Gremlins (1984)

Did you know Gremlins is based on a true story? 
It's not.

I watched Gremlins when I was very little. Which is quite surprising seeing as it was rated a 15. It is classed as a horror but as a child it never scared me, I just found it hilarious. Stripe and all those other Gremlins are evil but hilarious throughout the movie. I understood that it was a horror though. I mean, the theme music for one comes straight out of a Halloween film. It's awesome.

The darkest thing for me from the movie is the monologue by Kate, played by Phoebe Cates.

I guess she found out at a young age Santa wasn't real.

I think this is actually the scariest part of the movie. The slow rendition of Silent Night playing in the background makes the scene even more chilling.

Another scene that I always found disturbing was the snow plow scene. Knowing that Futterman and his wife were supposed to die always left me feeling uneasy. Even though he survives and is in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, I could never shake the feeling of how dark it was.

An even darker scene was actually cut from the movie. Billy comes home just in time to see his mother's head bouncing down the stairs. It was cut in order to make the movie more marketable as a family film and give way for more comedy. And there is lots of comedy. Let's not forget that this is a comedy/horror film, and although the Gremlins are evil and violent there is a lot more comedy than horror. 

My favourites include seeing uncharitable old bat Mrs. Deagle being launched out of her window on her stair lift. I ALWAYS laughed at that scene as it was very comedic and not realistic at all. So it was okay to laugh at an old woman dying. 

Ironically, the Gremlins themselves were the funniest part of the movie. They sang Christmas carols, (which leads up to Mrs. Deagle's death) sing along to the theme song from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the cinema, and have a blast in a bar getting up to all kinds of crazy shit.

Gremlins is definitely a Christmas film. It has tinsel, Christmas music, carolers, and Gizmo was a Christmas gift.


It has Christmas carolers!

It's just a very dark Christmas movie that's all. It's quite anti-Christmas I guess. It tears it to pieces, and even has Santa mauled by Gremlins.



But I have always loved it and the Gremlins for some reason never scared me as a kid. It didn't take itself serious in the slightest and embraces it's ridiculous plot. It should be shown every Christmas and every child should have to watch it, mainly for the ending;

"Bye bye, woof woof". 

Then when they're bad you can just tell them there's a Gremlin in the house. I'm sure that'll work.