Don’t get him wet. Don’t expose him to bright lights. Never feed him after midnight.
Gremlins is a 1984 American horror comedy film directed by Joe Dante and released by Warner Bros. Steven Spielberg was the film’s executive producer and the screenplay was written by Chris Columbus.
Searching for an unusual Christmas present for his 21-year-old son, struggling inventor Randall Peltzer discovers a small, furry creature called a Mogwai in a Chinatown antique store. The owner refuses to sell the Mogwai, saying that owning one is a great responsibility. However, the owner’s grandson sells Randall the creature, explaining that his family needs the money. There are three specific instructions for looking after Mogwai: Never expose it to bright light (especially sunlight, which will kill it); never get it wet; and, most importantly: no matter how much it cries or begs, never, ever feed it after midnight.
He names the Mogwai “Gizmo”. A glass of water is accidentally spilled on Gizmo, causing him to convulse and produce five new Mogwai from his own body…
A lasting Christmas favorite, watched today, thirty years after it was first released, it still holds magic for the adult viewer who grew up in the ’80s. The caroling Gremlins are still a favorite of mine.
7 Fun facts about Gremlins:
Howie Mandel from the America’s got Talent fame is the voice of Gizmo, the main Mogwai character.
In Cantonese Chinese, mogwai means devil, demon or gremlin. The Mandarin pronunciation is mogui.
Zach Galligan recounted in an interview that when the movie was made there was no CGI so all the Gremlins were animatronics, each costing between $30,000 and $40,000. So when everyone left the lot for the day, security would have everyone pop the trunks on their cars to make sure they weren’t stolen.
On the Deagle Real Estate sign the hours of operation are only 10:30-11:15 Mon-Fri.
In the bar scene, the video game the gremlin is playing is Star Wars.
There are many connections to Spielberg’s other popular movie, E.T. One of the Gremlins says “phone home”, there is a stuffed E.T., and at the begging, one of the movies on the marquee is “A boy’s life” which is the fake name E.T. Was shipped to theaters under.
Billy’s dog, whose real name is Mushroom, is also the featured pet in Pumpkinhead.
Listen to Gizmo’s song here
