TV
Director Talks “Critters: A New Binge”; There Will Be Puppets & Bounty Hunters
Over 30 years after the original Critters arrived in theaters, the four-film franchise, which has been lying dormant since 1992, is now getting its own TV series!
Verizon’s go90 has ordered “Critters: A New Binge” from Blue Ribbon Content, the Warner Bros. Television Group’s digital studio. The creative team behind Zombeavers, Jordan Rubin, Jon Kaplan and Al Kaplan, will write and exec produce, with Rubin directing.
The plot for the series is as follows…
“The critters return to Earth in search of one of their kin, who was left behind years ago during an earlier mission. They land in Burbank, Calif., where they wreak havoc on a group of high schoolers and their families.”
Speaking with Slash Film, Rubin just teased what we can expect from the return of the Crites. For starters, the series is *not* an origin story, but a continuation.
“I wouldn’t say it’s an origin story because the Critters already exist in the world,” Rubin told the site. “They’re returning to Earth because they left one of their offspring behind that they’re trying to find. They’re being chased by the bounty hunters. So it’s a new binge, but it’s not an origin story per se like Batman Begins where you’re seeing from the ground up. This is a world that already exists that we’re joining.”
He continued to tease the storyline, “Let’s just say there was an impregnation that happened. There was a seed that was left behind and now that maybe has come to fruition, so they need to find it because they think it will help them maybe take over the galaxy.”
Rubin also noted that yes, there will be two bounty hunters in “A New Binge,” though don’t expect them to be Ug and Lee from the film franchise.
“I’d say it’s two new guys,” Rubin revealed. “But yeah, two new bounty hunters coming to Earth in their same Terminator type walk and taking on different forms as they encounter them.”
Perhaps most exciting of all, Rubin says that the series will feature practical puppets – and there’s a chance the Chiodo Brothers could be back to handle the effects!
“We spoke to [the Chiodos] and I’m trying to make that work. I think that would be amazing,” said Rubin. “It’s all a matter of budget and if it can work out with their schedule and where we shoot. If we shoot in Canada… I’m trying to make that work because I met with them and they were great, but we’re speaking to a couple different puppet houses.”
“I want to use animatronics as much as possible,” he added.
What else did we learn from the chat? Rubin is aiming to start filming in a couple months, with eight episodes planned – each episode will be around 10 minutes in length.
Not even death can slow Chucky in “There Will Be Blood,” the penultimate episode of “Chucky” Season 3. With the killer receiving a mortal blow in the last episode, Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) can now take full advantage of the White House’s bizarre supernatural purgatory, leaving him free to continue his current reign of terror as a ghost. While that spells trouble for Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur), Devon (Bjorgvin Arnarson), and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind), it makes for an outrageously satisfying bloodbath heading into next week’s finale.
“There Will Be Blood” covers a lot of ground in short order, with Charles Lee Ray confronting his maker over his failures before he can continue his current path of destruction. Lexy, Jake, and Devon continue their desperate bid to find Lexy’s sister, which means seeking answers from the afterlife. They’re in luck, considering Warren Pryce (Gil Bellows) enlists the help of parapsychologists to solve the White House’s pesky paranormal problem. Of course, Warren also has unfinished business with the surviving First Family members, including the President’s assigned body double, Randall Jenkins (Devon Sawa). Then there’s Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly), who’s feeling the immense weight of her looming execution.
CHUCKY — “There Will Be Blood” Episode 307 — Pictured in this screengrab: (l-r) Brad Dourif as Charles Lee Ray, Chucky — (Photo by: SYFY)
Arguably, the most impressive aspect of “Chucky” is how series creator Don Mancini and his fantastic team of writers consistently swing for the fences. That constant “anything goes” spirit pervades the entire season, but especially this episode. Lexy’s new beau, Grant (Jackson Kelly), exemplifies this; he’s refreshingly quick to accept even the most outlandish concepts – namely, the White House as a paranormal hub and that his little brother’s doll happens to be inhabited by a serial killer.
But it’s also in the way that “There Will Be Blood” goes for broke in ensuring it’s the bloodiest episode of the series to date. Considering how over-the-top and grisly Chucky’s kills can be, that’s saying a lot. Mancini and crew pay tribute to The Shining in inspired ways, and that only hints at a fraction of the bloodletting in this week’s new episode.
CHUCKY — “There Will Be Blood” Episode 307 — Pictured in this screengrab: Brad Dourif as Charles Lee Ray — (Photo by: SYFY)
“Chucky” can get away with splattering an insane amount of blood on the small screen because it’s counterbalanced with a wry sense of humor and campy narrative turns that are just as endearing and fun as the SFX. Moreover, it’s the fantastic cast that sells it all. In an episode where Brad Dourif makes a rare appearance on screen, cutting loose and having a blast in Chucky’s incorporeal form, his mischievous turn is matched by Tiffany facing her own mortality and Nica Pierce’s (Fiona Dourif) emotionally charged confrontation with her former captor.
There’s also Devon Sawa, who amusingly continues to land in Chucky’s crosshairs no matter the character. Season 3 began with Sawa as the deeply haunted but kind President Collins, and Sawa upstages himself as the unflappably upbeat and eager-to-please doppelganger Randall Jenkins. That this episode gives Sawa plenty to do on the horror front while playing his most likable character yet on the series makes for one of the episode’s bigger surprises.
The penultimate episode of “Chucky” Season 3 unleashes an epic bloodbath. It delivers scares, gore, and franchise fan service in spades, anchored by an appropriate scene-chewing turn by Dourif. That alone makes this episode a series highlight. But the episode also neatly ties together its characters and plot threads to pave the way for the finale. No matter how this season wraps up, it’s been an absolute pleasure watching Chucky destroy the White House from the inside.
“Chucky” Season 3: Part 2 airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on USA & SYFY.
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