Gremlins Movie Review

An appealing comedy/horror tale with a far sharper satiric edge than you'd expect from a movie about fuzzy gnomes who turn into murderous goblins. Produced by Spielberg, who seemed to be riding some kind of wave at the time. A fumbling gadget salesman named Rand Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) is looking for something really special to get his son Billy for Christmas. He finds it in a dingy little store run by a wise Chinese shopkeeper. The shopkeeper is reluctant to sell him the adorable, bulgy-eyed, furry, lisping, sweet-natured, not at all revolting “mogwai.” He eventually relents, but not before laying down the three commandments of mogwai ownership: “Don't expose him to bright light, don't get him wet, and don't ever, ever feed him after midnight.” Naturally, the rules are soundly broken and the result is a gang of nasty, reptilian gremlins who decide to tear up the town on Christmas Eve. The film is a wild, good-natured romp, but there's a decidedly dark side to its humor. That might make it all the more appealing to some; others might prefer the lighter laughs of Gremlins 2.

1984 (PG) 106m/C Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, Frances Lee McCain, Keye Luke, Dick Miller, Corey Feldman, Judge Reinhold, Glynn Turman; D: Joe Dante; W: Chris Columbus; M: Jerry Goldsmith. VHS, Beta, LV, 8mm WAR, TLF