Gremlins (1984)

A different way of telling a story

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

There is no better way to spend the Christmas season, then enjoying one of the greatest seasonal movies, the Gremlins. The movie really gets it when it comes to understanding the Christmas season. It takes you through how most people view Christmas as a happy time of year full of joy and happiness, but it also shows how the holiday season can be a very depressing time for others. No one hammers this home better in the movie then Phoebe Cates,.You know her from her role in Fast Times at Ridgemont, in the iconic scene where she jumps in the pool and ol Judge Reinhold gets his mind wondering and imagines her take off her top off (she takes it off in the film for real, but you knew that) but while Judge was busy dreamin, she catches him in "the act" in the bathroom. V embarrassing for Judge, who is also in Gremlins. Must have been pretty weird to have to work together again just 2 years after the "incident". Anyway, Phoebe, who's name in the movie is Kate, tells Billy Peltzer why she hates Christmas. She first hints at it earlier in the movie when she says "a lot of people get really depressed....While everybody else is opening up their presents, they're opening up their wrists." Pretty damn dark. But eventually she sheds more light as to why she hates Christmas. It turns out her genius dad tried to surprise his daughter on Christmas but dressing like Santa and climbing down the chimney and didn't even tell his wife he did that. Anyway, when he goes to attempt this ridiculous and probably not possible stunt, he falls down the chimney and instantly breaks his neck and dies, like an idiot. His body got stuck there and his family couldn't find him for days until his daughter smelled a terrible odor from the chimney. That's a dark story and you can understand why she has such a dark outlook on Christmas.While everyone knows this movie is mostly about Christmas and celebrating with family and friends, it does veer into a different direction with a subplot involving little furry creatures call Mogwai's. Con-man, sleazy salesman and all around terrible father Rand Peltzer stumbles upon Mogwai's in an underground chinatown shop. He refused to listen to the old wise man who lived there and made a backdoor deal with the young kid to purchase a Mogwai as a Christmas Present for his Adult Son. Also, Rand is an inventor of crappy products such as the Bathroom Buddy, trust me.. its a bad invention. He's know around town as a joke and a weasel and everyone knows his adult son supports his parents with his job as a bank teller.Upon purchasing this Mogwai, the young man warns Rand that to care for the Mogwai he must follow 3 simple rules: 1. They hate bright lights and you need to keep them out of the sunlight, it will kill them (fair and very straight forward rule) 2. Keep them away from water and 3. Don't ever feed them after midnight. It turns out that if they touch water, they multiply pretty cool but more trouble for the owner. If you feed them after midnight, they become these sweet creatures called Gremlins. I have a lot of questions on why "midnight" is a time they can't be fed and how these creatures are timezone centric. So obviously Billy Peltzer f's up when him and his pal Corey Feldman accidentally spill water on the Mogwai they call Gizmo, which immediately spawns off 5 more Mogwai. Now Mogwai are kind of whack, they are pretty much Bootleg Furby's, the popular children's toy from the Late 90s early 2000's. They add no real value and are more of a burden then anything. The 5 Mogwai's spurned from gizmo are kind of badasses. They plays a prank on the dog and hang him by the Christmas lights. They also chew threw the power chord on Billy's clock which stopped his clock at like 11:40pm. And Billy is a total weenie and didn't realize his clock his wrong and fed the 5 BA Mogwai's some fried chicken after midnight.This led to the Mogwai transforming into Gremlins which the movie tries to tell you they are "bad guys" but i'd disagree. They were however very ugly. These maniacs just wanted to drink booze, smoke cigs and shoot some guns, like most americans. There's a great montage when they are at the local pub holding Phoebe's character hostage as they all raged! Seemed like the type of bar I'd like to go to. The lead Gremlin, who they called Strip got loose after Billy's mom stabbed and microwaved his 4 other Gremlin friends. He went down to the local Y and jumped into the pool and multiplied the Gremlins by about 1,000. After a night out on the town causing some light mischief and some partying with their homies, they settled down for a screening of Snow White at the local theater. Billy, Gizmo and Kate (Phoebe) were jealous of how much fun the Gremlins were having and ambushed them by blowing up the theater and killing them all but Stripe. They eventually tortured spike by slowly melting him to death in sunlight. Extremely violent and unfair!.One Random thought, how come if the Mogwai/Gremlins touch water, they multiple but they can walk around in snow and not multiply? Also, I laughed every time Stripe shot a gun, So great!

Truly this was a really good movie i loved the mild terror of the look of the gremlins and the cuteness of the mogwai so it was over all a really good movie i would recommend this for a 8 year old. the beginning is a little boring but the middle and the end get the hype up so it is really amazing

Joe Dante's "Gremlins" is an absolutely, amazingly fun time. The concept of the Gremlins themselves being so intriguing and fun, and face it, Gizmo is one of the cutest creatures in cinema history. While this movies first 20 minutes are a bit boring, once the story and absolute fun insanity begins you'll be having such a good time that the run time of the film will completely slip by. I have loved this film since a young age, and sure it may be nostalgia, but god do I really love this movie. I highly recommend watching this on a cold winter night, with hot chocolate, and a warm bowl of popcorn. I guarantee that you will have a fun time with this. It's not a thought provoking film, it won't change your life, but it is a fun ride , completely worth it's length

Having seen Gremlins a long time ago as a child and liking the film, it was probably best to revisit it to see if it holds up today. The story (mystical creature bought in Chinatown, dad making clunky inventions) and silly dialogue are typical for the time period, it's a total 80s cheese fest. The biggest mistake that the Gremlins filmmakers made was the lead casting of Zach Galligan, who had stiff acting throughout, and Phoebe Cates who hadn't yet blossomed into the actress she would later become. The movie gets good when the Gremlins action picks up and they start causing havoc in town. The little creature's mannerisms and scheming antics are the most memorable aspects of the film. Aside from the fact it's still a fun Christmas movie, Gremlins has slightly too much hype as a classic. Can't deny though, Gremlins is by far the most impactful small creature film to date.