[Yuletide Terrors] Day 8: GREMLINS

Throughout the month of December, we will be highlighting a film a day that has some tie into the holiday somehow. Some titles will be obvious, others won’t be. Some films will be good and, again, others won’t be. However, we think all titles are worth your time whether to give you chills inside your home or to make you drink more eggnog until you puke laughing.

Just before Christmas Billy’s (Zach Galligan) father brings home an unusual pet. While hocking his amateur inventions at a Curio Shop, Randall (Hoyt Axton) buys a Mogwai. Gizmo is a cute and cuddly little furball, but there are three strict rules in caring for him. Sunlight and bright light is lethal. Don’t every get a Mogwai wet. And most importantly, never feed one after midnight. Ever. Water makes them multiple. A late night snack tranforms them. And when all three rules are broken does the town of Kingston Falls stand a chance against an army of Gremlins?

I always forget how entertaining Gremlins is. It’s a great send up of  classic Sci-Fi movies like The Blob. The set pieces are great from the science classroom, the little green bastards drinking a bar dry, and catching Snow White at the movie theater. Director Joe Dante fills the movie with sight gags and background information. Even producer Steven Spielberg even has a blink and you’ll miss it cameo.

I’m gonna catch some grief for this, but I’ve always preferred Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Mainly because we had a copy of it and not the first movie. The second one feels like a Joe Dante film. The first twenty minutes of Gremlins feels like a Spielberg movie, especially once Gizmo is introduced. The scene when Corey Feldman’s character meets Gizmo needs to go to hell. It feels like a deleted scene from ET. I feel like the Feldster’s reaction was the one Spielberg had when seeing the Gizmo puppet. He knew right away that little furball would be the most memorable part of the movie. And he was right, but I don’t feel gratuitous closeups were needed for people to fall in love with the Mogwai. I saw a Gremlins double feature two years ago at the Saint Louis International Film Festival, and a girl behind me would coo every time there was a close up of Gizmo. That shit got old real fast. But on this recent viewing I wasn’t as nearly annoyed.

This is easily the most accessible movie I’ll be reviewing for this column.  Not everyone is gonna be down to watch Santa’s Slay or Don’t Open til Christmas during the holidays. Instead of watching Elf or 24 hours of A Christmas Story, give Gremlins a spin.