The Big Picture
- While a lot of people mistake Gremlins for a light horror-comedy or even a family film, it is a straight-up horror movie.
- The movie prepared me for various genres, from romance to zombie films, with its diverse elements.
- Kate's speech in Gremlins about her father's death is a chilling moment that evokes deep fear through storytelling.
I was born in 1980 to parents who didn't watch movies. My mom's favorite movie was Jaws and still is, simply because it's one of the few she's ever seen. When I was a kid, she'd rather be watching Murder, She Wrote while my dad only watched sports and shows like The A-Team. When I was five, video stores weren't quite a huge deal yet, and we didn't have cable (yes, I'm old), so the only movies I saw were the "movie of the week" offerings on network TV. One week during the summer I saw a commercial for some movie called Gremlins. The big-eyed Gizmo was adorable, and I had to watch it. My mom, like so many mothers who were fooled by the PG rating, let me stay up late to see it, thinking I was about to watch an E.T. ripoff.
I had a suspicion that I was going to witness something a little more sinister than a story about a boy and his alien, but I kept those ideas to myself. Then I watched Gremlins. It scared me half to death... and I loved it! Those devilish, transformed Mogwai still frighten me, decades later, even when I've been desensitized to hundreds of horror movies. Joe Dante's film was more than just a gateway to horror, however. It prepared me for every type of film, from rom-coms to Frank Capra, and everything in between. I wouldn't be writing about movies today if it wasn't for Gremlins.
Gremlins
HorrorComedyFantasyA young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.
Release Date June 8, 1984 Director Joe Dante Cast Hoyt Axton , John Louie , Keye Luke , Don Steele , Susan Burgess , Scott Brady Writers Chris ColumbusIt's Not Debatable, 'Gremlins' Is a Horror Movie
For 30 years, there has been debate over whether Gremlins is a straight-up horror film, a horror comedy, or a family film with some horror elements. I'm here to tell you that it's the first and always has been. There is nothing family about it. Yeah, Gizmo is impossibly cute and I wanted a Mogwai as a kid, but he's also a ticking time bomb. Imagine a puppy that would multiply if it ate kibble after midnight, melt into goo if you took it for a walk during the day, and spit out murderous devil spawn if you dared give it a bath. No parent is getting their kid one of those, no matter how cute it is.
When the gremlin mayhem starts, it's a bloodbath, whether there's gore or not. Speilberg may have changed Chris Columbus' hard-R script to make it more family-friendly, but that doesn't mean it's any less terrifying. If anything, it made it a little bit more scary because it was supposed to be safe. The kitchen scene, where Billy's badass mom, Lynn Peltzer (Frances Lee McCain), is forced to do battle with the monsters fresh out of their cocoons is chilling, especially when she goes into the living room and the red eyes of a gremlin appear in the Christmas tree behind her. To this day, I can't look at a lit-up Christmas tree without wondering what might be hiding in there. Mr. Futterman (Dick Miller) was a nice enough guy, like a grandpa (who's a tad bit racist), so to see him run down with his own farm equipment was unfathomable, as was Mrs. Deagle (Polly Holliday) being shot out of her window, even if she deserved it. These were adults behind the locked doors of their homes and they were being invaded.
Gremlins prepared me for zombie movies, where try as you may to hide and baton down against the invading horde, they still find a way in. When I was older and walked in awe through the horror section of video stores, staring at the box art like it was treasure, I came across Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Return of the Living Dead. Gremlins got me ready for what they offered. Joe Dante's movie also got me curious about other monster movies, the ones that came before, from the classics like King Kong to the lesser titles like William Shatner in Kingdom of the Spiders. I watched every Gremlins-like clone I could get my hands on, whether it be Crittersor the so-bad-it's-still-bad Hobgoblins. While they were often bloodier and more graphic, only a few, like George Romero's best movies, could ever make me feel like I was a kid again.
'Gremlins' Also Got Me Ready for Other Genres
CloseGremlins also had some top-notch practical effects fromChris Walas. These monsters weren't bad-looking puppets, short people in suits, or stop-motion (outside of one scene). They were puppets and animatronics so lifelike that it felt like they were really there, making it impossible for my impressionable mind to suspend my disbelief. I couldn't wrap my head around how they made such magic. When I was a teenager, as I was wowed again by Chris Walas' effects for The Fly, and saw the impossible wizardry in John Carpenter's The Thing, or the gross-out remake of The Blob, I still couldn't comprehend it. Watching a man's head detach from his body then grow crab legs and walk across the ground was the greatest magic trick possible — and that fascination started with Gremlins.
RelatedThe R-Rated 'Gremlins' Movie We Never Got To See Made Its Hero the Villain
Please tell us he didn't sing too!
Even though Gremlins is a horror movie, that's not all it prepared me for. Joe Dante has several winks to Frank Capra films in Gremlins. The setting, the fictional Kingston Falls, New York, is a lot like Bedford Falls, New York from It's a Wonderful Life. There is even a scene of Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) running through Kingston Falls like George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) does, and then later Billy watches that scene on his TV. To top it off, Billy works at a bank and is hounded by the rich and evil Mrs. Deagle. It makes you wonder how George Bailey would have handled a bloodthirsty gang of murderous, scaly demon creatures. I wasn't into black-and-white movies until I was older, but I couldn't help but think of Gremlins the first time I watched It's a Wonderful Life, or another classic movie shown on Billy's TV, the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
At its heart, Gremlins is also a romance. Billy and Kate (Phoebe Cates) were adorable as two young adults falling in love. Their chemistry was palpable, and even at the age of five, it made me wish the neighbor girl across the street I went to school with looked at me like they did each other. I discovered that I was a kindergarten romantic because of Gremlins. It got me to seek out other romantic movies as I got older, whether it be anything made by John Hughes or When Harry Met Sally.
Kate's Speech in 'Gremlins' Is the Most Frightening Thing I've Ever Seen
The scariest part of Gremlins for me wasn't any of the gremlin mayhem but a much quieter scene where Kate breaks down and gives a long monologue to Billy about why she hates Christmas. While the studio wanted to cut the scene, Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante insisted that it stay in. Some argue that it's out of place and unnecessary, but it gives more depth to who Kate is. In it, she tells the story about how, as a kid, her father disappeared before Christmas. No one could find him and Kate and her mother couldn't sleep at night. During this time, a strange smell started coming from the chimney. As it got worse, Kate's mother called the fire department. They ripped open the chimney, expecting to find a dead animal, but instead pulled out Kate's dad dressed as Santa Claus. He'd been sneaking down the chimney with presents for Kate when he slipped and broke his neck.
This story terrified me like no other. I was already a bit scared of Santa Claus, as the idea of a stranger breaking into my house at night and watching me as I slept was not something to get excited about. More importantly, this scene from Gremlins didn't show me the horror but made me imagine it. I could see it in my mind, this man rotting in a chimney while inside the house while his family didn't know where he was. It gives me chills just to write it. When I watched Jaws for the first time a few years later and saw Quint's (Robert Shaw) long monologue about the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, it reminded me exactly of Kate's speech. Quint reliving the horror he went through during World War II was scarier than any seen shark attack. The horror in the unseen and having to use my imagination to visualize the horror also made The Blair With Project a frightening life-changer after it came out when I was 19. Kate's speech in Gremlins prepared me for all of it.
Almost 40 years later, Gremlins is still right there at the top of my favorite movies. What it showed me made me feel things that I hadn't seen on TV before. Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher had nothing on this. I had seen horror and I wanted more. I had seen practical effects done to perfection and I wanted more. I had seen hints of Capra and romantic comedies and I wanted more. I saw a movie that turned my imagination against me and I wanted more. Thank you, Joe Dante.
Gremlins is available to rent on Amazon.
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