Silly but fun horror movie for teens with a mean streak running alongside the cartoon violence

Rating: Null/10 (4 January 2007)

Billy's dad is an inventor and is always looking for cool presents for this son. So just before Christmas, when he finds a strange creature called a mogwai in a dark shop in Chinatown, he just has to have it despite the refusal of the owner. The rules for looking after the mogwai (who they rename Gizmo) are simple but an accident sees some water spilt on him, causing a handful more to reproduce from this one. Billy notices a difference between Gizmo and these new creatures but the full extent of the difference isn't clear until he mistakenly breaks the rule on feeding times and a whole new creature emerges.
Criminally screened in the middle of the afternoon by Channel 4 recently (they edited out anything unsuitable for a daytime audience) this film is a lot of fun on many levels. At the start the film exists within an all-American small town with snow on the streets, a sense of community and white picket fences everywhere. It is a world that perhaps owes more to Spielberg more than director Dante but it is a world that the latter takes great pleasure in perverting once the film gets going in earnest. The plot is simple and straightforward, mostly relying on the build-to and delivery of the gremlins' antics and the attempts to stop them. In doing so it produces a great fun horror for older teens and adults. It funnier more than scary but it still manages to do the latter well enough to do the job for the younger element of the audience.
The manic humour in the "horror" is well done and it produces great energy throughout. For adults there is another element in the usual referencing from Dante. It is occasionally clumsy here but mostly it is unobtrusive and funny Â– Dante never seems to let the film main get away from him and keeps the dark tone going even when his action is a bit silly. The cast are very much secondary to the creatures and their antics (whether it be the cute Gizmo or the much more fun gremlins) and their performances reflect this. Galligan is average while Cates is quite nondescript. Support is OK from the likes of Axton, Feldman and Miller but mostly they are all second fiddle to the creatures.
Overall though this is an enjoyable horror movie for younger audiences. It is very, very slightly scary as instead it is darkly funny during the violence. It is engaging even if it gets silly at times and the material is strong enough for an adult audience while also providing lots of film references for those that get them.