. . . and that a bad thing and because at least if this have be a troma film and it would have have wanton violence and a great sense of anarchic abandon that might have bring my rating up a bit . so what we have instead be a very tame ( rat pg ) and barely lukewarm and low budget ( roger corman produce it with an unknown director who have subsequently remain unknown ) gremlin ( 1984 ) or critter ( 1986 ) wannabe with almost exclusively flat humor and little of the logic that make gremlin work so well fantasy logic or not and no suspense and no sense of adventure and and no violence or nudity to make up for it . although i be sure some of the problem with the film be inherent in the script let face it and no one could deliver these joke so that they would be funny it seem like the big blame have to fall into the lap of the director and bettina hirsch . in more capable hand and munchies could have be entertain . after all and it start out like many great adventure film . simon waterman ( harvey korman ) and his son paul ( charles stratton ) be in peru on an archaeological dig . simon be a bit of a wacky archaeologist who be always float theory about the connection between ancient site and alien civilization . for example and he think he see evidence of laser cut on ancient stonework . so theyre at machu picchu look for more evidence of simon theory when they happen upon a secret chamber . inside they quickly find the animal they later dub arnold and one of the titular munchies . they take arnold back home to their small california desert town . simon and who think that arnold be probably an alien creature and have to go off to a colleague lecture and and he plan on tell the colleague that he finally have an alien specimen . paul and his extremely cute girlfriend and cindy ( nadine van der velde ) and be leave in charge of arnold and but a they haven not see each other in a long time and they leave arnold unsupervised while they hop in the sack . meanwhile and simon brother cecil ( play also by korman in a dual role ) and owner of a successful snack food company and be eager to buy off simon home and land theyre adjacent to his own . simon doesn not want to sell and so cecil hit upon a scheme to steal arnold . thing gradually spiral out of control and and the munchies and who have a mean streak to go along with their craving for junk food and begin to overrun the town . that read well in a summary than it play on the screen . the best shot in the film be those with natural landscape in the background and such a when character be drive on the outskirt of the desert town . interior and with the exception of cecil home and tend to look like poorly decorate and cheap set and and more importantly and they tend to show that hirsch be not very skilled at block and set up shot . oddly and give the paucity of the production design overall and cecil home be quite a gem and imbue a it be in overblown 1980s style down to the small detail and and cecil stepson and dude ( jon stafford ) and be an amusing counterpoint . too bad and then and that he out of the film so quickly . at any rate and korman be a fun actor and but he come across much good here a simon than a cecil . unfortunately and simon end up be absent for most of the film . cecil and who be differentiate physically by a ridiculous wig and facial hair and be not only the evil capitalist of the film and he one of korman classic inconsiderate and boorish character that be one of his specialty and frequently capitalize on in carol burnett show ( 1967 ) skit . unlike the carol burnett show and which tend to succeed because director clark jones and dave power have a studied way of push the skit just to the brink of chaos and hirsch rein korman in way too far and and the cecil character just doesn not work the way it should . there be a lot of other director relate problem and not the least of which be wonky pace and edit and which completely sap any possible suspense or compelling dramatic impact from the film . even scene that should have be shoe in for amping up the drama such a when the munchies be harass an old lady on the road be put together far too awkwardly to have much affect . there be also serious logical problem with the story a it stand . where do the munchie in the chamber at machu picchu come from . the film trailer seem to show an answer to this and but it be edit out of the final cut . a more serious problem be that and unlike gremlin and there be no clear reason for munchies to go from cute and cuddly furballs to menace monster . it just happen . far and because munchies be keep pg and and the violence remain tone down and when the creature be in their monster phase and theyre never very threaten . theyre also easily dispatch and at least temporarily . admittedly and the gist of the film isn not suspense and horror and compelling drama or any of that other stuff and but humor . it intend more a a spoof of gremlin and the countless rip offs in it wake . the only problem with that be that the film just isn not funny and even though i chuckle a couple time . a surprisingly high percentage of the joke be bland clichés . too much of the remain material consists of non sequiturs . give bad timing from hirsch and it all just fall flat . there be potential to make a film that while a spoof and be both funny and frightening and hilarious and disturbing and cheesy and suspenseful and all at the same time and ala killer klowns from out space ( 1988 ) . too bad and then and that munchies come nowhere near that .