Inventor Randall Peltzer is desperate to find a special gift for his son Billy, when he stumbles into a little Chinese shops he spots a little creature that would be a unique gift. The little creature is a cute furry animal called a Mogwai, but before he can buy it, he is warned about some very important rules about looking after the creature. 1) Keep it away from bright light, 2) Don't get any water on it, and 3) Never, never ever feed it after midnight. Billy loves his new pet, giving it the name Gizmo and does his best to follow the rules. Unfortunately some water is accidentally spilt on the little Mogwai, and causes it to give birth to some little brothers. The new Mogwai's seem to be much more mischievous, and manage to break the rules themselves. When they manage to break rule number 3, they turn into scaly little beasts called gremlins which cause chaos.
Gremlins was made in 1984 and was one of the year's best comedies, and still a favourite of young and old today. Some Ciao users may even think that the Gremlins are still running havoc as we experience problems with our favourite website.
What makes this film so good is the mixture of comedy with horror. Unlike the big horror movies which base there themes around vampires and demons, Gremlins uses lovable little creatures which mutate into little monsters. The film takes us on an action packed ride as the little creatures cause havoc and Billy and his girlfriend Kate, with the help of Gizmo, have to find away of stopping all the chaos and destruction.
The main star of the film is Gizmo, the cutest little pet that anyone would want, and even his evil little brother Stripe is lovable in his own way. The creatures are animatronic models which really steal the show from all the real actors. The main actor in the film is Zach Galligan (Hitchhiker) as Billy Peltzer, who is the caring boy, who loves his new pet and really doesn't have a bad bone in his body. He plays the part very well and is very likeable. His girlfriend Kate is played by Pheobe Cates (Drop Dead Fred), again a very likeable character but as with Billy is completely over shadowed by the little gremlins. There are some good supporting performances from the likes of Hoyt Axton (Bonanza) ,Harry Carey Jr (Tombstone) andy Corey Feldman (Goonies) as Billy's best friend, but as I said earlier. The real stars of the films are the little animatronic puppets.
The film was written by Chris Columbus (The Goonies) and Directed by Joe Dante (Small Soldiers). Their collaboration has really made one of the best horror/ comedies ever made. It could have been very easy to over do the horror which would have made the film to sinister, but they have achieved the right balance. Most importantly they have done a wonderful job with the little animatronic puppets making them very believable and you completely forget that they are not real. The did such a successful job of this film that it spurned an equally good sequel which saw Joe Dante take the directional reins again but with a new writer. As with a horror movie, you would expect it to be quite dark, and this has been achieved but in balance with the comedy, such as when the gremlins are causing chaos in the kitchen and Billy has to sort it out with some very funny solutions (I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet). The film is set in the Christmas period and in such uses many Christmassy songs in the sound track one of the most memorable is Johnny Mathis singing "Do you hear what I hear", it's the noisy gremlins.
= The Cast =======
Zach Galligan .... Billy Peltzer Phoebe Cates .... Kate Beringer Hoyt Axton .... Randall Peltzer Corey Feldman .... Pete F. Harry Carey Jr. .... Mr. Anderson Scott Brady .... Sheriff Frank Dick Miller .... Murray Futterman John Louie .... Chinese Boy Keye Luke .... Grandfather (Mr. Wing) Don Steele .... Rockin' Ricky Rialto (voice) *****************************======= Technical Details =============
Certificate: 15 Length: 106 mins
*****************************=================== The Message & Christian View Point =========================
No message, just a warning. After making the sequel it looks like a third instalment is being made where the little blighters take over Ciao and ruin everyone's enjoyment. If only we could find Billy to save us from there mischievous little claws.
Absolutely brilliant movie what ever time of year you watch it. Brilliant story, great direction, good acting and the cutest little pets that you could ever want, even if they can turn into little monsters. Would especially recommend this to all Ciao members to relieve the pain of the gremlins in Ciao at the moment.
Gremlins is £19.99 on Amazon which is way too expensive, but you can get both of them for £17.99, again on Amazon, which is a very good price for the two films.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2000 - Horror - Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Carmen Electra, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, James Van Der Beek, Keenen Ivory Wayans
Excellent comprehensive review on an excellent movie.
clownfoot 09.02.2006 20:07
Worth it just for the Gremlin in the microwave. It's actually incredible how dark this movie is and I mean not just from the perspective of the Gremlins - I mean, Kate re-telling the story of her Dad pretending to be Santa Claus and getting stuck down the chimney is a long way away from the poorly realised Harry Potter movies Columbus has had a recent stab at. Very dark indeed! Alboy
When his absent-minded father gives young Billy Pelzer (Zach Galligan) a new pet, he warns ... more
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...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 1 to 3 weeks...
Don't ever get it wet. Keep it away from bright light. And no matter how much it cries, No ... more
matter how much it begs...Never, EVER feed it after midnight. With these instructions, young Billy Peltzer takes possession of his cuddly new pet. Billy will get...
Advantages: Really good selection of extras and quite an enjoyable film. Disadvantages: A few scenes not suitable for small children and a whole new dictionary of words to learn.
![Gremlins [DVD] [1984]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78545599.jpg "Gremlins [DVD] [1984]")
Feb 7th, 2006
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (98%):
