Gremlins (1984)

Our Halloween Review Marathon continues with Gremlins. This 1980's movie will have you laughing and grossed out all at the same time. Enjoy!

by Ann Marie

1. Keep it away from bright light.
2. Don't get water on it.
3. Never, never ever feed it after midnight.

Three important rules to follow when taking care of Mogwai, Gizmo.

Gremlins takes place during Christmas in a small town. We start the movie with Billy's dad, Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) is in Chinatown looking for a gift for his son, Billy (Zach Galligan). Randall follows a little Chinese boy to his father's shop, where he finds Gizmo which is a Mogwai. The owner warns Billy's father that Gizmo is a lot of responsibility.  This is where the audience learns about the three rules; keep it away from bright light, don't get water on it, and never ever feed it after midnight. Billy's father then returns home and gives Billy Gizmo for Christmas, but at this time Billy doesn't quite understand the full consequences of the rules. Then Billy's friend Pete Fountaine (Corey Feldman) comes over and he accidentally spills water on Gizmo. Gizmo then starts producing more Mogwai helping the audience understand why Gizmo shouldn't get wet. But Billy and Pete think this is the coolest thing, but don't realize Gizmo's reproductions aren't as nice as the original. The other Gizmos start creating havoc in the house and mess with Billy and his family. At one point, they start bouncing up and down wanting food. Billy then looks at the clock and realizes it's before midnight and gives them food. The next day he realizes the Mogwai disconnected the clock and they are now in cocoons changing into their evil gremlin forms. These gremlins then start creating chaos and running the residents out of the town, but Billy decides he has to stop them but only with Gizmo's help.

The actors in Gremlins were great on the screen for an 80's movie that came out the same time as Ghostbusters. Although many of the actors didn't rise in stardom after the film was done, one actor did make his mark Corey Feldman, who only played a minor role as Pete Fountaine. Another known actor, although he didn't make a physical appearance, was Howie Mandel who played the voice of adorable Gizmo. Mandel is best known now for the TV show Deal or No Deal, he has also lent his voice to Muppet Babies and Bobby's World. Phoebe Cates who played Kate Beringer was also in the movie. Cates was also in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Drop Dead Fred.

Being a movie from the 1980s, the special effects aren't as high tech as some of the monster movies we see now.  However, for it's time period it was done well.  While gore was prominent in the movie, animatronics and puppets were also used to help convey both Gizmo, his duplicated Magwai and the Gremlins. The animatronics were used to show expression, while the puppets were used for wide and medium shots. Just looking at the puppet Gizmo makes anyone want to take one home with them.

There weren't any jump cuts within the movie, but one piece that stuck out was the gore factor in the movie. In the kitchen scene where Billy's mom is fighting the evil gremlins who are trying to kill her, she sees a chance to blend one of the creatures in the blender. At this point of the movie, the use of gore comes in handy. Another part of the kitchen scene played an homage to the movie Psycho as Billy's mom picks up a knife and starts stabbing a gremlin to death. Just like in Psycho, there was little no gore left behind.  Lastly, Billy's mom see her chance to throw the last gremlin in the microwave. She cooks the monster for at least 30 seconds and we see the creature explode inside.

Joe Dante directed Gremlins.  Dante is known for The Burbs and Small Soldiers and is currently a contributor on the website Trailers from Hell - where directors and writers point to films that inspired them by narrating their trailers. Steven Spielberg who was one of the executive producers, who is best known for his blockbuster movies.

Overall, even with Gremlin's dated special effects the movie still carries a great storyline that packs a punch of humor yet fuses in the scary parts. For people who aren't fans of scary movies, this one is tolerable and on rating of how scary it is, I would say this is a 3/10.

I would recommend this movie for anyone who wants to sit back and enjoy a silly Halloween movie. It will keep you humming the theme song, I know I did.

(c) 2011 Beyond the Films