardcore. Like many of the critters/trolls/gremlins movies of the 80's this movie is bad. The sad part is that there's no punchline to that comment. It's just bad and not in a funny way. The problem with this miniature monster movie is that it actually tries to be funny and ends up being as successful in doing that as Howie Mandell was in Walk Like A Man. What made the other 80's horror movies into classics was that they were genuinely trying to be scary, but were hilarious because they failed so miserably. Someone must have told Bettina Hirsch (yes THE Bettina Hirsch)she had a knack for comedy before she started directing this movie. Unfortunately they were wrong. Sure seeing a weird little mutated cross between a ferret and a tumor wearing a brown trenchcoat and throwing pool balls at an outcast from the Lost Boys is amusing, but not enough to save the movie. By far the most annoying part of the movie is the Paul character. His Paul Reiser wannabe schtick is enough to make you start fast forwarding from the time of his first scene until the ending credits only stopping once to see a scene where a munchie throws pool balls at a guy...not that I did that. So the bottom line is run, don't walk, to your nearest Blockbuster and shake hands with the manager and thank him for not having the grapes to stock this pile of garbage on the shelves.

I love this movie, I first saw it as a kid and yes it is a gremlins rip-off there's no question in that but it's been awhile since I last watched it but the acting going by my memory was fine, Charlie Stratton an actor who I loved in summer camp nightmare another classic. For those who haven't seen it check it out it's a shut your brain off kind of film. I loved it as a kid and I'm 40 now and I still love it

Munchies (1986) is good fun, 2.9 is a very unfair score!! OK so it's a very low budget rip off of the far superior Gremlins but so what, this is entertaining and the munchies are cool, i love the pool table scene and the scene where the munchies steal an old woman's car!!! It's a rare movie, but i would give this fun comedy/horror a 7/10, if your a fan of Gremlins and haven't seen or heard of this then i recommend you to try and find it, it's better than you'd think, it's a lot better than Ghoulies 1, 3 and 4, and also better than all the Critters sequels.

Cute and playful, but lame and cheap. 'Munchies' is another Gremlins clone to come out from the 80s. I'm not much of a fan of the imitations. First it was the excellent 'Gremlins'. Then came the very average 'Critters'. Lets not forget the lousy 'Ghoulies'. But the complete pits would have to go to 'Hobgoblins'. Is there more?? Now 'Munchies' for me would have to fall somewhere between 'Ghoulies' and 'Hobgoblins'. Actually I probably found it more entertaining than 'Ghoulies', but I preferred thst one's darker tone. From the get-go it plays up its goofy nature (which it's better for it), but due to that nature the hammy acting (Alix Elias and Charlie Phillips), can get rather overbearing that you rather just see the munchies running amok. That's where the fun occurs. Mostly light-hearted fluff though, as the story mainly centres on the munchies (who are either hungry, horny and destructive) in a whole bunch of supposed comical encounters (some moments do work) in the small desert town as a couple of people are on the chase. It's silly, but strangely engaging thanks to the zippy pacing. The creatures themselves look rather bland and poorly detailed, as they're basic dolls being chucked about. Where their personalities arrived from is that they can actually speak... and with attitude. Charlie Stratton and a feisty Nadine Van der Velde (who was in 'Critters') were fair leads. Harvey Korman was acceptable in two roles. Robert Picardo also pops up. Amusingly low-cut entertainment for the undemanding.

When I saw this movie, I couldn't believe my eyes. Where these hilarious creatures, dustbin muppets with big pointy teeth, really meant to be scary? Or where they designed to have a good laugh (I sincerely hope so). If you watch carefully you can even see the strings operating them (better; dragging them across the screen). The whole was rather funny than scary and I had a good time watching the movie because I was amazed by its overall incapacity to have only one good part. It is one big joke from beginning to end and I believe this movie belongs into a new category: So unbelievable crappy you'll be laughing from beginning to end. (I'm not even gonna try to comment on the acting or all the other things)

Ridiculous-looking little boogers that spawn foam and reproduce themselves. So far for the horror-elements this movie has. All the rest of MUNCHIES plays out like a really retarded comedy that's so stupid you won't find it funny anymore after about 15 minutes. I can imagine little kids cheering for these little boogers, but adults will be left with only those supposedly "smart" references translating to on-screen stuff like Capt. Kirk's log entries from STAR TREK, the most well-known scene from E.T., a blatant statement from the filmmakers going "Look! We're cashing in on GREMLINS' success here!" and a cardboard cut-out of Clint Eastwood telling us... what about his western movies exactly? That last one was totally lost on me... Oh yes, and chemical waste disposal in caves seems to be a bad thing. Don't know where they got that idea from. Not to say that MUNCHIES is the most insufferable film to sit through, for that matter. It's just really, really dumb. And if you manage to crack a smile while watching it, you'll probably feel as dumb yourself for having done that after the film's finished. Good Badness? Yes, but only if "dumb", "retarded" & "ridiculous" are criteria you're looking for. 3/10 and, well, uhm, 6/10.

Munchies starts in deepest darkest Peru (looks more like a dirt road to me) where archaeologist Simon Watterman (Harvey Korman) & his son Paul (Charles Stratton) are on an expedition. Simon thinks that ancient Aztec buildings were in fact spacecraft control centres & he is on a mission to gain proof that alien lifeforms have visited Earth, while in once such structure he discovers a strange small creature which he sticks in his backpack & takes back home with him to the small American town of Sweetwater in California. Simon feels that the creature is the proof he has been looking for & for some inexplicable reason decides to leave the thing at home while he goes to share his discovery. Simon ask's Paul & his wife Cindy (Nadine Van der Velde) to take care of it. Meanwhile Simon's brother & fast-food businessman Cecil Watterman (Harvey Korman again) steals the creature so his brother won't make any money out of it, but his idiotic stepson Dude (Jon Stafford) has a fight with it & chops it up with a knife but the individual parts grow back into separate little creatures that proceed to cause much havoc amongst the townspeople... Directed by Bettina Hirsch this has to be one of the worst horror comedy's ever, if not the worst. The script by Lance Smith is so unfunny it's painful. Every joke in Munchies misses the target by the proverbial mile, I doubt the humour in this piece of crap would even appeal to pre-teens. There just isn't anything even remotely funny or even amusing in Munchies as far as I'm concerned. The basic story is crap too, they just happen to find this creature running around with no explanation of what it is, why no-ones ever seen it before, how it manages to learn English so quickly & how it learns to drive etc. The whole thing is a big Gremlins (1984) rip-off with none of the elements that made that film so good. The character's are moronic, the stupid Deputy (Charlie Phillips) & his dad (Hardy Rawls), Cecil wearing an embarrassing wig & fake moustache & his air head wife Melvis (Alix Elias) & more besides. They just plain embarrass & are ridiculous, I defy anyone to find any of this rancid rubbish funny. Basically Munchies fails spectacularly at being either a comedy or horror & ends up being, yes you've guessed it, crap. Director Hirsch was obviously working with a low budget here & it shows, the entire thing takes place in two houses, the desert, some caves & a miniature golf course. This is really cheap & incompetent film-making. The special effects on the Munchies themselves are really awful, their just dolls that have no movement unless someone off camera pulls a string attached to it's arm. I cannot stress how bad the effects are, these things wouldn't convince my 4 year old nephew (as proved by me & him yesterday!). Total incompetence all the way, this film sucks. Technically the film is terrible, bad special effects, lame production design, rubbish sets & well, just everything's crap. The acting is rotten through & through, from the cops to Korman who has two roles both of which prove he can't act & isn't funny. Munchies is a really bad film that fails in everything that it tries to achieve, sure watch it if you want I won't stop you but just don't say you weren't warned! My advice would be to watch Gremlins again instead, but the decision is yours!