I wish I had a Bathroom Buddy

Rating: 10/10 (11 July 2000)

Possibly one of the greatest movies of the 80's, if not the last forty years. Classic and influential, and what's best, it's still entertaining to watch even after all these years.
The story concerns Billy (Zach Galligan), a young bank teller/free lance cartoonist whose father brings him home a rare creature as a Christmas present. Gizmo, the creature in question, soon multiplies when he's splashed with water, and spawns a group of evil clones, led by Stripe. These creatures then transform into monsters and escape into town, causing all categories of chaos on Christmas Eve.
Joe Dante successfully copies the same style he employed for his earlier film THE HOWLING and packs this movie with enough in-jokes for four movies. For all their grotesque physiques, the gremlins are somewhat cute, particularly when they watch SNOW WHITE and the SEVEN DWARFS, easily the film's most famous scene.
But the movie's finest moment concerns the fate of Ruby Deagle, the town's evil old landowner. Much like Aunt Edna in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION, you'll laugh rather then be appalled when the old nag gets her just desserts.
All in all, if you've never scene this movie, you're missing out on one of the greatest motion pictures of our time. Alternately scary and funny, sometimes in the same minute, it stands alone among all the horror/comedies of it's time, second only to GHOSTBUSTERS. So get up right now and root for Gizmo and Billy as the fight the forces of evil. You won't be sorry, I'll promise you that.