The brief gem in "Critters 2"

Since we’re in spooky season, today I thought I’d take the opportunity to share another one of my favorite childhood movie memories.

As I’ve established before, growing up, I was always specially drawn to films and TV shows that featured any element of transformation, gender-bending, or body-swapping. Whenever a character shifted forms, my mind was completely hooked.

Well, one of those movies was Critters 2: The Main Course, a sci-fi/comedy/horror film from 1988. In case you’ve missed out on this late '80s flick, the basic plot revolves around a batch of vicious, carnivorous alien furballs that hatch on Earth and proceed to terrorize a small quiet town in Kansas I believe.

This is the direct sequel to the 1986 original, where the creatures first escape from an interstellar prison. Hunting them down, are a pair of shape-shifting bounty hunters. These hunters have blank, featureless faces, looking a bit like smooth, white store mannequins.

In the first movie, one hunter ("Ug") changes his form to that of a rock star he sees in a music video adopting his appearance. The second hunter, ("Lee"), keeps changing forms throughout the story, never quite finding a permanent human body.

So here’s where the second movie got interesting for me and pretty much the only reason I watched it and continue to do so whenever I get the chance. When the bounty hunters return to Earth to once again deal with the critters, Lee is still faceless. The new member of the squad in this sequel asks why Lee hasn't picked a permanent form yet and Ug explains that Lee hasn't found the right self and can't live in the wrong self.

Shortly after landing, and while tracking the critters, the hunters come across a discarded Playboy magazine. Lee scans the centerfold model and selects her as a permanent form, slowly transforming into a stunning blonde woman (played by actress Roxanne Kernohan).

Lee finding her true form in Critters 2

The transformation sequence for a 1988 film is well, mostly practical effects, a bit basic, slightly campy, and definitely dated by today’s standards. But nonetheless for a young kid who spent every single day dreaming and wishing for a magical transformation of her own, it was nothing short of mind-blowing.

Upon transforming, Lee smiles with relief and seems very pleased with her new body. I mean, for a low-budget sci-fi horror sequel from the late '80s, Lee's character arc was a surprisingly progressive, sci-fi metaphor for finding one's true gender identity. In that brief moment, you see the profound happiness of someone who has finally stepped into the right body, their true self. What a meaningful message in a rather silly and unexpected movie.

Lee’s total screen time in her new form is relatively short, but that specific moment echoed in my head for years. I wanted to be like Lee. I wanted so desperately to possess that ability to scan the world, reshape my physical form, and finally sigh with relief because my body fit who I was inside, finally being my true self.