GREMLINS (1984)
Director: Joe Dante
Genre: Horror/Comedy/Holiday
THE MOVIE
Joe Dante’s Gremlins created a good bit of controversy when it was released in 1984. It was advertised as a PG rated, Steven Spielberg-produced kids movie featuring a friendship between a teenager and his fuzzy little pet, Gizmo. The promotional materials made the movie seem like it would be the next E.T. When parents took their kids to see it, however, they found themselves in a sometimes violent, scary and black humored hybrid of horror and comedy and Christmas movie. Directly because of Gremlins and Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom the PG-13 rating was created. And of course, Joe Dante’s movie inspired a ton of movies in the 1980’s that featured mischievous pint sized monsters.
Holy shit, that's cute.
Looking back on it, I found the movie deeply satisfying as an eight-year old. Gremlins had everything my young mind wanted in a movie: a cute and exotic little pet, scares, plenty of gore, and an anarchic sense of humor. It was one of those times in your life the right movie hits your at the exact time when you are ready to appreciate it. So while, Gremlins is not exactly a kids movie, at the same time it really is a movie that is perfect for kids. It is scary but not too scary, it is smart but not too smart, gory but not too gory. Okay, maybe some parts of it are too gory. But at least it is gremlin gore and not human gore.
The reason why Gremlins is the best Christmas movie ever.
Gremlins is the story of Billy Peltzer, a teenager who receives a special pet from his father. The pet was bought in a mysterious shop in Chinatown and it is a little animal called a mogwai. Billy’s father names it Gizmo and relays three very important rules to his son: Keep it out of the light, sunlight will kill it. Don’t get it wet. Never ever feed it after midnight. Of course, each of these rules gets broken during the course of the movie. When some water is spilt on little Gizmo, he produces a number of little fluffballs that become new mogwai. Worse of all, while Gizmo is cute and sweet, the new mogwai are all little a-holes. When Billy accidentally feeds the new critters after midnight they molt into creepy cocoons like something out of Alien. The cocoons hatch into toothy and sharp-clawed gremlins who reproduce and wreak havoc in the town.
Stickers, trading cards, gum. What more can you ask for?
THE MONSTER/EFFECTS
There are few movie characters who can go toe to toe with Gizmo in absolute cuteness. And it is not an annoying cuteness like an Ewok or Minya. Gizno is just genuinely adorable and he has been known to reduce grown men into cooing Japanese school girls. He’s just that damn cute.
A lot of people don't know this, but Gizmo was the original composer of Axel's theme from Beverly Hills Cop. It's true.
The cool thing about the movie is that the gremlins are as nasty as Gizmo is cute. They look like anorexic evil Yodas. They dance, shoot each other, eat candy, bite, scratch and raise hell. They are what every little kid really would do without parental supervision, which is why the movie was so popular with kids when it came out.
Both Gizmo and the gremlins are realized through different kinds of puppets and animatronics and even some stop motion with various degrees of success. Some shots look really good, some not so good. Give ‘em a break, it was the early ‘80’s.
DVD AVAILABILITY
A couple of different versions are available. Neither one has too much in terms of extras. I would like to see a superduper deluxe version.
A bluray was just released but I don't think it includes any other features than what were on the Deluxe DVD. Kinda sad since 2009 was the 25th anniversary.
Cutegasm.
MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE
There are really quite a few. Seeing it again, I love the sequence where Billy’s mom single-handedly fights off three gremlins that have infested her kitchen. You would think she would just turn around and get the hell out but instead she pulls a Sigourney Weaver and dispatches them with various utensils and appliances, concluding with a sequence where she fights one into a microwave and nukes him.
As a kid, the medicine cabinet scene scared the crap out of me.
SEQUELS
Gremlins 2: The New Batch was released in 1990 and took the series into a wildly comedic
direction. If you liked the bar and movie theater scenes in the original you will love the sequel.
SEE ALSO
Small Soldiers 1998
Gizmo, ka-ka!
MINORITY REPORT
The verdict:
The Black Guy Dies First. Billy’s science professor, who is apparently the only black guy in town is the first to die at the hands of the gremlins.
Also, on a related note, there were charges at the time of the movie's release that the gremlins behaved in what some would consider very stereotypically “black,” ways, particularly in the bar scene.
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