Gremlins (Me) (Kids)

The old Cygnet cinema in Como reopened, initially for the Strange Festival in July, but is now running films from a very wide range of genres and eras (as well as quality levels).  An exhaustive scan through the calendar turned up the seminal kids' fantasy-comedy, Gremlins from 1984. Seeing an opportunity to show the kids some 80s style, we ventured south of the river for the first time in ages. Now I hadn't seen this since about, hmmm, maybe 1986 (I'm pretty sure I was too young to see it at the cinema on release, so it must have been a TV screening). It's an oddity, in that it borders on horror, flirts with comedy and yet is, at its centre, a soppy heart-warmer from Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, written by Chris Columbus. Apparently though, this film (as well as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) forced the MPAA to bring in the PG-13 rating, due to complaints about violent scenes.

It starts with a slightly misplaced voice-over from an inventor/salesman called Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton), who's in New York looking for a Christmas present for his son. Oh, yeah, it's a Christmas movie too. He's led into a fusty Chinese knick-knack shop, where he tries to sell a gadget and ends up with a Gizmo instead. This is the name he gives to the Mogwai, which comes with three very strict rules - it doesn't like bright lights, you can't get it wet, and most importantly, don't feed it after midnight. Great set-up, you can see where this is going. Billy (Zach Galligan) is a good lad, it's not his fault that loads of shite starts hitting fans all across town when these diktats are broken. 

The cast is full of Gen X memories. Aside from Galligan, for whom this was the acting peak, you've also got many a teenage boy's torment in Phoebe Cates; Judge Reinhold and Jonathan Banks, both of whom were in Beverly Hills Cop that same year; Corey Feldman, who was next seen in another 80s classic, The Goonies; hey, even Michael Winslow, of Police Academy fame, voiced one of the gremlins. Nostalgia party!! In the background of the main mini-monsters plot, there's a pastiche of It's a Wonderful Life, Billy's mum (Frances Lee McCain) is even watching it on a little black and white TV in one scene, and there's a seemingly tacked-on 'message' at the end about western society not facing its environmental responsibilities - pretty prescient of 1984!

I was wondering if there are might be any lega-sequels in the pipeline for the Gremlins series and imdb tells me there is one in development. Bright lights! Bright lights!

Gremlins is screening again on Sep 1st at the Revival House - see link for other tasty films on offer.

See also:

Martin Brest's Beverly Hills Cop (1984) still stands up, and Gremlins director, Joe Dante, also directed 2 episodes of Zucker/Abrahams brilliantly stupid Police Squad! (1982).