Review: Gremlins (1984)

People in the Movie:  Zack Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axron

Director:  Joe Dante

Pigeonhole:  Black Comedy / “Horror”

The Basics: There are 3 rules: 1) keep him out bright lights, sunlight will kill him; 2) don’t get him wet; and 3) never, never feed him after midnight.  These are the instructions given to Randall Peltzer (Axton) when he buys a Mogwai (a small teddy bear-like creature) from a junk shop in Chinatown to give to his son for Christmas.  The rules are broken and what follows is total mayhem for the town of Kingston Falls.          

Recommendation: This is one of my favorite holiday films, and great film of the 80’s, which I highly recommend.  The movie is rated PG, but I would caution for younger kids due to some scary images and violent scenes.

My Take: This is a somewhat strange movie because while it appears the target audience was kids (a cute cuddly talking Mogwai), the subject matter is much more ‘young adult’/adult, in my opinion.  Gremlins was heavily marketed, as well as having a huge toy line tie in, with other supporting products like breakfast cereal (remember “Gremlins, Gremlins, bite after bite..”) and clothing.  While predictable in the sense that once the warnings are spoken, the audience knows that each rule will be eventually broken; it is the “how far will this go” that really hooks our attention to the screen. 

**spoiler alert** Gremlins has a 50’s creature-feature sort of feel to it.  Randall, a goofy inventor, and a fun character himself, brings the Mogwai home to Billy (Galligan) for Christmas.  The Mogwai’s is quickly named Gizmo, and he has a silly cartoonish voice (done by Howie Mandel) when he speaks- which is usually one or two word phrases.  For example, when Gizmo sees bright lights, he says “light bright”.  Gizmo and Billy become quick friends, and that’s when the trouble starts. 

Billy’s neighbor Pete (Corey Feldman) accidentally spills some water onto Gizmo, which causes him to start shrieking and convulsing.  Five little fur balls pop out of Gizmo which then quickly turn into new Mogwai, and Gizmo is later seen with a very depressed look on his face.  One of the five new Mogwai has a white mohawk tuft of hair on his head, which earns him the name Stripe.  Stripe appears to be the leader of the new ones, and is seen to be a bit mischievous.  But, mischievous quickly turns to dangerous, as Billy wakes up one night hearing his dog howling.  Billy heads outside to find his dog tangled in the Christmas lights on their front porch.  Stripe, meanwhile, is seen smiling while he “sleeping”.

The final rule is broken as Billy feeds the Mogwai – minus Gizmo – late one night, thinking it is before midnight, only later to discover his clock’s cord has been chewed.  The next morning Billy wakes and finds 5 disgusting looking cocoons in his room.  That night the Gremlins hatch; they are reptilian looking with long arms, claws, and sharp teeth.  The mayhem then commences as Stripe and a whole group of Gremlins (spawned by Stripe falling into a pool), proceed to tear apart the town with death and destruction.

The rest of the movie is mix of somewhat comical  scenes: Gremlins seen drinking and  breakdancing in a bar, a Gremlin in an overcoat pretending to flash onlookers, Gremlins going door to door singing Christmas carols, a large group of Gremlins watching Snow White and singing along to “Hi-ho” - as well as some violent scenes: Billy’s mother fighting and killing several of the Gremlins in their house, Gremlins driving through a house in a snow plow attempting to kill a man and his wife, one Gremlin shooting another with a pistol, and Gizmo dressing like Rambo to fight the Gremlins, just to name a few.

Billy’s love interest Kate (Cates) tells a somewhat disturbing story of why she dislikes Christmas.  She and Billy do survive the film.

As I noted, it is very much the formula of a creature feature – the naïve Anytown, America being overrun by creatures because of a simple failure to heed a warning.

The only question I have ever been left with is why is Gizmo not inherently “bad” as all the other Mogwai appear to be?       

Final Thought/Extras/For Fun:  This film, along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, would lead the MPAA to create the PG-13 rating… The sequel is called Gremlins 2: The New Batch…