Monster Movie of the Week: HOLIDAY EDITION Gremlins (1984)

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.

Gremlins on Christmas Eve
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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.

THE TRAILER

Bonus Monster Movie of the Week: The Howling (1981)

THE HOWLING (1981)
Director: Joe Dante
Genre: Werewolf movie

THE MOVIE

Werewolf movies came of age with Joe Dante’s The Howling. Gone were the days when you could glue some hair onto someone’s face and slap some fangs on them and call them a werewolf. This movie along with An American Werewolf In London, (released a few months later) moved werewolves away from the traditional “wolf man” characters and towards a more monstrous and lupine design. Both movies feature elaborate transformation scenes that pushed the limits of pre-CGI special effects and make-up technology. Both movies featured work by legendary special effects artists: The Howling features effects by Rob Bottin who also worked on John Carpenter’s The Thing, and American Werewolf features effects by Rick Baker, who has worked on everything to the first King Kong remake and Star Wars to The Nutty Professor and Tropic Thunder. The Howling, however, opened first and spawned six sequels (most direct to home video).

The Howling is the story of TV anchor Karen White (not to be confused with 70’s horror actress Karen Black) played by Dee Wallace Stone who is being stalked by what she thinks is a run-in-the-mill serial killer (Joe Dante regular, Robert Picardo). With the cooperation of the police, she attempts to set him up by agreeing to meet him in an adult bookstore. The cops arrive just as he is about to show her something horrible. He is shot dead in front of her and she sees something she cannot shake but cannot exactly remember either. After having a breakdown on live TV, Karen and her husband are advised by a friend to visit The Colony, an isolated commune. This commune at first glance appears to be a vaguely Wiccan, Northern California post ‘60’s nature retreat.


Karen White becomes increasingly disturbed by little things around her in The Colony that somehow remind her of her attacker, such as the eerie howling that fills the night and the unexplained animal carcasses that she stumbles across. She begins to suspect that her husband is having an affair with a local nymphomaniac/proto-Angelina Jolie. Meanwhile Karen’s co-worker is researching the mysterious stalker and discovers connections to The Colony, which turns out to be a werewolf community. Curiously, the movie hints at internal political rifts between different factions of the werewolves but this is not explored in much depth. Having escaped the werewolves but having been bitten by one, Karen makes an emergency news broadcast in which she warns the world of the werewolf menace before turning into one on camera.

THE MONSTER/EFFECTS

The real centerpiece of The Howling is the make up and special effects work of Rob Bottin who attempts to get as close as possible to that ultimate holy grail of pre ‘90’s werewolf movies: the cut-away free transformation sequence. We take it for granted now from everything to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to the craptacular Underworld movies. But back in the day, you could not do a transformation like this without cutting away several times. Bottin’s puppets/dummies/make-up manage to do so much in single shots that cutaways are limited. Of course the result is transformation sequences that are amazing and intricate but also long, ostentatious, and painful. I mean, seriously, bring a book. This woman sits there for like ten minutes while Robert Picardo transforms, and it's like, "What the hell are you watching this for? Run!"

The resulting werewolves are actually pretty cool and scary (although vaguely bunny-like). They actually look like a cross between a man and a wolf, which is a novel departure from werewolves that either looked exactly like wolves or, more often, Kenny Rogers.



MOSTERS FEATURED

A whole pack of werewolves.

DVD AVAILABILITY

Widely available.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

I like Dee Wallace Stone’s dramatic on-camera transformation at the end of the movie. Although it is contrived, illogical, and the rest of the movie doesn’t support the tragic tone with which it is presented, it is a very memorable moment in the history of horror movies. Although, I think she transforms into some kind of Terrier.

SEQUELS

There were six sequels to this movie; apparently each one is exponentially worse than the one before it.

THE TRAILER



SEE ALSO

An American Werewolf in London 1981 Silver Bullet 1985

Does anyone remember Fox's 1980's TV show Werewolf? It was literally one of the first FOX shows. Back when people used to make jokes about the Fox "network."