Gremlins

                                                                       

 

                    You do with mogwai what your society... has done with all of

                          nature's gifts.

 

Randall "Randy" Peltzer is an inventor seeking to be successful with his unique inventions that do not work. Whilst searching for a Christmas present for his son Billy, he comes across a small furry creature called a Mogwai in an old antique store run by Mr. Wing. Mr. Wing refuses to give the Mogwai to Randy, but his grandson secretly gives it to him with three instructions to follow - never expose the Mogwai to bright lights, never put it in water, and never feed it after midnight. Randy takes the Mogwai home to his family home in Kingston Falls, Billy naming the Mogwai "Gizmo". Billy and Gizmo bond, but Billy's friend Pete accidentally spills a glass of water over Gizmo, causing five more Mogwai to spawn, one being named Stripe due to his quiff of hair. These Mogwai prove to be quite menacing. Gizmo is taken to science teacher Mr. Anderson where a sixth Mogwai is created and kept in the school for tests. The Mogwai manage to trick Billy into feeding them after midnight and they become trapped in cocoons, as does the sixth Mogwai.

Later, whilst Billy is out, the Mogwai hatch from their cocoons, now reptilian-like Gremlins who are menacing and destructive. Mrs. Peltzer kills three of the Gremlins, blowing one up in a microwave, the fourth decapitated by Billy. The sixth Gremlin kills Mr. Anderson and escapes. Stripe escapes to a nearby swimming pool in an YMCA centre, spawning a massive amount of Gremlins who go on a rampage across the town with numerous casualties. Among them are Mr. and Mrs. Futterman when attacked by their snowplough although they survive, the local policemen, and the town's taxing menace Mrs. Deagle who is launched out of a window on a malfunctioning stair lift. Billy and Gizmo rescue Kate Beringer when the Gremlins overrun the town's bar. Inside the post office, Kate laments on how Christmas has been ruined again, her father previously dying whilst trying to come down a chimney dressed as Santa Claus. The Gremlins' rampage falls silent when they head to the cinema to watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Billy, Kate and Gizmo sneak backstage and ignite the gasworks to destroy the cinema, killing all of the Gremlins.

However, Stripe survives having left the cinema to look for food and is chased by Billy into a hardware store until he confronts him in a conservatory. Stripe leaps into a water fountain and begins spawning, until Gizmo opens a blind, dazzling Stripe with sunlight, causing him to rot away and die, Billy, Kate and Randy (who has been at an inventor's convention) witnessing his passing. Later, as the Peltzer family recuperate from the rampage, Mr. Wing arrives to collect Gizmo, proclaiming that the western world is not ready for Mogwai. As a form of apology, Randy gives Mr. Wing a unique ash tray, and Mr. Wing concludes that perhaps Billy is ready to look after Mogwai, and leaves with Gizmo. Randy ends the film warning viewers that if their electrical systems break, then there "just might be a Gremlin in your house".

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                  Copyright(C) 2007 - 2020. All rights reserved

 

                                 

Directed by Joe Dante
Produced by Steven Spielberg (exec.)
Michael Finnell
Written by Chris Columbus
Starring Zach Galligan
Phoebe Cates
Hoyt Axton
Frances Lee McCain
Dick Miller
Polly Holliday
Judge Reinhold
Keye Luke
Roger Garth
Corey Feldman
John Louie
Glynn Turman
Ben Develing
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) June 8, 1984
Running time 106 mins
Language English
Budget $11,000,000

 

 

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