80s Christmas Horror cheesefest!

Rating: 8/10 (12 February 2020)

A timeless classic! Boy gets pet, pet spawns evil monsters, boy and pet have to save town from monsters.
It's Christmas, it's the 80's, it a small town in America with kooky residents where nothing ever goes wrong. Horror waits around the corner!
Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) is given a new pet at Christmas, a Mogwai - a cute little teddy bear of a creature. Looking after a Mogwai is simple as long as you adhere to 3 simple rules; keep it away from bright light, don't get it wet, and don't feed it after midnight. One by one the rules are broken, resulting in the Mogwai multiplying, creating evil copies of itself; which gradually turn from cute fuzzy little creatures, into scaly and slimy monsters with a penchant for chaos and destruction. Before the town knows what's happening it's overrun with Gremlins, and thus the horror is in full swing. Supported by his love interest Kate (Phoebe Cates), Billy and his Mogwai (he's names it Gizmo) have to stop the Gremlins and save the town.
This is a fun film and because it's staged over in the festive period you are likely to encounter it year after year. I originally watched this as a child in the 80's and unless modern children have become really soft this is a film which is likely to entertain and not cause an offense. The scariest part, the pantomime villain, is probably old Mrs Deagle who wants to put Billy's dog 'to sleep'. Some of the effects and animatronics look a little dated now, but they still look a little better than some of the expensive CGI that's pushed on us today. It's simple, charming, entertaining, and much like the people in the film who are watching nostalgic black and white movies in the background as they enjoy Christmas, this film is one day going to be the nostalgic film in the background as you enjoy Christmas.
A typical 80's family comedy horror film, Joe Dante's film is fun for the family. 8 out of 10.