Bloodtype Online

    Inventor and family man Randall Peltzer is off in the city selling his inventions and looking for a Christmas present for his son Billy.  While pitching the bathroom buddy to the proprietor of what appears to be a junk shop he sees a strange creature called a Mogwai.  The owner refuses to sell him the creature, but the man’s grandson goes against his wishes and does so anyway.  But he does warn him that there are three rules that he must always follow.  First keep the Mogwai out of the light.  Second never get the Mogwai wet.  Third never ever feed the Mogwai after midnight.  Of course when Billy is given the Mogwai, who he names Gizmo, he is told of the rules.  Guess what happens?  Yep the Mogwai gets wet and multiplies, and then the new ones eat after midnight and become Gremlins.  I mean it wouldn’t be much of a movie if he followed the rules.  Now Billy and his love interest Kate (Phoebe Cates) must not only survive the Gremlin infestation, but also stop them from overrunning the town and beyond.   

    If you are a child of the 80s, like myself, then you grew up watching this movie.  What I find most impressive about Gremlins is that I enjoy it as much at 37 as I did when I was 14.  It isn’t often that a movie will hold up that well over the years.  The plot is entertaining and well paced, without a single slow spot.  It takes a few minutes to develop the characters, including Gizmo, and gets to the Gremlins.  What I really appreciate about Gremlins are the nods to many of my favorite “B” movies from the 50s.  From Robby the Robot, to the Body Snatcher style pods, to the familiar faces they are all over the movie, without being disruptive.  The casting is perfect with Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates in the leads.  Director Joe Dante also cast genre veterans Dick Miller (The Terror) and Jackie Joseph (Little Shop of Horrors) as the Futtermans.  And like I mentioned if you pay special attention to the cast you will see cameos from several actors from classic 50s sci-fi films.   

    So this movie is from 1984 so you know they couldn’t use CGI, which means they had to use puppets to bring both the Mogwai and the Gremlins to life.  Now I’m not sure that if it is the performance of the puppeteer, or the quality of the puppets but the Gremlins and Mogwai are characters.  Again I’m not sure how they achieved this, but I’ve never seen anyone do this with CGI.  One other thing that I wanted to mention is the lighting.  If you notice most of the scenes with either the Gremlins or Mogwai are light with strange colors and angles.  This gives the film a surreal feel, almost like a cartoon.   

    I love this movie on so many levels.  First it amuses the geek in me to see all of the references to the old “B” movies that I love so much.  Second it is a fondly remembered piece of my childhood that holds up well to the adult me.  Finally the movie just kicks ass as a monster movie with a few scares.  To me, and I would imagine many others, this is a classic. 

Rating - ****

-John "El Juan" Shatzer