Gremlins (1985)
Dir: Joe Dante (also known for Innerspace, Explorers)
Let me preface this whole write up by saying that Gremlins contains one of the most influential scenes of my pre-teenage filmmaking career. Armed with a camcorder (weighted on my shoulder like a boulder) I must have tried to re-create and incorporate the thing blowing up in the microwave scene at least three times, much to my mom’s, and my friends’ moms’, despair.
We’ve all seen this movie right? I mean, really? However, I challenge you with WHEN did you last see this movie? Revisiting the movie so many years later I was struck with the fast pace of the story. The protagonist, Billy, quickly sets to work breaking every single rule he was given allowing the movie to bask in it’s extended mayhem. Getting them wet, exposing to light and letting them eat after midnight? It could have only happened faster if he checked it off a list. For the record, Billy’s next mistake after breaking the rules is putting his trust into his high school science teacher. He promptly dies first chance he gets discovering nothing! From there it’s pretty much plotless destruction. Which is why it works so well with the pre-teen crowd.
We really do get attached to Gizmo though without too much screen time. The kids were all “oooohs” and “aaaahs” at the little cute puppet as expected (or required). It only takes a few shy Gizmo moments and one Gizmo race car driver scene to sell a whole audience on cuteness. I think the contrast of cute and scary is a lot of what works with the child audience.
Throughout the film there is a push and pull with comedy and simple scares. Green monsters jumping out and long shadows are the extent of scares while there are few gross out scenes (Gizmo shooting furry bubbles from his back, a gremlin in the blender and the aforementioned legendary microwave explosion to name a few). These are tamed with recurring laughs at Billy’s dad’s terrible inventions or Corey Feldman fighting gremlins from his bedroom window. Reviewing with the kids after the movie I think the take away is much more comedy than horror. My youngest hasn’t made it through a legitimate scare movie of any real degree and he loved Gremlins.
Most of the back half of the film is really a long montages of sociopathic, slapstick green monsters. Falling, slapping, smoking, swinging from the ceiling, you name it. It doesn’t seem like a responsible parent such as myself should be exposing my 9 and 10 year olds to a puppet that consumes enough beer to literally make himself pass out after chugging a beer but I can defend myself. These are monsters! They are the bad guys! The same monsters smoking 15 cigarettes at once are the same monsters killing people and breaking windows and we KNOW that’s wrong. Extrapolate and you get my point.
Needless to say the kids loved it. Revisiting, it stood up better than most movies subjected to love as a kid watched again through adult eyes. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have any expectations other than what it really was. A simple movie that pulls at every boyish childhood scorecard. Cute creatures, green monsters, stuff breaking and a theme song that is catchy enough that after figuring it out on the keyboard my son played it as incessantly as a gremlin for weeks. While there are a few scares and some dark humor, like Phoebe Cates’ dad breaking his neck as Santa Claus, don’t worry, you’re kids will most likely miss the moroseness of it. They’ll just hear, “My dad died on Christmas”. They’re waiting for green monsters to blow up things.
Mom says : I would like a goat named “Gizmo”.
Best guess : 8+, it can be pretty anti-social
Grown Up score : B+
Kids’ Grade : It was great!