GREMLINS. Directed by Joe Dante; written by Chris Columbus; produced by Michael Finnell for Warner Bros. Starring Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates. Rated PG (some violence).
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Everyone has had machinery mysteriously go bad; car won't start, toaster burns up, light bulbs burn out too fast. And some of you have probably even considered such goings on to be the work of "gremlins."
After you see this movie, you might be a bit more careful throwing that accusation around. Dante's gremlins will become the standard for years to come, and they're vicious little creatures. They mess up traffic lights as well as unplug alarm clocks. And they leave the unbelieveably Norman Rockwellian town of Kingston Falls in complete shambles.
But in spite of the havoc they wreak, and the potential for even greater mayhem narrowly averted, Gremlins is a wonderfully entertaining and funny movie. It is almost always able to strike just the right balance between humor and suspense, the grotesque and the innocent. A slightly twisted sense of humor is probably an asset for enjoying Gremlins. But as long as you don't mind your jokes a little on the macabre side....
The movie is not without flaws but they're minor. There are a few too many shots at the beginning of Gizmo, the cute good gremlin, rolling his eyes and looking puppyish. And a scene or two of the nasty gremlins cavorting are overlong.
But considering the ads and publicity for Gremlins some moviegoers may well have questions about whether to see it at all. First, is it too scary for people overly-sensitive to scary movies? Probably not, since I usually count myself in that group, and I didn't lose any sleep over Gremlins. Scary movies are of two basic types: scary while you're watching them, and scary afterwards as well. Gremlins falls into the first category, which makes it a lot easier on the nerves than those movies that keep you awake at night.
One reason it's on the harmless side is the mixture of humor with the thrills. There are some absolutely hilarious bits, usually almost thrown away, so that you really have to pay attention to catch them. Also, there's never much doubt about the outcome of the people vs. gremlin conflict. There is suspense, to be sure. But who could really expect that a hero as clean-cut and appealing as Billy (Galligan) wouldn't come out on top?
Question 2: is Gremlins too gruesome for children or squeamish adults? Possibly. People are maimed and killed in the struggle with the beasties. But most of the mayhem occurs (and some of it is quite imaginative) at the expense of the gremlins themselves. Some viewers might consider that just as bad, and might not want to see it (or let their kids see it). Overall, though, the violence isn't much worse than on some prime-time TV. It's just different, more original. (For example, ever since there have been microwave ovens, we've heard jokes about cats, etc., being caught in them. Gremlins shows us what happens when a—supposedly—living (but very deserving) creature is microwaved.)
Originality is Gremlins' strongest suit. It is literally unlike any movie you've ever seen, although it spoofs practically every type of movie ever made. If your sense of humor runs even slightly to the bizarre, and if you like movies that make you wonder, at least momentarily, if there's something unnatural under your seat, then Gremlins is for you.
July 4, 1984