[Movie 314 / Day 334]
Back in the early 80s, Chris Columbus was a struggling writer not long out of film school. Listening to the mice scampering around his apartment at night was a creepy enough sound to inspire him to write a screenplay featuring creatures called gremlins who were sadistic troublemakers. He intended that screenplay to act as a sample of his writing, to prove to would-be employers that he had talent. Fortunately, it passed across the desk of a certain Steven Spielberg who thought it was one of the most original things he’d read in a long time. So he bought it. Spielberg was apparently a fan of horror-comedy THE HOWLING and bagged the director, Joe Dante, for this new flick. After toning down the horror and adding more comedy, the original script was turned into an 80s favourite and was successful enough to become the fourth highest grossing film in the US in 1984.
The plot is pretty basic. A teenage boy, Billy, receives an odd animal for Christmas; it’s a creature called a Mogwai, named Gizmo, and it comes with a set of rules (1. Don’t expose it to bright light; 2. Don’t get it wet; 3. Don’t feed it after midnight) and a warning that the consequences could be dire if the rules are broken. Unfortunately, the rules are broken pretty quickly resulting in Gizmo having a glass of water spilled over it – which makes it give birth to lots more Mogwai. Unfortunately, thanks to a sabotaged clock, Billy then mistakenly feeds them after midnight and all hell breaks lose as they transform from cute, furry little Mogwai into evil, spikey Gremlins.
The Gremlins soon seek out water so they can replicate and before long, the entire town is over-run with the nasty blighters. In the ensuing havoc, Billy (and his girlfriend Kate) have to figure out a way to kill the Gremlins and end the nightmare.
So, the plot is fairly standard B-movie fare and definitely leans more towards comedy than horror. That’s not to say there aren’t some violent bits in it (like a Gremlin exploding in the microwave) – but mostly, the character design remains cutesy and comedic rather than getting too disgusting and horrifying.
As a movie, GREMLINS now has a huge nostalgia hit attached to it meaning people like me (that have fond memories of it) tend to gloss over its inadequacies. It remains huge fun to watch and is a firm Christmas favourite in my household. Just don’t expect anything cerebral.
My Rating: 
[ IMDB rating: 7.0 / 10 | IMDB link | Running time: 106 mins | Buy it! ]
