Gremlins movie review
Gremlins movie credits:
Directed by: Joe Dante
Written by: Chris Columbus
Cast:
Zach Galligan (Billy Peltzer)
Phoebe Cates (Kate Beringer)
Corey Feldman (Pete Fountaine)
Release date: 1984
Spoiler alert: some crucial elements of the movie are commented in the following review. Be warned!
My bloody rating:
Gremlins movie review:
Young Billy Peltzer is given a strange gift by his father when this one returns from a trip: A small creature (called a Mogwai) that was purchased in Chinatown. The pet is cute, but some basic rules must be followed when taking care of this little animal!
First, keep the animal away from any bright light. Second, make sure that the Mogwai doesn't have any contact with water. Finally, never feed this strange creature after midnight. This third rule is the most important one.
Of course, the owner won't be able to follow all rules carefully, and when the Mogwai is eating a snack after midnight, trouble is just beginning! (Ugly) clones of the creatures are appearing everywhere and causing a lot of trouble in the town of Kingston Falls.
The movie is not so frightening, except maybe for young children. Think of the movie as an evil version of "The Muppet Show" with green creatures destroying everything while the good guy and his girlfriend are desperately trying to put an end to this chaos!
The special effects are rather limited (and even laughable compare to today's standard) but it's not too distracting considering that this movie was made almost 30 years ago.
The film is written by Chris Columbus, the same Columbus who directed the first two "Home Alone" and "Harry Potter" movies. The script is quite interesting even if the pace of the movie is a little slow (something normal for a movie from the 80s).
The cast of the movie is doing an honest job even if both main actors Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates did not have successful careers after this one.
This movie was followed by a sequel six years later (1990), but this new installment did not have much success (in fact, it was just an orgy of battle scenes and the film did not have the charm of the first one).
Gremlins is a nice curiosity from the 80s that won't be a memorable experience, but maybe a fun one if you are not familiar with family movies from this decade.
Gremlins movie review written by: Martin Berube
Go back from Gremlins movie review to home page
