Gremlins

There are so many types of monsters around in the film industry. Godzilla and King Kong are the type of monsters that are massively big and known to cause terror to large cities. You can also say a monster is something like Dracula, Freddy Krueger or just a murdering villain. In my mind, you can't always put a type of monster into a certain genre and this is a type of discussion that could last for a while.

Fitting into that long discussion should be the 1984 film Gremlins, a monster film in many ways. Inventor Randy Pultzer (Hoyt Axton) while in Chinatown gets an animal known as a mogwai as a early Christmas present for his son Billy (Zach Galligan). A mogwai could be described as very small and fury creature who's owner must observe strict rules regarding their handling or negative consequences will occur. For example, they can't be fed after midnight, can't be exposed to bright lights nor can they come into contact with water. If these rules are not observed basically you get "monster terror".

To say a mogwai is one certain type of creature would wrong. A mogwai is a type of creature that could appear in a Saturday morning cartoon or a family film but once those mogwai handling rules are broken, he turns into the exact opposite who could be something very R rated. It is then a type of creature wanting to cause harm to the town and also a very ugly looking thing. The actions scenes involving them interestingly combine horror and comedy. The scenes involving them are quite fun and also ahead of it's time with some great special effects.

 That said, there are some plot holes in these scenes. Being set at Christmas time, many of the action scenes are set in the snow. So how can the gremlins run through snow as they do when you know snow is filled with water which is against the mogwai rules? You can't feed a mogwai past a certain time but the film gives us no clue to what time zone we are in and if you think about it, anywhere in the world it's past midnight somewhere?

As any good film should do, this film give the cast many things to do. Billy is our leader and main fighter for the town. Phoebe Cates playing Kate Beringer is the Billy's love interest. She is very likable and also very sexy as always. Randall Peltzer is the father who I'm sure feels some sort of blame towards the creatures creating havoc in his town and his character does have some funny moments with his strange and worthless inventions. Even Corey Feldman shows up as the character Pete who is like your little brother in that he is highly annoying and just seems to roam around without direction but you like him though.
  

Gremlins apparently was one of the movies which introduced the PG-13 rating. It is a film that in some respects defines 1980's era films. It is a film that I enjoyed more when I was a little boy but the teenager in me still found something in it that I liked. Gremlins would surely work for a modern family audience today. This is a film that is as powerful then as it is now. Monster film joy.

4/5

Favorite Christmas movies

As with any holiday, Christmas has it's share of problems. It is a holiday that I liked a lot more when I was younger but is now just another holiday on the calendar. It's the same thing every year for me, which is a lot of busyness and living in Michigan we get a thing called snow which can be a pain. As with every holiday and any time of year, films help with the tough times. Here are my top Christmas films!

Everybody has totally forgotten about this foreign one called Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Fun, flashy, original, very sappy and not made for the little ones.

 

Not officially credited as a Christmas film but it definitively works as one. Edward Scissorhands is a very dark film from Tim Burton that really got me into him more.

 

Another film from Tim Burton. He again utilizes an original concept using Halloween this time around and mixing it with Christmas. It is another dark film that has a cult following for a very good reason.

 

 

Also a good horror film, Gremlins still holds up no matter what time of year it is. It has a very fun concept and a good film to introduce horror movies to young ones if the right age.

Really along with some other critics' lists, this list would not be complete without this film. This film is a fun ride that made us look at our own families and one of last good films from Chevy Case before they all went downhill.

This one barely made the list but it is not all that bad. A good buddy/cop film from the late 80's that was fun and has some good Christmas vibes to it.

 

This one made the list easily. A very memorable film from the 80's that at times is absolutely hilarious. A very strange film from Bob Clark.

 

 

I've become really tired of this one lately due how much it's on television but this was fun in in the mid 2000's. This really got Will Ferrell to where he is now and it works with a really good cast. I have nice childhood memories of seeing in the theater.

From a reviewing standpoint, it is not a great point to make because it is so obvious but Home Alone is truly a special film. A fun family that is memorable for about a dozen reasons and a film that made people love young Macaulay Culkin.

This one also barely made the list and I didn't love it like some people did but this film still has a lot to it. Tim Burton again brings justice to the world with this and this is the last good Batman movie before Christopher Nolan came along like fifteen years later with Batman Begins.


Well that is my list. I know I missed some classic Christmas movies and some I didn't put on the list as I just have not seen them in a while. These stood out for me anyway.