Gremlins

The movie begins with a distinctly mystical atmosphere, set in the busy, bustling streets of Chinatown.

A young Chinese boy (Louie) leads middle-aged, wacky inventor Rand Peltzer (Axton) to his grandfather’s (Luke) secluded basement store so that he can find something special for his son's christmas present. Peltzer's attention is drawn to the sweet singing coming from the shadows at the rear of the store.

The vocals emanate from a Mogwai, an adorable, small, furry creature, with bat-like ears. The inventor offers the old man 200 bucks, but is told that Mogwai is not for sale!

Out on the street, the young boy sells Peltzer the Mogwai anyway, but warns that a Mogwai must be kept away from bright light, never given water and definitely "never, ever fed after midnight".

Later that evening Peltzer, presents his son Billy (Galligan) with the Mogwai, which he has christened "Gizmo". Mom takes a photo of them, the flashing camera startles Mogwai, and breaks the first rule. Dad is thus prompted to inform the wife and son of the rules... which will ALL be broken within hours! Once the rules are broken, the cute, furry Mogwais turns into hell-raising, green lizard skinned gremlins!

The ensuing mayhem is hilarious, yet is dashed with some quite dark and violent scenes. Check out Mom, when she finds a posse of gremlins stealing her homemade cookies and wrecking her kitchen! -Utilising a blender, kitchen knife, aerosol can and microwave oven..! she brutally deals with ‘em. Yet the cherry on top is Billy storming in to save Mom, by beheading a gremlin attacking her, the head ending in the fireplace… hardcore!

Yet, from this carnage, the most dominant and distinctive gremlin, Stripe escapes into the night, and makes his way to the local swimming pool, where by plunging into pool he reproduces an army of gremlins.

They invade the town, causing chaos, death & destruction, in the funniest possible way of course and end up rioting in the cinema to ‘Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs’… Disney this ain’t. Will the gremlins take over or can Billy, the gorgeous Kate (Cates) and Gizmo save the day?

Check it out, and look for the fantastic background antics, which can only be appreciated through repeat viewings… an 80’s classic!