Product Description
-------------------
Classic creature comedy horror directed by Joe Dante and
produced by Steven Spielberg. When Billy Peltzer (Zach Gilligan)
is given the cute and friendly little Mogwai, Gizmo (voiced by
Howie Mandel), for Christmas, he is told never to expose it to
bright light, get it wet or ever feed it after midnight. But one
night when a glass of water is accidentally spilled over little
Gizmo, Billy soon finds out why he was told to follow this advice
as Gizmo begins to convulse, producing five new Mogwai. As Billy
and his science teacher, Mr. Hanson (Glynn Turman), then seek to
find out more about the creatures, a series of events lead to the
escape of a number of them; and due to their heightened
intelligence they know exactly how to replicate themselves. Soon
after, the town is overrun by a new breed of Mogwai - the
'Gremlins' - who are menacing little reptilian creatures, and far
from friendly.
.co.uk Review
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When his absent-minded her gives young Billy Pelzer (Zach
Galligan) a new pet, he warns him to abide by three rules. The
rules get broken, of course, and the pet--a cute Mogwai named
Gizmo--unwittingly gives birth to the vicious Gremlins who
proceed to terrorise the town.
Although the long shadow of Producer Steven Spielberg hangs over
Joe Dante's 1984 comedy Gremlins almost as much as it did over
Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982), Dante doesn't allow it to
overwhelm his own quirky style too much. Glimpses of Robbie the
Robot and The Time Machine (which promptly disappears) at an
inventors' convention reveal his passion for old-movie references
(which culminated with Matinee, 1993). Aided and abetted by
Spielberg's guidance and a script by Chris Columbus (who would go
on to direct and produce the Home Alone franchise) and a music
score by Jerry Goldsmith, Dante had all the help he needed to
make the biggest hit of his career.
Much of the humour derives from Dante's playful handling of the
setting in Smallsville, USA, whose inhabitants are as much the
target of his satire as they are of the Gremlins' unwanted
solicitations. The xenophobic neighbour who warns prophetically
of "gremlins" in foreign cars and machinery provides a subtext
for the attack on homely American values, as does showing
Invasion of the Body Snatchers on TV while the wicked Gremlins
hatch. The of the little tykes cavorting in a bar, getting
drunk and even dancing in pink leggings looks suspiciously like a
satirical dig at the whole 1980's culture of selfishness: with
their destructive impulses and overindulgences the Gremlins are
the ultimate egotistical yuppies. As with many Spielberg
projects, the bland hero saves the day for nostalgic,
old-fashioned values, but there are plenty of laughs along the
way--for example in the now-classic scene when the hero's mother
fights off Gremlins in the kitchen by stuffing them in the
blender and microwave. Dante's 1990 sequel is even more
satirically pointed, and he effectively remade the original with
Small Soldiers (1998), replacing Gremlins with toys.
On the DVD: Disappointingly, there are no extra features at all
here, aside from subtitles and "interactive menus"--which simply
means there is an onscreen menu and it works. --Mark Walker