Gremlins

Gremlins is a legendary 80s movie. Everything about it just screams "The 80s" in a really fun way.

Made in a time when they had to make use of practical effects instead of CGI, 'Gremlins' still holds very well by today's standards. It's hard to believe this film was made almost four decades ago!

The film is an interesting mix of comedy and horror. There are some really silly, illogical moments, but 'Gremlins' is not to be taken too seriously. You might sit shaking your head wondering why the creatures would do the silly things they do, but hey, it's all in the name of fun, right? Since these are also fictional creatures, who's to say what they are capable of and what their behavior should be?

Towards the end all hell breaks loose, and some scenes are disgusting (in a comedy-horror good way), and it's wonderful! The film has a good, fairly suspenseful, action-packed final act.

A dark, crazy, twisted, inventive, and violent Christmas classic. There's really no way to classify or categorize Gremlins. It's too mean-spirited to be a kid's film, but not quite intense enough to justify a higher rating (though the 15-rated UK version makes a mockery of the BBFC guidelines). That grown-up 15 logo on the old VHS and the classic John Alvin poster artwork was enough to intrigue me as a kid and I've been hooked ever since.

Gremlins has long been an annual tradition for movie fans. The cozy, snowy atmosphere of Kingston Falls (which appears to be in upstate New York somewhere but is, in actual fact, Hill Valley at Universal studios) is the perfect small town that we all wish we came from. Even when the Gremlins invade it's a homely place to be envious of.

I was frightened of the Gremlins when I was a kid, but they're really nothing more than gigantic smiles with arms and legs. They exist only to have fun at the expense of human life and private property. I suppose they could be a metaphor for hedonism or apathy. Originally a much more evil script (intended to be an anti-Wonderful Life), Chris Columbus was inspired to write Gremlins as he listened to the rats in his apartment scurry about in the dark during the night. He lightened the material somewhat before filming began, but Joe Dante's wild vision makes it a twisted, festive reality.

Special mention must be made of Jerry Goldsmith's outrageous score and that famous theme tune 'The Gremlin Rag', a demented circus fanfare of anarchy and mayhem. It's crazy to think that we had to wait 27 years to get released on CD. It's one of the first movie themes I even began humming as a young child, and I still do to this day.

Gremlins sparked the rise of Chris Columbus as a creative force in Hollywood. Only 25 at the time of filming his career has been made up of classics, and Christmas classics, such as The Goonies, Young Sherlock Holmes, Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Harry Potter, and Bicentennial Man. Joe Dante never scored a bigger hit, but his subsequent career significantly defined 80s and 90s cinema with movies such as Innerspace, The 'burbs, Gremlins 2, and Small Soldiers. Goldsmith scoring every one of them until his death in 2004 (and movie scoring has simply never recovered from this loss).

Neither of them knew the massive franchise and fan-following which Gremlins would provoke, but it certainly deserves it's place in pop culture history.

When this movie first came out, a lot of parents made the fatal mistake of thinking it was a cute, children's movie. In fact, it was this movie and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" that prompted the film industry to create the PG-13 rating. This one only got a PG.

My mother was one of the parents who confused the movie as one suitable for children.

Needless to say I was horrified by this movie as I was only 4 years old. This movie caused me to be severely afraid of the dark for many years. Yet, strangely enough, I wanted to watch it every year at my grandmother's house at Christmas time. It was tradition.

I think that if parents knew what they were getting into, this wouldn't have been as big a movie as it was, and would probably have been lost among rummage sales, and good will donations as a movie nobody wanted.

I love this movie, and it takes me back to when I was a frightened little boy, who was too scared to check under the bed when he heard those strange noises in the middle of the night. Almost 20 years later, those old scars still haven't healed completely, and sometimes just seeing "Stripe" on the cover will send chills down my spine and prompt me to move to a room with better lighting.

That's damn good film-making. Freddy Krueger didn't even do that to me.

I do get a kick out of the fact that every once in a while, the Disney channel will play this movie around the holidays.

Hoyt Axton's monologue at the begining trys to bring us into the movie by being the "story-teller" but during the movie, we trick ourselves with "it's only a movie." Ending it with Axton's end monologue drags us back into the movie, leaving us with the though... "There just might be a Gremlin in your house."

This movie used to scare me immensely when I was younger. It was the first "scary movie" I saw as a kid, and I think that may effect why I love it so much today. Nostalgic purposes, indeed.

I think this movie is good for it's purpose. It's not meant to be some life-changing, or hysterically funny, or terrifying suspense movie. It's meant to give you some scares, some laughs, and entertainment. And it does indeed entertain.

We've heard since the 50's about little green men, and in this movie, they are there. And they don't even have to come from outer space, just Chinatown. The actual mogwai (what the gremlins are before they transform) are adorable. So at first you are surprised at how this cute little furry creature who sings a little song could produce other mogwais whom are not so nice. I won't give away how they reproduce or turn into gremlins, but it's all kind of strange, and very fantasy-like.

A great movies for adults to watch with kids for their first "scary movie". I watched it when I was three, and while it did scare me there for a while, I still loved it a lot. I would recommend maybe six years or older, and if they get too scared, tell them it's really just puppets. (It is.) Overall, this film is entertaining, very 80's, a little scary, and pretty funny.