Hiya!

I remember the first time I watched Gremlins when I was a kid. I can vividly recall being deathly afraid of the film. I couldn’t fathom why we were watching this terrifying film on Christmas day. Well, years later, I did learn Gremlins took place during the Holiday season. This is why I got the idea of reviewing this movie for Holiday-Palooza. Now that I’m older, would I be able to watch it without reverting back to my old fraidy cat self when I was a kid?

Thankfully, the answer is yes. In fact, I would even say I had a really good time watching those little monsters terrorize that small hamlet!

Gremlins, as mentioned, takes place during the Christmas season. A father wanders into a antique store and decides to purchase a cute, little creature known as a mogwai. He gives the mogwai, named Gizmo, to his eldest son, Billy, as a Christmas present as well as giving him 3 rules to follow: Never expose them to bright light (as it will hurt or kill them). Do not get them wet (or they will multiply like crazy). Most important of all: Never feed the mogwai after midnight. Unfortunately, the son does get Gizmo wet, leading to new mogwai but with a more surly attitude. The “evil” mogwai, under instructions by their leader, Stripe, tricking Billy into feeding them after midnight, turning them into their disgusting Gremlin forms and causing all sorts of havok all over town.

As I mentioned before, I was deathly frightened by Gremlins as, at the time, I saw it as a straight up horror film. Now that I’m older, I can definitely see all of the more humorous aspects sprinkled all throughout the film. However, I can still say there are some beautifully horrific scenes here but I can now see and notice the more comedic undertones in these scenes. Even the scenes were I remember being super scared before, I was enjoying at some of the more ridiculous elements I notice now that I’m older and not so afraid anymore.

It’s hard to comment on the acting as I can’t really tell if it’s good or not. I mean, everyone does a pretty decent job in their roles but nothing I would call memorable. No one really stands out and I don’t think anyone should be trying to steal the show anyway. The humans are not the stars of Gremlins, after all. No, the real stars are the Gremlins themselves.

More specifically, it would be Gizmo and Stripe. They’re the ones with the most personality in Gremlins and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I will say I’m half-and-half on Gizmo as he’s a little too goody-two-shoes throughout the entire film. I understand that’s by design as he has to be a mirror to the more destructive and nefarious Stripe. I do like Stripe a little more as he’s the more mischievous one and gets much more to do because of that. It’s sad, however, none of the other Gremlins get to show more uniqueness to them. They just feel the same and I wish they came off as more defined.

Now that I’m older, I can definitely appreciate all of the special effects and, without sounding pretentious, especially the editing and cinematography. Gremlins was made during a time when CGI was just a pipe dream so the people behind the film had to rely or practical effects all throughout. This does give the puppets a nice weight to them as you know they were actually there and it’s not the actors just reacting to nothing. I also love how they do all sorts of visual trickery, like speeding up some shots to make things look more chaotic. I especially love all the camera angles they used as, since all the Gremlins are puppets, they had to shoot the things from the waist up or you’ll see the hands of the people operating them. Even though I knew they were doing all of this, it never broke my immersion throughout the film’s brisk 106-minute runtime.

The movie does have a few rough patches, though. I already mentioned how the other Gremlins besides Gizmo and Spike don’t have much of a distinctive personality. I also didn’t like the more heavy handed message about how Western culture doesn’t really respect and revere nature as much as they should. I kind of got that from watching the movie so I didn’t appreciate it being spelt out to me at the end. Then again, I guess it’s supposed to be for kids? I mean, I know it’s supposed to be for children in a way but, like I said, I couldn’t watch it when I was younger so a part of me can’t really grasp why that message had to be said out loud instead of nuancedly taught throughout the movie.

I also didn’t like how there are some plot points which don’t really factor into the story that well. Billy’s father is supposed to be a failed inventor, which is why there are some weird, well, gizmos scattered all around Billy’s house. However, they don’t really use any of them. It would’ve been cool if they cobbled together some of these failed inventions to actually fight off the Gremlins throughout town. There’s also Billy’s girlfriend’s reason for hating Christmas. I get it’s supposed to be a gag but what was the point of the entire story? Honestly, those are the only issues I have with Gremlins and, looking at my problems with it, they’re more regarding what I wanted rather than actual faults.

Overall, I am glad I manned girled up and watched Gremlins again as an adult. I do understand why it’s a beloved movie better now as it’s more comedic than I realized. I still don’t think really young kids who watch it will have fond memories of it. Let them grow up to around into the double digits first then let them have a go with it. Sure, they might be scared but I think it’ll be a fun kind of scared at that age.

Byee!

Have you seen Gremlins? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!