When it comes to Christmas, many people in my generation go with Die Hard as their holiday flick. I’ve never seen it plus I can’t stand Bruce Willis, another chicken-shit-hawk “action” star.
Anyway, yeah, I know…it’s Christmas and the movie is supposed to be set around the holiday despite Gremlins debuting in the Summer of 1984. I remember seeing it in a theater, an uncommon treat when I was high school since my parents could be cheap on the little comforts. Plus, you could possibly see boobs in a PG movie then, a common fear my mother had.
It still holds up. The timing remains funny. The surroundings of 1983-4 don’t detract from the story. Not even mush-mothed, future rehab-failure, reality star Corey Feldman ruined the movie. His scenes were small thankfully. What I did learn, because I forgot, was Judge Reinhold’s presence as a romantic rival for Phoebe Cates (he didn’t have a prayer, bummer, Fast Times at Ridgemont High all over again) and Jonathan Banks (Prof. Hickey in Community, Mike in Breaking Bad) was a drunk deputy. I do remember Howie Mandel providing Gizmo’s voice. I learned and should’ve known all along, voice-actor emeritus Frank Welker did the rest, especially the raspy Stripe.
Gremlins never was scary but I’ve always been surprised about the film’s popularity. The creatures killed numerous people. Maybe it was due to the murders being humorous, namely the mean lady who wanted to kill the hero’s dog. This happened all the time in the Friday the 13th franchise and they never gained any appeal beyond (disturbed) teenage boys and young men. The story was predictable for it’s the time-worn adage regarding humanity’s immaturity with a force of nature or new technology. Chris Columbus and Joe Dante executed the tale beyond the usual drivel we had in the Eighties.
Alamo Extras: A string of trailers entailing Gremlins ripoffs and you know Roger Corman managed to make at least one. How he got Dom DeLuise to provide the voice for the title monster was quite a success.