Scary funny family fare

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2011)

Gremlins belongs to a category of movies which has very few members - it is funny, it is full of action and suspense (and some mild scares) and it is a great movie for family viewing.
The story is simple but effective - the Peltzer family acquire a mogwai called Gizmo, a rare oriental creature which comes with but two rules - don't get it wet (because this causes it to bud off new creatures) and don't feed it after midnight (because this causes mogwais to turn into gremlins). Of course, the warnings are provided without explanation, so no-one attaches any importance to them and, in due course Gizmo buds off new mogwais which end up in a swimming pool - hordes of gremlins emerge and proceed to lay waste to the small town, and only Billy Pelzer (with the help of Gizmo) can stop them.
Zach Galligan is an engaging Billy, and it's a shame that he never really went on to bigger and better things: his co-star, Phoebe Cates, had a run of moderate success before marrying Kevin Kline and becoming a full-time mother.
But the real stars of the movie are the puppet gremlins and the physical effects. They fit well with the light tone, and director Joe Dante manages the difficult trick of generating a genuine sense of jeopardy with the malicious little puppets, yet a reassuring sense that no-one comes to any real harm.
One wonders what it would be like to see a remake with CGI gremlins and some of the dark doings which were envisaged in the original script...