LogFAQs > #979950516

Snake - Just a film with so much boundless creativity and gag-a-minute jokes. Sure none of the Mogwais rules make any god-forsaken sense, but its hard to really care when this much carnage is on the screen at any given minute. I like the lightheartedness of the first-half with lots of small-town humor and family comedy taking center stage, with the horror kicking in slowly and subtly as it goes in, the kitchen massacre being of course the best centerpiece where the film really shifts focus. I mainly just get a kick at how much personality each gremlin is given, the bar scene being a HUGE stand-out for the films brand of visual comedy. It doesnt matter that maybe the film doesnt have that much thematic depth - sometimes horror just needs to be fun and wacky like this!

Karo - A bunch of people who have never seen the trouble with tribbles get a hold of a strange fluffy creature that can reproduce at an astounding rate and they don't find this a cause for concern.

Once the whole town is infested with Furbys, it is unfortunately discovered that giving them a midnight snack turns them into orcs, the whole transformation into which is regarded with a laughable lack of alarm by everyone involved. Giant slimy pupae draped all over the room? No biggie!

It is campy and silly in kind of a good way, though maybe goes a bit overboard in places. Like once they started turning into Minions I kind of checked out of the movie. If you get this ridiculous it makes it hard to regard the gremlins as the fearsome adversaries you are trying to portray them as.

I guess it is decent enough at being what it was trying to be (a kids horror movie), though it will never reach any levels of greatness in either of those genres.

Rockus - Its difficult to look at Gremlins and separate it from my childhood because I grew up seeing this movie repeatedly. Though Joe Dante and crew would really show how self-aware they were with the sequel this first Gremlins is still silly and playful, with almost a cartoon sense of logic run amuck. Both Gremlins movies are such a blast that its a relief that they havent been able to resurrect the brand for a new film yet because I dont think it would work out of its era or with a different director behind the production. Some exceptional creature designs and animatronics help make the movie all the more memorable.

Seginustemple - Although it's trying to make some point about technological excess, it's such an entertaining and silly romp that it hardly needs analysis. The little bastards are delightful. They're just a rowdy dive bar crowd that loves singing along to Snow White, can't hate that. The rocket stairlift prank is beautiful, the way the old lady hits the portrait on the way up so it looks like the subject tilts his head at her is a perfect touch. It's not the only stairlift kill on the list but it's the best one. The backstory the movie gives to Phoebe Cates is crazy - she found her dead dad in the chimney dressed up as Santa and that's how she found out Santa isn't real. It's such a kick in the nuts, I kept thinking they would go one further and have the real Santa show up to defeat the Gremlins at the end.

Plasmabeam - Charming, fun, and solid overall. Does a great job walking the line between creepy and endearing.

Fortybelowsummer - Theres something I have to get off my chest in regard to Gremlins. A lot of the movie focuses on the dad and his shitty inventions. Wouldnt it have been fitting for him to make up for his monumentally poor decision in purchasing Gizmo by inventing something that defeats the gremlins? Turns out the only purpose of the gadgets is comic relief and when all hell breaks loose hes at a convention on Christmas Eve for some reason. At least it makes sense for Gizmo to vanquish Stripe, though, and it gives him a chance to zoom around in a little car. Anyway, now that Ive wasted most of my self-imposed word count on that pointless minutia, Gremlins is mostly fantastic. Any comprehensive list of pop culture things from the 80s is going to include a Gremlin/Mogwai. The little guys are iconic in both forms and its always a great choice to watch during the holidays. I like a good festive, snowy small-town vibe and I like it even more when its being absolutely ravaged by horrible little monsters. I think I might be an outlier in having this one so low, but I just dont hold as much nostalgia for Gremlins as a lot of my 80s/90s peers.

Jcgamer107 - 4/10

Evilordexdeath - I saw this one a few times as a kid. My dad used to fast forward through one particular scene and tell my siblings and I it was too scary - it was actually because one of the characters says that Santa isn't real. My memories of it were so vague that I definitely had to rewatch, but I was really not looking forward to it without particularly knowing why. Maybe it was because it has that "Produced by Steven Spielberg" stink about it. Spielberg is a very skilled director but the types of themes and aesthetics his films are built around seem so saccharine and dull to me that even the movies he directs are misses with me more often than hits. A lot of films produced by him seem to have those same failings but without the technical proficiency. Sure enough I found this pretty damn tedious to watch. Like 60% of this movie is gremlin shenanigans that I found entirely tiresome (except for the mom vs. gremlin kitchen battle scene which was sick.) From the moment the gremlins hatch until like the last 5 minutes is just constant "peril" of dealing with the little bastards for 50 minutes on end with the only break for characterization being that frankly dumb backstory about why the one girl hates Christmas and it got so repetitive and exhausting that I tapped out of the film completely. Also, I'm sorry, but Gizmo just isn't very cute. This kind of 70s-80s American puppetry that you see in E.T. and a lot of the aliens from Star Wars is good for making things that look a little weird or creepy, but not very good for making things that look cute. I guess I admire the bold attempt to use it to make a cute character, but the end result is a freaky, strangely moist little weirdo.

Johnbobb - I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this. It's a horror comedy, I think, only the Gremlins are too goofy to be scary, and they're not particularly funny either. What does that leave me with but a Jim Henson project, but instead of telling jokes, the muppets just screech violently and incoherently for 2 hours. Also, the furry gremlins and creepier than the lizardy ones.