Review of Gremlins (1984) by Filipeneto — 17 Feb 2018

"Gremlins" is a film that marked the imagination of the youth of the eighties and nineties. In this film, the young Billy (Zach Galligan) bought a strange creature, apparently Eastern and property of an old Chinese, who warned him to the grave danger that could come if the creature, Gizmo, was not treated properly. The young man didn't understand the message: unable to see that Gizmo wasn't a toy or a pet, he did everything he couldn't and eventually gave rise to a plague of wild monsters, the Gremlins, capable of causing chaos and destruction wherever they go.

Directed by Joe Dante, the script was done by Chris Columbus, a producer who specializes himself in teen films ( "The Goonies" or the early films of "Harry Potter" franchise) or containing relevant and pedagogical messages ("Bicentennial Man", "Jingle All the Way", "the Help" etc.) and with the participation of Steven Spielberg as executive producer, something who helped to sell the film. After all, at that time, he was the most famous among the film's producers.

This film is usually classified as a horror comedy but I don't see it from that perspective. For me, it's an educational comedy, a film that uses comedy and soft-horror to teach an important message that we can consider almost ecological: certain things, in particular animals, should be treated with respect and care, because the consequences that can come from our negligence are rarely good. It's a family film, dedicated to young people but that will easily please the adult audience.