A Holiday Horror Comedy Done Right

• Gremlins
• Directed by Joe Dante
• June 8, 1984

When a young man accidentally breaks the rules with his new pet, chaos is unleashed on Christmas Eve in the small-town of Kingston Falls.

The idea of gremlins as creatures came about during World War II with RAF troops who jokingly blamed mechanical problems on tiny creatures which eventually lead to a children’s book in 1943 by Roald Dahl which in turn influenced Joe Dante. Thank you, Roald Dahl!

Like many great movies, Gremlins was born in the 80s in an atmosphere that saw the rise of horror comedy. The concept had been done somewhat before (most famously by the team of Abbott & Costello) but those were comedies with horror elements. Here we had a horror film with comedic elements that was definitely closer to comedy than horror much like the A Nightmare on Elm Street films were or even the Critters series.

You doubt this is a horror film? Maybe not under our current desensitized sensibilities but at the time this movie was a bit traumatic for audiences. I recall Phoebe Cates who plays Kate feeling especially traumatized. I am not sure how though. She was present for filming and those little buggers that were moving around on the floor had puppeteers that she could easily see. Anyway the consternation in Mr. and Mrs. America over the violence directly inspired the creation of the PG-13 rating at the suggestion of one Mr. Steven Spielberg.

And Gremlins justified it by the standards of the time. This gem from the 80s is as much a monster movie as it is a Christmas film despite showing up in June. I do not think it would have worked as well occurring during Halloween or just any day of the year. Others have tried this formula set during random days of the year, but these knock offs were nowhere near as memorable or as enjoyable as this film. In Gremlins the deaths are not gory or macabre. You never see blood or dismemberment. The gore is implied with noise and takes place just off camera. The deaths are darkly comical and perhaps ironic. Those other attempts failed to understand that often.

The bad gremlins that spawned from Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandell), led by Stripe (it is the 80s so of course Frank Welker voices at least one character here), do what gremlins do-cause havoc. Mrs. Deagle (Polly Holliday), the dog hating neighbor, gets launched out a window while on her stairlift. Mr. (Dick Miller) and Mrs. (Jackie Joseph) Futterman get attacked by a piece of equipment (though they are shown to have survived into the second film). Mr. Hanson (Glynn Turman) gets devoured by the gremlin given to him by Billy (Zach Galligan) to study. In each instance you find yourself chuckling just a little.

There were few actors that had the boy next door appearance of the 80s more than Zach Galligan did. He looked like he just popped out of small-town America. Phoebe Cates as Billy’s girlfriend Kate was clearly what young American males thought of based on her turn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Her character’s referencing of the urban legend of the dad in the chimney should have been funny but she made it sad.

Some of the best movies start in the simplest of ways. Here it is Billy’s father Randall (Hoyt Axton) looking for a Christmas present who stumbles upon a shop in Chinatown run by Mr. Wing (Keye Luke) who refuses to sell the mogwai (Cantonese: 魔怪, “devil”) to him but Randall is eventually able to buy it from Mr. Wing’s grandson (John Louie). An innocent, if a bit hinky, scenario that grows increasingly out of hand. Things start small and get worse to the point it affects the fate of the characters’ world.

I usually do a quick perusal of material on the Interwebs before writing these and I was shocked to learn that some see the bad gremlins as a negative depiction of African Americans based on the random articles of clothing they wear and the characters breakdancing. Huh? I never saw anything racial in this movie at all. Stripe and his group were just assholes at best. What they did were reference 80s pop culture. I guess if you look hard enough you can see just about anything in a movie.

As much as Christmas is a part of this film, the movie was released on June 8^th of 1984. That seems like a really odd time but then again, the original Miracle on 34^th Street was released May 2^nd of 1947 so I guess Christmas films do not necessarily need to show up at Christmas,-but it helps. Given that it along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom generated the creation of a new film rating I guess it is understandable. It would have been suicide to release it anywhere near Christmas.

Gremlins is a classic film that showed up at the right time and had more than enough to it to last beyond the moment. It is a darkly comic Christmas monster film that is also oddly festive. It is a must see that will become a Christmas time pleasure!