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The term "gremlin" refers to a mischievous creature. It was invented in early 20th century as a way to explain mechanical malfunctions in airplanes and other vehicles. Y'know, there are "gremlins" in the engine! Which is the context in which war veteran and town drunk Murray Futterman (Dick Miller) says the above as he's being dragged out of a bar. But what if these tricksters existed?
Gremlins follows young Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) whose father gifts him a "Mogwai" as a Christmas present. However, they must be careful to observe three important rules in order to avoid any mischief: keep them away of lights, don't get them wet, and don't feed them after midnight. Simple, right? Well, think again, cause in order to have a movie, they will obviously get wet, they will be fed after midnight, and maybe they will even get in the sun.
This is one of those films that was a frequent watch when I was a kid. It was often on TV and we also rented it a couple of times. However, for some reason, I hadn't seen it in probably 20 or 30 years. So as my kids started watching the recent animated show, The Secrets of the Mogwai, we decided to show them the OG, which obviously gave me the opportunity to revisit it after such a long time.
Even though it had been so long, most of it was still fresh in my mind. The mixture of horror, fantasy, and comedy is so well done, plus there are some really good setpieces through the film. There is also some amazing puppetry work here. If anything, this time I was more aware of Galligan's performance and he's pretty good. He also has good chemistry with Phoebe Cates, and his father's inventions are a fun extra that the kids enjoyed.
We watched the film on Saturday, and they finished the animated show afterwards. My wife told me they already saw the sequel yesterday, and I already saw her browsing Gizmo plush toys on the Internet. 40 years after and things haven't changed, cause they're still shippin' them over here, putting 'em in our TV, in our Internet, in our stereos and those little radios we stick in our ears. May God have mercy of us!
Grade:
GREMLINS
(1984, Dante)
Horror film from the 1980s
(1984, Dante)
Horror film from the 1980s
"Y'know their still shippin' them over here. They put 'em in cars, they put 'em in yer TV. They put 'em in stereos and those little radios you stick in your ears. They even put 'em in watches, they have teeny gremlins for our watches!"
The term "gremlin" refers to a mischievous creature. It was invented in early 20th century as a way to explain mechanical malfunctions in airplanes and other vehicles. Y'know, there are "gremlins" in the engine! Which is the context in which war veteran and town drunk Murray Futterman (Dick Miller) says the above as he's being dragged out of a bar. But what if these tricksters existed?
Gremlins follows young Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) whose father gifts him a "Mogwai" as a Christmas present. However, they must be careful to observe three important rules in order to avoid any mischief: keep them away of lights, don't get them wet, and don't feed them after midnight. Simple, right? Well, think again, cause in order to have a movie, they will obviously get wet, they will be fed after midnight, and maybe they will even get in the sun.
This is one of those films that was a frequent watch when I was a kid. It was often on TV and we also rented it a couple of times. However, for some reason, I hadn't seen it in probably 20 or 30 years. So as my kids started watching the recent animated show, The Secrets of the Mogwai, we decided to show them the OG, which obviously gave me the opportunity to revisit it after such a long time.
Even though it had been so long, most of it was still fresh in my mind. The mixture of horror, fantasy, and comedy is so well done, plus there are some really good setpieces through the film. There is also some amazing puppetry work here. If anything, this time I was more aware of Galligan's performance and he's pretty good. He also has good chemistry with Phoebe Cates, and his father's inventions are a fun extra that the kids enjoyed.
We watched the film on Saturday, and they finished the animated show afterwards. My wife told me they already saw the sequel yesterday, and I already saw her browsing Gizmo plush toys on the Internet. 40 years after and things haven't changed, cause they're still shippin' them over here, putting 'em in our TV, in our Internet, in our stereos and those little radios we stick in our ears. May God have mercy of us!
Grade: