Quite scary for a children's horror movie

Rating: 8/10 (20 October 2014)

Randall Peltzer is a traveling salesman for his poorly-conceived gadgets looking for a Christmas gift for his son Billy (Zach Galligan). While in Chinatown, he finds an adorable creature called mogwai. The old man refuses to sell but the little boy said they need the money. There are 3 rules to owning a mogwai. There can be no bright light, no water and no feeding after midnight. They live in the small town of Kingston Falls. Pete Fountaine (Corey Feldman) is a neighborhood kid. Kate Beringer (Phoebe Cates) is the nice girl. Gerald Hopkins (Judge Reinhold) is the ambitious climber. There's a wicked rich old Mrs. Deagle looking to put Billy's dog down. When Pete spills water on mogwai, he multiplies and five more pop out.
This starts as a great children's horror at an idyllic small town with a cuddly teddy bear. The movie builds tension as Billy cluelessly break the rules. It builds to a fun ride that is actually very scary. For the younger kids, this is probably a little too much. People do die and the Gremlins get killed in splattery ways. The tension gets very high at times while at other times, it is very comedic.