Review of Gremlins (1984) by Daniel A — 02 Jun 2011
A young boy receives a cuddly little creature for Christmas but it inadvertently spawns a horde of vicious creatures hell bent on chaos. Gremlins is what would happen if the muppets went over to the dark side.
A comic horror from Joe Dante, it was a bit of a cult in the 80s and went on to spawn a host of inferior imitators. The idea is pretty simple, that the "gremlins" of myth were in fact real, but it has plenty of scope for slapstick carnage and it comes up with some memorable scenes when they are initially loosed upon the sleepy little town.
The funniest scenes are when mom gets medieval on their asses with a variety of kitchen appliances (before getting attacked by a Christmas tree in an homage to John Waters) and the turbo charged stairlift.
Its biggest flaw is that it's pretty much a one idea story, but it has some inventive animatronics and enough chuckles to make it worth the time. A bit too silly for horror and not funny enough to be considered comedy, but it does have its moments.
This review of Gremlins (1984) was written by Daniel A on 02 Jun 2011.
Gremlins has generally received positive reviews.
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