CREATURES (2021) Reviews and overview

What do you think of this movie? Click on a star to rate it
  

‘Jingle hell, jingle hell, creatures on the way’

Creatures is a 2020 British science fiction horror film about a group of astronomy students that find an injured alien and trouble ensues. Unfortunately, the alien is being targeted by a group of bloodthirsty alien creatures!

Directed by Tony Jopia (Cute Little Buggers; Crying Wolf; Dawning of the Dead; Deadtime).

The Jopia Productions and Creatures Media LLC movie stars co-producer Romain Barbey, Jo Hart, Hephzibah Roe, Fina Saito, Zulekha Chaka, Joe Gallina, Cristo Fernández, Jack Frank, Andrew Greaves, Steve Aaron-Sipple, Chris Kyriacou, Derek Frood and Sarah Frances.

Our review:

The plot for Creatures revolves around the dumbest bunch of supposed astronomy students ever committed to film, most of whom seem about twenty-five years old. 1980s-style racist attitudes are off-putting and annoying. We can all suspend disbelief but when confronted by the mini aliens the students would simply run a mile… so no, they stand around and make stupid comments such as “Excuse me, this is not Brexit!”

Already a chore to get through, Creatures is doubly tiresome by being about twenty-five minutes too long. A scene with aliens driving a vintage car is just embarrassing. Some awkward acting and CGI splatter doesn’t help matters. Meanwhile, the portentous classical score by Olivia Crawford and James Jarvis is impressive – except for the odd Oriental diversions – but doesn’t suit the asinine antics onscreen.

Adrian J Smith, MOVIES and MANIA

Other reviews:

“The script for Creatures […] is horribly bland and lacks the wit and engaging characters of the films it claims to emulate. None of the film’s characters has any personality […] Even the film’s borrowings don’t feel like actual homages […] Creatures is more of a soulless cash-in on nostalgia than a tribute to it. Or maybe it was well-intentioned, but just ineptly executed. Either way it’s best avoided.” Voices from the Balcony

Production:

Creatures was filmed in Oxfordshire, in February 2020, with principal photography wrapping just a couple of weeks before the lockdown began. The team said they wanted to create a Christmas themed creature feature that could sit alongside such movies as Night of the Creeps, Critters, Ghoulies, They Live and Gremlins. “Our passion lies in great practical SFX, so we wanted to deliver on the goods by bringing some creatively nasty SFX and puppet creature work that will make heads turn, literally!”

Director Tony Jopia enthused: “Creatures will definitely be delivering a red Christmas this year! We’re super excited to be making our biggest movie yet, it’s going to be a non-stop action, sci-fi, horror-comedy packed with badass nasty aliens and one adorable little bugger that’ll yule definitely want for Christmas.”

Producer Stu Jopia commented: “Creatures is for all the fans of 80s pint-sized creature feature movies. It really does has a bit of everything, action, comedy, sci-fi thrills and tonnes of gore, a true love letter to movies that I grew up with.”

Release:

Black Mandala released Creatures on November 26th 2021. Rent via Amazon Prime

Technical details:

103 minutes

Trailer:

Teaser trailer:

MOVIES and MANIA rating:

MOVIES and MANIA provides previews, our own film reviews and ratings, plus links to other online reviews from a wide variety of trusted sources in one handy web location. This is a genuinely independent website and I rely solely on the minor income generated by internet ads to pay for web costs and cover yet more movies. Please support us by not blocking ads. Thank you. Oh and as an Amazon Associate, I earn a tiny amount from any qualifying purchases.