This week on Coolest Alive, we’re celebrating one of the wildest, weirdest, most unexpectedly enduring franchises of the VHS era: CRITTERS! From the scrappy 1986 original that won over Siskel & Ebert, to the bonkers Easter-egg massacre of Critters 2, to Leonardo DiCaprio’s first film in Critters 3, to the deep-space madness of Critters 4, all the way through SyFy’s Critters Attack!, Shudder’s A New Binge, and the two fan-made shorts keeping the Krite flame alive — we’re covering the entire saga. Horror, comedy, sci-fi, practical effects wizardry, bounty hunters, ham-eating murderballs… It’s all here. If you love creature features, cult classics, or anything truly alive, this is one you DO NOT want to miss.

Listen, I caught Little Shop of Horrors on Broadway (many years ago now) but holy crap, it’s hands-down the greatest musical I’ve ever seen live, the way Howard Ashman’s lyrics and Alan Menken’s tunes explode with that doo-wop soul and razor-sharp wit, turning a cheesy B-movie into this wild, hilarious monster mash of temptation and chaos on stage. The puppetry for Audrey II is always straight-up ingenuity or genius, devouring the set with attitude, while the cast belts out “Suddenly Seymour” and “Feed Me” like they’re possessed, blending laughs, heart, and edge-of-your-seat spectacle that leaves you humming for days NO MATTER WHICH CAST PERFORMS IT! Catch a local production ASAP; it’s pure theatrical fire that demands to be experienced raw.

Bro, if you thought the Monty Python crew peaked with Holy Grail, you gotta hunt down Yellowbeard immediately, this batshit-insane 1983, Graham Chapman-led pirate comedy is basically the unsung fifth Python film, packed with legit Python royalty (Chapman starring, John Cleese, Eric Idle, plus Cheech & Chong, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, and even David Bowie in a cameo). Chapman plays the nastiest, drunkest, most treacherous pirate ever, staggering around looking for his buried treasure while everyone double-crosses everyone in the most unhinged way possible. It’s crude, ridiculous, quotable as hell (“I’m not yellow, I’m just bearded!”), and feels like Life of Brian crashed into a rum barrel. Total cult madness that deserves way more love, fire it up, and thank me when you’re crying laughing.

Yo, dive into Torso if you want a gut-punch of real American horror. Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko’s graphic novel rips open the unsolved Cleveland Torso Murders of the ‘30s, where Eliot Ness swaps bootleggers for a headless-body-dumping psycho, chasing clues through foggy streets and corrupt shadows. Packed with actual crime scene photos, gritty black-and-white art, and that noir vibe that’ll have you flipping pages like a detective on edge, it’s not just a story, it’s a raw homage to Bendis’ hometown that snagged Eisner nods for good reason. If true crime comics get your blood pumping, this unsolved nightmare is mandatory.

Dude, if you’ve never seen Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, stop everything and fix that tonight. This 1993 theatrical gem is legit the best Batman movie, undisputed amongst fans, with that perfect ‘90s Animated Series vibe, jaw-dropping art deco animation, and a heartbreaking noir story that actually digs into Bruce Wayne’s soul like nothing else. You’ve got a mysterious masked killer bumping off mobsters, Bruce torn between vengeance and falling in love with Andrea Beaumont (the one instance where the love story lands in a Batman film), Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill at their absolute peak as Batman and Joker, and Shirley Walker’s score that’ll give you chills for days. It bombed in theaters because marketing sucked, but real ones know it’s a straight-up masterpiece, dark, romantic, tragic, and still unbeatable. One watch and you’ll never skip it again.

Man, if you’re craving that raw, unfiltered heavy metal fury from the ‘90s that hits like a sledgehammer to the soul, Widowmaker’s Stand By for Pain is your fix, Dee Snider dialing up the grit post-Twisted Sister with killer riffs, snarling vocals, and tracks like “Killing Time” that dive straight into the dark underbelly of the mind. Recorded in a blistering 30 days, it’s got that urgent edge of a band pouring everything out before the metal wave crashes, blending hardcore hooks with a ‘90s polish that still shreds today. Crank it loud and feel the adrenaline surge; this one’s a time capsule of pure rock rebellion you’ll blast on repeat.

Jesse Blaze Snider, lifelong Gremlins superfan, goes full mogwai-mad, dissecting the freshly announced “Gremlins 3”. From potential locations, resurrections, stars, practical vs. CGI, and wild pitches into the creative void, Jesse unpacks every delicious “what if” that could make this threequel the ultimate after-midnight monster mash that’ll leave you chanting “bright light!” in excitement.

Fortnite remains the ultimate family gaming phenomenon, dropping players into vibrant battle-royale chaos where building, shooting, and dancing collide in a colorful cartoon world. Whether squad-ing up across continents with cousins or dropping into creative mode to build dream forts together, this free-to-play juggernaut keeps everyone connected with constant updates, crossover events, and pure joyful mayhem that turns screen time into shared family memories, no matter the distance.