‘Critters 2’ Is The Perfect Easter Movie, And It’s Not Just Because Of The Eggs
Easter has never been the holiday that gets the most cinematic attention.
Some holidays have films firmly associated with them by name, such as Halloween (1978) and Valentine’s Day (2010). Others have iconic films that fully incorporate the themes of the holiday they pay tribute to, like Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) for Thanksgiving. And how many Christmas movies do we really need? But is there a perfect movie for Easter? Yes there is. It’s Critters 2: The Main Course (1988).
The Eggs Are Obvious
Colorful eggs are the most instantly recognizable symbol of Easter. Whether you subscribe to the idea that eggs represent the resurrection of Jesus, or that they’re based in Pagan traditions, or both, it’s undeniable that eggs equal Easter in many people’s eyes. So, starting with the obvious, one of the key points in the plot of Critters 2 involves an Easter egg hunt.
The hunt is supposed to take place after service on the grounds of the church in the small town of Grover’s Bend. But while the preacher is preaching, the eggs hatch. Unleashed are a bunch of hungry critters called Crites who kill the town’s sheriff before rolling away like balls of fur.
An Easter egg hunt is a brilliant way to re-introduce the Crites in this sequel. At the end of Critters (1986), the Brown family—and the alien bounty hunters who came to Earth to kill the critters—thought all the Crites were dead. The final shot of the film shows undiscovered Crite eggs wriggling near a chicken coop. Critters 2 continues that plot thread, showing the eggs a couple of years later, and hatching the majority of them during an Easter celebration. The continuity is smart, and the connection to Easter is incredibly fun.
Not only that, but a strong parallel can be made between Crite eggs and Easter eggs. Britannica.com suggests that the origin of the tradition of decorating Easter eggs is obscure. The Crites in the Critters franchise come from an unknown planet, and the eggs in Critters 2 are found by people who have no idea what they are or where they came from. Obscure origins and colorful eggs tie the critters to Easter traditions in ways many people might not even realize.
Breaking Down Easter Traditions
Some of the deeper ideas in Critters 2 involve the breaking down of popular traditions as a way of getting to the root of what Easter is all about. At least, from a more fundamental perspective. Despite various stories about the holiday’s origins and evolution, it is generally accepted today that Easter is a Christian holiday which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus. Whether you believe in the story of Jesus or not, that’s what the root of the holiday is. So what’s with the eggs, rabbits, and Easter Sunday meals? Critters 2 breaks all three down to get to the heart of the holiday.
I’ve already discussed the eggs above, so let’s move on to the rabbits. In Critters 2, the town sheriff dresses up as the Easter Bunny. The zipper on the front of the rabbit suit won’t close all the way, leaving the area around his crotch open. As the Crite eggs hatch in the church yard, the baby critters leap into the crotch-hole and eat the sheriff from inside the suit. As his last move before he dies, the sheriff falls through a church window, scaring everyone and traumatizing the children in attendance. In their eyes, the Easter Bunny is dead.
Slightly more subtle is how Critters 2 satirizes traditional Easter meals. A traditional Easter dinner can be seen as a family gathering with lots of food, often with ham as the main meat. About halfway through Critters 2, the ravenous Crites gather in a diner and gorge themselves on hamburgers. Of course hamburgers aren’t actually ham, but the name is the connection.
Ug and Lee, two of the bounty hunters on a mission to kill the Crites, blast the critters. Afterwards, Ug says that “Crites feed together. Eat like a family. Love meat. Bad habit.” In Critters 2 poking fun at families who gather to overindulge on meat and other foods during Easter by comparing them to the never-satiated Crites? Yeah, probably.
There’s also at least one more subtle dissection of Easter traditions. Early in the film, a little girl has a Crite egg that she’s decorated. She also has a chocolate bunny, another staple of Easter. When the girl goes to bed, she sets the egg and the bunny down next to a vent. The egg hatches a critter, and the chocolate melts. Two Easter traditions, turned into something horrific (or at least unpleasant).
A Resurrection And A Sacrifice
So if Critters 2 is breaking down so many symbols of the holiday, how is it the perfect Easter movie? Well, I would suggest that challenging tradition is a good enough reason to call it perfect. But here’s something else. Critters 2 actually alludes to the story of Jesus’s resurrection.
I’ll gladly admit that I’m no theologian, but I know the basics of the story. To grossly oversimplify, Jesus was betrayed, he died, and then he came back. Easter commemorates that last part, and two separate characters in Critters 2 embody a similar idea.
Harv (Barry Corbin) is the former sheriff of Grover’s Bend. As Harv himself explains, after the first attack by Crites (as seen in the first movie), the townsfolk overwhelmingly decided to vote against him in the next election. Harv was betrayed. Out of a job, Harv decided to break all contact with Grover’s Bend, choosing to live by himself on the outskirts of town. Metaphorically, he died, and his tomb is a rundown trailer.
About two-thirds of the way through Critters 2, Harv returns to his former life. Wielding two revolvers and wearing his complete sheriff’s uniform, Harv declares that he’s back while standing in front of the town’s church. Harv is a symbol for the people. Their faith in the church was shattered when the Easter bunny crashed through the window and died. Now their faith resides in the resurrected Sheriff Harv who helps rally the townsfolk into fighting back. To tie a bow around the allusion, Harv leaves town at the end of the movie, just like Jesus ascending to Heaven.
The other Jesus allusion belongs to Charlie (Don Opper). Charlie found his calling in life when he left Earth after the first movie to join the alien bounty hunters. Now back in Grover’s Bend in Critters 2, Charlie once again struggles with self-confidence. Is he really good enough to be an interplanetary bounty hunter?
Charlie proves himself by making the ultimate sacrifice when he crashes the bounty hunters’ ship into the remaining Crites. To everyone’s surprise, the next morning Charlie returns, alive and well. This is, of course, a symbolic death and resurrection because Charlie secretly ejected himself from the ship before he crashed, but Biblical stories are also symbolic, so the allusion works.
Don’t Take It Too Seriously
This article is meant to be a bit of fun. I hadn’t seen Critters 2 in a long time, and this was the first time I watched it with the intention of interpreting everything as having to do with Easter. I was surprised by how much of it works in that context.
Did the filmmakers intend for all of the parallels between the movie and the holiday? Some connections are on purpose, absolutely. Others probably not. But that’s what’s great about interpretation; You can find all sorts of things when you look hard enough.
Critters 2 is a silly sci-fi horror comedy about furry aliens who eat people. It’s not meant to be taken too seriously. But personally, I seriously enjoy it and have talked myself into making it a yearly Easter tradition.
