1984’s “Gremlins”, directed by Joe Dante.
Starring Zach Gilligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Frances
Lee McCain, Polly Holiday, Judge Reinhold, and Dick Miller.
What is it about?
One day while in Chinatown, inventor and father Hoyt Axton
discovers a unique Christmas gift for his son (played by Zach Gilligan). The
exotic creature he gives to Gilligan is a pint sized cutie called Gizmo (voiced
by a helium powered Howie Mandel). Gizmo is a hit with the family (including
mother Frances Lee McCain), but he comes with special instructions: No bright
lights or sunlight, no water, and no feeding after midnight. After formerly
employed child actor Corey Feldman spills water on Gizmo, little devilish
clones are produced, including their mohawked leader of mischief, Stripe.
Stripe and his gang engage in mean pranks, but when they trick Gilligan into
feeding them after midnight, they cocoon into larger and more lethal
troublemakers. Stripe then goes for a swim at the YMCA, and with the ensuing
small army they overrun the small town and it’s festive citizens. Will Gilligan,
Gizmo, and his coworker Phoebe Cates be able to save their town from the horde
of Gremlins?
Why is it worth seeing?
“Gremlins” is a Christmas themed horror comedy from Joe
Dante that few people born in the 80’s will have forgotten. Joe Dante’s
puppetry (it’s success lead to the creation of Chucky) and toy merchandise friendly A.D.D. menagerie of evil minded
critters (and one angelic predecessor to Furby) can be a lot of fun at times,
with some funny moments, a satirical vibe, and some gross out scenarios.
It’s important to keep the focus squarely on the cute and rougher
looking creatures running amok, as the movie’s tone can suffer from some sort
of multiple personality disorder. With the movie nestled squarely in the no
man’s land of PG (just before the PG-13 rating was introduced), it balances
somewhat precariously with equal parts enormously cute creature driving Hot
Wheels vehicles, and half pureed body parts and animated bubbling skeleton
corpses. While the human deaths are bloodless and usually suggested, the movie
has the most fun quartering, dicing, and exploding it’s pint sized
troublemakers since “Meet the Feebles”.
As well, the actors can be underwhelming. With that in mind,
the movie’s decision to cast the musician Hoyt Axton as the father figure of
the family can be a tough sell, as Axton is too laconic and hip to portray the
paternal vibe required here (his poorly constructed narration is almost as bad
as his hilariously inept inventions). Gilligan, as the lead, is a capable and
nice guy (I’d trust him to walk my dog any day)- but he comes across as a
destitute man’s Kirk Cameron, and instead of the overly religious overtones- he
has no tones at all.
Despite that, Gremlins is a lot of fun- taking it seriously
is a foible that will work about as well your father dressing up as Santa and
then dying in the chimney when he gets struck, and you have to carry that memory
around with you until the town is invaded by demonic ADD creatures and they
decide to open up and tell their psuedo boyfriend about it in between fighting
the horde. What better way to describe Christmas?
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