Gremlins

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night...wait wrong holiday let me try again....Happy Halloween to all and to all a scary night...sorry I just saw Gremlins I got the holidays confused. Since nothing says "Merry Christmas" like little green monsters. Let's start the review of Gremlins.









We open with a man named Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) looking for a Christmas present. He goes into an old shop in Chinatown owned by a man named Mr. Wing (Keye Luke) where Randall sees a creature called a Mogwai (Howie Mandel). Mr. Wing refuses to sell the Mogwai but Mr. Wing's son (John Louie) sells it to Randall. We cut to the town of Kingston Falls (which looks a lot like Hill Valley from Back to the Future) where we see Randall's son Billy who works at the bank. At the bank an angry woman named Mrs. Deagle (Polly Holliday) approaches Billy and says his dog destroyed her snowman and demands to have his dog. Later Billy goes back home where Randall has a gift for him which of course is the Mogwai. Randall named the Mogwai Gizmo and tells Billy three rules. Rule 1: Keep him away from water. Rule 2: Keep him out of bright light especially sunlight which will kill him. And Rule 3: No matter what you do never feed him after midnight.



So Billy is taking care of Gizmo when one day he accidentally he spills some water on Gizmo. The water makes Gizmo multiply into more Mogwai. The leader of the new Mogwai is named Stripe (Frank Welker). Billy shows one of the Mogwai to his science teacher (Glynn Turman) who keeps the Mogwai to study. Billy goes to meet his friend Kate (Phoebe Cates) who is sending Billy's neighbor Murray Futterman (Dick Miller) home. After getting Kate home Billy sees that the new Mogwai are hungry and seeing as it is 11: 40 Billy feeds them. But the next day the Mogwai turned into cocoons. The reason is they turned into cocoons is because they unplugged the clock and they were fed after midnight. The Mogwai that Billy gave to his science teacher also ate after midnight and is also now a cocoon. Billy goes to the school to see the cocoon but while he is gone the cocoons at his house hatch and out come Gremlins. Billy's mother Lynn (Francis Lee McCain) manages to kill most of them but Stripe escapes. Billy discovers that the cocoon at school hatched and the Gremlin killed his science teacher. Billy goes home to warn his mother and he finds out Stripe escaped.

***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

Billy grabs Gizmo and tries to find Stripe.  Billy grabs Gizmo and tries to find Stripe. Billy is too late because Stripe broke into the YMCA and jumped into the pool making him multiply. Billy tries to warn the cops but they of course don't believe him. Stripe and his army of Gremlins continue to wreak havoc on the town. They attack every one in sight and destroy everything. Billy heads to where Kate works to try and get her to a safe place. Kate works at a bar and is serving all the Gremlins who come. Kate figures out they don't like bright light and uses a camera to get out and gets in Billy's car. They hide at the bank where Kate tells Billy about the worst Christmas of her life....for some reason. Billy, Kate and Gizmo figure out that all the Gremlins are in a movie theater watching Snow White and the Seven Dawrfs. They sneak into the theater and go into the boiler room and adjust the boiler so it will explode. They blow up the Gremlins but Stripe escaped into a near by department store. Billy, Kate and Gizmo follow Stripe into the store. Stripe is trying to find some water so that he can multiply and the whole thing will start over. But Gizmo opens some shutters exposing Stripe to direct sunlight making him melt. Billy and all the rest meet back at home where everything seem to be fine. Then Mr. Wing comes and says he needs Gizmo back. So they give Gizmo back to Mr. Wing and say goodbye to Gizmo...for now (evil laughter). The End.

***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

Gremlins is a great Halloween and/or Christmas movie. The puppets and animatronics for the Gremlins and Mogwai are very good and seem realistic. The film is also very funny and it does capture all the chaos and mayhem of what it would be like if this actually happened. The music also helps with the chaotic atmosphere that the film creates and the nice happy atmosphere of when ever Gizmo is around. I also like the build up of the Gremlins in the first act of the movie. But if there is something I didn't like is that the three rules do get confusing like for example if it is snowing in the movie why don't the Gremlins in the movie multiply when they touch the snow. Also that monologue doesn't really make sense nor does it really come back into the movie later Kate kind of just says that and no one brings it up again. But other than that I like this movie and I recommend it for Christmas or Halloween. See you next time.

"HONESTLY THIS SIDE OF THE ROAD ISN'T TOO DIFFERENT"