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Friday, October 7, 2011

From the Vault: Gremlins

A nice little tounge-in-cheek monster movie taking place around Christmas.  Made back in 1984, Gremlins is the campy, cult hit that made Phoebe Cates famous.

When encountering a Gremlin, it's important to follow the rules... each one more silly than the rest.  1) Don't expose them to sunlight because it kills them.  2) Don't get them wet.  and most importantly 3) Don't feed them after midnight.  I told you they got silly as we go along.  So silly that they are made into a joke in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. 

Gizmo the Mogwai is a cute little fuzzy singing thing (voiced by Howie Mandel) And one fateful day a down on his luck inventor named Rand Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) buys him as a pet for his son, Billy.  (Zach Galligan)  In the beginning everything is ok.  But then the rules were broken.

First, Gizmo gets wet and that caused Gizmo to shoot Mogwai eggs out of his back.  When the eggs hatched, we now have several Mogwai but these ones are not so well behaved.  And when they eat after midnight, they turn into lizard like beasts of destruction.

Gremlins is hilarious.  Once there is an entire army of Gremlins on the loose, they don't systematically try to destroy the town, they have maybe the most epic Christmas party ever!  They're drinking, gambling, watching movies, singing... they have a BALL!  The only person who dies is the one person in the entire town you WANT to die.  Mrs. Deagle (Patty Halliday) is Ebenezer Scrooge in a dress.  Except where Scrooge had redeeming qualities, she actively tries to murder small animals.  I'm not kidding.  Her death scene is worth the price of the DVD alone.

Give this one a watch for great 80s fun.

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