Gremlins (film)

''Gremlins'' is a 1984 American black comedy horror film directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus, and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, and Frances Lee McCain, with Howie Mandel providing the voice of Gizmo, the main ''mogwai'' character. It draws on legends of folkloric mischievous creatures that cause malfunctions—"gremlins"—in the British Royal Air Force going back to World War II. The story follows a young man who receives a strange creature as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive, mischievous monsters that all wreak havoc on a whole town on Christmas Eve.

The film was the center of large merchandising campaigns and opts for black comedy, balanced against a Christmastime setting. Steven Spielberg was the film's executive producer, with the film being produced by Michael Finnell.

''Gremlins'' was theatrically released on June 8, 1984 by Warner Bros. to critical and commercial success. However, it was heavily criticized for some of its more violent sequences. In response to this and to similar complaints about '' Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'', Spielberg suggested that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) alter its rating system, which it did within two months of the film's release, creating a new PG-13 rating. It was followed by a sequel, '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'', in 1990, which has a more satirical tone and parodies Hollywood sequels, to generally positive reviews from critics, but was a box-office bomb.

Plot

Struggling inventor Randall Peltzer visits a Chinatown antique store, hoping to find a Christmas present for his son Billy. Inside, Randall encounters a small, furry creature called a (Cantonese: , 'devil'). The owner, Mr. Wing, refuses to sell Randall the creature, but his grandson secretly does, warning Randall to remember three important rules: do not expose the ''mogwai'' to light, especially sunlight, which will kill it; do not let it come in contact with water; and above all, never feed it after midnight.

Randall returns home to Kingston Falls, where he gives the ''mogwai'' to Billy as a pet. Billy works in the local bank, but fears that his dog Barney will be put down by widowed miser Mrs. Deagle. Randall names the ''mogwai'' "Gizmo" and explains the three rules. When Billy's young friend Pete accidentally spills water over Gizmo, five more ''mogwai'' spawn from his back, a more troublemaking sort led by the aggressive Stripe, named for the tuft of fur on his head. Billy shows one of the ''mogwai'' to his former elementary school science teacher, Mr. Hanson, spawning another ''mogwai'', on whom Hanson experiments. Back at home, Stripe and his fellow ''mogwai'' trick Billy into feeding them after midnight by severing the power cord on his alarm clock. They form cocoons, as does Hanson's ''mogwai'', which soon hatch, emerging as mischievous, dark green, reptilian monsters, who then torture Gizmo and attack Billy's mother, Lynn. Hanson is killed by his gremlin.

Lynn and Billy are able to kill off the gremlins, except for Stripe, who escapes to a local YMCA. There, Stripe jumps into the swimming pool, spawning an army of gremlins who wreak havoc in Kingston Falls. Many people are injured or outright killed by the gremlins' rampage, including Mrs. Deagle. Billy reports this to the police, but they prove to be no help as they don't believe his story, even after he shows them Gizmo.

As Billy rescues his girlfriend, Kate Beringer, they hide in the now-abandoned bank where Kate reveals to Billy and Gizmo why she hates Christmas: when she was nine years old, her father went missing on Christmas Eve and did not come home on Christmas Day either; several days later, he was found dead in their chimney while dressed as Santa Claus. Planning to surprise her and her mother, he had accidentally slipped and broken his neck while climbing down the chimney. Still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of the event, Kate confesses this is how she discovered the truth about Santa Claus.

Billy and Kate discover that the town has fallen silent and the gremlins are watching ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' in the local theater. They set off a natural gas explosion, incinerating all the gremlins except for Stripe, who left to commandeer more candy at a Montgomery Ward store across the street. As morning approaches, they follow Stripe into the department store, where Stripe attempts to use a water fountain to spawn more gremlins. Gizmo opens a skylight, exposing Stripe to sunlight, killing him.

As the local news reports on the day's mysterious tragedies, Mr. Wing reclaims Gizmo at the Peltzer home. He criticizes both the Peltzers' and Western society for their carelessness with nature. However, as he turns to leave, Gizmo, having bonded with Billy, bids the young man goodbye. A touched Mr. Wing then concedes that Billy may be ready one day, and until then, Gizmo will be waiting.

Cast

Voices

* Howie Mandel as Gizmo
* Frank Welker as Stripe
* Don Steele as Rockin' Ricky Rialto
* Marvin Miller as Robby The Robot (''uncredited'')
''Mogwai'' and Gremlin vocal effects provided by Brad Kesten (uncredited), Michael Winslow, Bob Bergen, Fred Newman, Peter Cullen, Jim Cummings (uncredited), Sonny Melendrez (uncredited), Mark Dodson, Bob Holt, and Michael Sheehan.

Cameos

* Steven Spielberg as Man Riding recumbent bicycle
* Jim McKrell as Lew Landers
* Jerry Goldsmith as man in phone booth
* William Schallert as Father Bartlett
* Chuck Jones as Mr. Jones, Billy's Drawing Mentor
* Kenneth Tobey as Smoking Gas Station Attendant

Production

Background

''Gremlins'' was produced at a time when combining horror and comedy was becoming increasingly popular. According to Professor Noël Carroll, ''Ghostbusters'', released the same weekend as ''Gremlins'', and the comic strip ''The Far Side'' also followed this trend. Carroll argued that there was now a new genre emphasizing sudden shifts between humorous and horrific scenes, drawing laughs with plot elements that have been traditionally used to scare.

The notion of gremlins was first conceived during the 1920s when mechanical failures in RAF aircraft were jokingly blamed on the small monsters. The term "gremlins" also entered popular culture as children's author and RAF pilot Roald Dahl published a book called ''The Gremlins'' in 1943, based on the mischievous creatures. Walt Disney considered making a film of it. A Bugs Bunny cartoon of the era, ''Falling Hare'', has him battling a gremlin on an airplane. Joe Dante had read ''The Gremlins'' and said that the book was of some influence on his film. In 1983, Dante publicly distanced his work from earlier films, explaining, "Our gremlins are somewhat different—they're sort of green and they have big mouths and they smile a lot and they do incredibly, really nasty things to people and enjoy it all the while".

Development

The story of ''Gremlins'' was conceived by Chris Columbus. As Columbus explained, his inspiration came from his loft, when at night "what sounded like a platoon of mice would come out and to hear them skittering around in the blackness was really creepy". He then wrote the original screenplay as a spec script to show potential employers that he had writing abilities. The story was not actually intended to be filmed until Steven Spielberg took an interest in turning it into a film. As Spielberg explained, "It's one of the most original things I've come across in many years, which is why I bought it." Spielberg considered Tim Burton to direct the film after seeing his Short film '' Frankenweenie''.

After deciding to executive produce the film, Spielberg chose Dante as his director because of his experience with horror-comedy; Dante had previously directed '' The Howling (1981)''; however, in the time between ''The Howling'' and the offer to film ''Gremlins'', he had experienced a lull in his career. Dante began doing storyboard work on the film while also working as a director on '' Twilight Zone: The Movie'' (1983), a film which Spielberg also served as a director on. The film's producer was Michael Finnell, who had also worked on ''The Howling'' with Dante. Spielberg took the project to Warner Bros. and co-produced it through his own company, Amblin Entertainment.

The film's script went through a few drafts before a shooting script was finalized. The first version was much darker than the final film. Various scenes were cut, including one which portrayed Billy's mother dying in her struggle with the gremlins, with her head thrown down the stairs when Billy arrives. Dante later explained the scene made the film darker than the filmmakers wanted. There was also a scene where the gremlins ate Billy's dog and a scene where the gremlins attacked a McDonald's, eating customers instead of burgers. Also, instead of Stripe being a ''mogwai'' who becomes a gremlin, there was originally no ''mogwai'' named Stripe; rather, Gizmo was supposed to transform into Stripe the gremlin. Spielberg overruled this plot element as he felt Gizmo was cute and that audiences would want him to be present throughout the film.

The film mentions an urban legend in which Kate reveals in a speech that her father died at Christmas when he dressed as Santa Claus and broke his neck while climbing down the family's chimney. After the film was completed, studio executives insisted upon its removal, because they felt it was too ambiguous as to whether it was supposed to be funny or sad. Dante refused to take the scene out, saying it represented the film as a whole, which had a combination of horrific and comedic elements. Spielberg did not like the scene but, despite his creative control, he viewed ''Gremlins'' as Dante's project and allowed him to leave it in. A parody of this scene is featured in '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch''.

Casting

Phoebe Cates was cast as Kate, Billy's girlfriend, despite concerns that she was known for playing more risqué parts, such as Linda Barrett in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982). Spielberg urged the casting of the relatively unknown Zach Galligan as Billy because he saw chemistry between Galligan and Cates during auditions. Galligan later compared himself to Billy, saying that he was a "geeky kid", and that being in the film "was really kind of a dream" given "what I get to do, what my character gets to do, blow up movie theatres", adding that he "got to work with great people". () Spielberg commented when Galligan was testing with Cates that "he's in love with her already" and that was how Galligan won the part. () Emilio Estevez and Judd Nelson also auditioned. ()

In contrast to Galligan, many of the supporting actors and actresses were better known. Veteran actor Glynn Turman portrayed the high school science teacher, whose study of a newborn ''mogwai'', led to his death after it formed a cocoon and emerged as a vicious gremlin. Dick Miller, who was a regular in Dante's films, was another experienced actor on the set, playing a World War II veteran who first refereed to the creatures as gremlins. Rand was played by Hoyt Axton, who was always the filmmakers' preferred choice for the role even though it was widely contested by other actors. () Axton's experience included acting as the father in "The Black Stallion" (1979), and he was also a country music singer-songwriter. After an introductory scene to "Gremlins" was cut, Axton's voice earned him the added role of the narrator to establish some context. Mr. Wing was played by Keye Luke, a renowned film actor, whose film career spanned half a century. Although in reality he was around 80 at the time of filming, and his character was very elderly, Luke's youthful appearance had to be covered by make-up. ()

Corey Feldman, who up to that time had primarily been in commercials, played Pete Fountaine, establishing his early credentials as a child actor. Polly Holliday, an actress best known for her role in " Alice", played Mrs. Deagle. Dante considered the casting fortunate, as she was well-known and he considered her to be talented. Two other well-known actors, "Fast Times" Judge Reinhold and character actor Edward Andrews, received roles that were significantly reduced after the film was edited; they played Billy's superiors at the bank. ()

Special effects

Some of the performances were shot on the Courthouse Square and Colonial Street sets of the Universal Studios Lot in Universal City, California (Mrs. Deagle's house was one such set as well as the opening street scenes in Chinatown, which were filmed on the Warner Bros. Studios backlot). This required fake snow; Dante also felt it was an atmosphere that would make the special effects more convincing. As the special effects relied mainly on puppetry (an earlier attempt to use monkeys was abandoned because the test monkey panicked when made to wear a gremlin head), the actors worked alongside some of the puppets. Nevertheless, after the actors finished their work for good, a great deal of effort was spent finishing the effects. Numerous small rubber puppets, some of which were mechanical, were used to portray Gizmo and the gremlins. They were designed by Chris Walas. There was more than one Gizmo puppet, and occasionally Galligan, when carrying one, would set him down off camera, and when Gizmo appeared again sitting on a surface it was actually a different puppet wired to the surface. These puppets had many limitations. The Gizmo puppets were particularly frustrating because they were smaller and thus broke down more. While Walas recommended making the ''mogwais'' larger to make their creation and functioning easier for the special effects team, Dante insisted on keeping their size small to enhance the cuteness of the creatures. Consequently, to satisfy the crew, a scene was included in which the gremlins hang Gizmo on a wall and throw darts at him. This was included on a list that the crew created known to them as the "Horrible Things to do to Gizmo" list.

A few marionettes were also used. Other effects required large ''mogwai'' faces and ears to be produced for close-ups, as the puppets were less capable of conveying emotion. Consequently, large props simulating food were needed for the close-ups in the scene in which the ''mogwai'' feast after midnight. An enlarged Gizmo puppet was also needed for the scene in which he multiplies. The new ''mogwai'', who popped out of Gizmo's body as small, furry balls which then started to grow, were balloons and expanded as such. Walas had also created the exploding gremlin in the microwave by means of a balloon that was allowed to burst.

Howie Mandel provided the voice for Gizmo, and prolific voice actor Frank Welker provided the voice for Stripe. It was Welker who suggested Mandel perform in ''Gremlins''. The puppets' lines were mostly invented by the voice actors, based on cues from the physical actions of the puppets, which were filmed before the voice work. When developing the voice for Gizmo, Mandel explained, " izmo wascute and naive, so, you know, I got in touch with that... I couldn't envision going any other way or do something different with it". The majority of the other gremlins' voices were performed by Michael Winslow and Peter Cullen, while the remaining voices were done by Bob Bergen, Fred Newman, Mark Dodson, Bob Holt, and Michael Sheehan.

Music

The film's score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, who won a Saturn Award for Best Music for his efforts. The main score was composed with the objective of conveying "the mischievous humor and mounting suspense of Gremlins". Goldsmith also wrote Gizmo's song, which was hummed by a child actress and acquaintance of Goldsmith, rather than Mandel himself. Goldsmith also appears in the film, alongside Steven Spielberg, in the scene where Rand calls home from the salesman's convention.

The soundtrack album was released by Geffen Records as a specially priced mini-album on LP and cassette (Goldsmith's music comprised all of side two) and reissued on compact disc in 1993 only in Germany.

# Gremlins...Mega Madness – Michael Sembello (3:50)
# Make It Shine – Quarterflash (4:10)
# Out/Out – Peter Gabriel (7:00)
# The Gift (4:51)
# Gizmo (4:09)
# Mrs. Deagle (2:50)
# The Gremlin Rag (4:03)

"Gremlins...Mega Madness" was also released as a single, with "The Gremlin Rag" as its B-side.

In 2011, ''Film Score Monthly'' issued a two-disc release of the soundtrack, with the complete score on disc one and the original soundtrack album on disc two (representing the latter's first North American CD issue); this was the label's final Jerry Goldsmith album.

''DISC ONE: The Film Score''

# Fanfare in C (Max Steiner) / The Shop / The Little One 4:30
# Late for Work 1:46
# Mrs. Deagle / That Dog 2:22
# The Gift 1:45
# First Aid 2:17
# Spilt Water 3:02
# A New One 1:10
# The Lab / Old Times 2:35
# The Injection 2:56
# Snack Time / The Wrong Time 1:49
# The Box 1:24
# First Aid 1:39
# Disconnected / Hurry Home 1:03
# Kitchen Fight 4:06
# Dirty Linen 0:43
# The Pool 1:07
# The Plow / Special Delivery 1:16
# High Flyer 2:22
# Too Many Gremlins 2:06
# No Santa Claus 3:27
# After Theatre 1:39
# Theatre Escape / Stripe Is Loose / Toy Dept. / No Gizmo 4:36
# The Fountain / Stripe's Death 5:42
# Goodbye, Billy 2:56
# End Title / The Gremlin Rag 4:10
# Blues 2:17
# Mrs. Deagle ilm version1:27
# God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen raditional, arr. Alexander Courage1:12
# After Theatre ith "Silent Night"1:36
# After Theatre ithout "Silent Night"1:36
# Rabbit Rampage ilt Franklyn0:47
# The Gremlin Rag ull version3:35
# Gizmo's New Song 0:35
# Gizmo's Trumpet 0:30

Tracks 26–34 are listed as bonus tracks.

''DISC TWO: 1984 Soundtrack Album''
# Gremlins...Mega Madness – Michael Sembello 3:52
# Make It Shine – Quarterflash 4:11
# Out/Out – Peter Gabriel 7:02
# The Gift 4:58
# Gizmo 4:14
# Mrs. Deagle 2:54
# The Gremlin Rag 4:13

Reception

Box office

Financially, ''Gremlins'' was a success. Produced on an $11 million budget, it was more expensive than Spielberg had originally intended but still relatively cheap for its time. The trailer introduced the film to audiences by briefly explaining that Billy receives a strange creature as a Christmas present, by going over the three rules, and then coming out with the fact that the creatures transform into terrible monsters. This trailer showed little of either the ''mogwai'' or the gremlins. In contrast to this, other advertisements concentrated on Gizmo, overlooked the gremlins, and made the film look similar to Spielberg's earlier family film '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982).Anthony Breznican,
PG-13 remade Hollywood ratings system
", The Associated Press, August 24, 2004.

''Gremlins'' was released into North American theaters on June 8, 1984, the same day as Ivan Reitman's ''Ghostbusters''. ''Gremlins'' ranked second, with $12.5 million in its first weekend, $1.1 million less than ''Ghostbusters''. By the end of its American screenings on November 29, it had grossed $148,168,459 domestically. This made it the fourth highest-grossing film of the year, behind ''Beverly Hills Cop'', ''Ghostbusters'', and '' Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom''. In August 1984, it opened in Argentina and Spain, and in October it premiered in West Germany. Screenings began in Mexico, Australia, and much of the rest of Europe in December. Since ''Gremlins'' had an international audience, different versions of the film were made to overcome cultural barriers. Mandel learned to speak his few intelligible lines, such as "Bright light!", in various languages, including German. Regional music and humor were also incorporated into foreign-language versions. Dante credited this work as being one of the factors which helped to make ''Gremlins'' a worldwide success. However, many critics questioned the summer release date of the film in America, as the film takes place during the Christmas holiday season, causing them to comment that it should have had a Christmas release date instead.

In addition to this, there were also complaints from audiences about the violence depicted in the film. These complaints were particularly present in people who had brought their children to see the film, many of whom walked out of the theater before the film had ended. Dante admitted to reporters later that "the idea of taking a 4-year-old to see ''Gremlins'', thinking it's going to be a cuddly, funny animal movie and then seeing that it turns into a horror picture, I think people were upset... They felt like they had been sold something family friendly and it wasn't entirely family friendly".

The film became available to audiences again when it was brought back to theaters on August 30, 1985. This additional release brought its gross up to $153,083,102.

By February 1985, the film had grossed $59.6 million internationally, including $17 million in Japan. It grossed a further $0.2 million in 2019, taking its worldwide gross to over $212.9 million.

Critical response

Roger Ebert approved of the film, awarding three out of four stars and declaring it to not only be "fun", but also a "sly series of send-ups", effectively parodying many elemental film storylines. In his opinion, ''Gremlins'' did this partly through depictions of mysterious worlds (the shop in Chinatown) and tyrannical elderly women (Mrs. Deagle). Ebert also believed the rule in which a ''mogwai'' cannot eat after midnight was inspired by fairy tales, and that the final scenes parody classic horror films. He connected Kate's speech about her father with "the great tradition of 1950s sick jokes". Gene Siskel gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, describing it as "a wickedly funny and slightly sick ride," and "a most original work. We're aware at every moment that someone is trying to entertain us. Playfulness abounds." Vincent Canby of ''The New York Times'' was mixed, writing that the film "is far more interested in showing off its knowledge of movie lore and making random jokes than in providing consistent entertainment. Unfortunately, it's funniest when being most nasty." ''Variety'' declared, "Make room for adorable 'Gremlins' dolls on the shelves and start counting the take for another calculated audience pleaser from the Steven Spielberg-Frank Marshall-Kathleen Kennedy team. But that's all that's here in this showy display of technical talent, otherwise nearly heedless of dramatic concerns." Leonard Maltin disapproved of the film, and his view was made clear in remarks he made on the television show '' Entertainment Tonight''. He called the film "icky" and "gross". He later wrote that despite being set in a "picture-postcard town" and blending the feel of ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (a clip of which appears in ''Gremlins'') with that of ''The Blob'', the film is "negated by too-vivid violence and mayhem"; giving the film two out of four stars. Maltin later made a cameo appearance in ''Gremlins 2'', repeating his criticisms of the original on film, as an in-joke, before being throttled by the creatures; he later gave the second film a more positive rating, three out of four stars.

While some critics criticized the film's depictions of violence and greed—such as death scenes, Kate's speech, and the gremlins' gluttony—for lacking comic value, scholar Charlotte Miller instead interpreted these as a satire of "some characteristics of Western civilization", suggesting that Westerners may take too much satisfaction from violence. ''Gremlins'' can also be interpreted as a statement against technology, in that some characters, such as Billy's father, are overly dependent on it. In contrast, Mr. Wing is shown to have a strong distaste for television. Kirkpatrick Sale also interpreted ''Gremlins'' as an anti-technology film in his book ''Rebels Against the Future''. Another scholar suggested that the film is meant to express a number of observations of society by having the gremlin characters shift in what they are meant to represent. At different times, they are depicted as teenagers, the wealthy establishment, or fans of Disney films.

Another scholar drew a connection between the microwave scene and urban legends about pets dying in microwave ovens. He described the portrayal of this urban legend in the film as successful, but that meant it seemed terrible. This is indeed a scene that is thought of as being one of the film's most violent depictions; with even Roger Ebert expressing some fear in his review that the film might encourage children to try similar things with their pets.

Colin Greenland reviewed ''Gremlins'' for ''Imagine'' magazine, and stated that "Two or three good jokes, three or four neat scenes, lots of detail, but overall a manic melee of pyrotechnics that made random grabs for my sympathy and failed to hold my attention, A bit more coherent thought, and who knows, it might have been something good."

''Gremlins'' has been criticized for more than its depictions of violence. One BBC
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