Review of Gremlins (1984) by Popdod — 17 Aug 2019

Obviously, very interesting film. It's like a movie version of an old sci-fi short story, even the setting and mood seem very unreal like what our imaginations would create when reading such a story. Or a kind of high budget (for the time) B-movie.

Some of the scenes are great. I also have a lot of respect for those behind the mogwai and gremlins, they are all distinct and believable as if they were real. That said, the film has some serious downsides.

First, way too much screen time is spent on the gremlins. Yes, that is the name of the film, but it just feels like them wrecking havoc goes on forever and I just keep wanting it to end but it doesn't.

The gremlins were not interesting or scary, they're just like weird lizard creatures. I wish more time had been spent with Gizmo and the other mogwai before the latter transformed. The human characters were too underdeveloped, they really don't have that many lines overall when you consider the whole film.

The city they were in had almost no other people in it most of the time. It bugged me that Gizmo was stored in some random old box in the Chinese trinket shop and also people just casually accepting Gizmo as if it were a normal everyday living thing everyone knows about.

Having people seem more shocked by it would have made more sense. Negatives aside, it's a classic and I recommend watching it if you haven't.