Gremlins

Rating: 9/10 (24 December 2019)

Joe Dante, Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg bring a Christmas horror comedy with some cute and not so cute critters.
Dante toned down the horror and paid homage to old movies such as The Wizard of Oz and the Looney Tunes cartoons.
Randall Peltzer an inept inventor and salesman who gets a cute creature called mogwai in Chinatown as a present for his son Billy (Zach Galligan.)
There are just three simple rules to owning a mogwai. No bright lights, no water and no feeding after midnight.
However there is chaos over Christmas in the small town of Kingston Falls as Billy fails to abide by the rules. Evil Gremlins are spawned who terrorize the people of Kingston Falls.
It is an inventive madcap adventure. Despite the frights and shocks, it has a jokey tone that will delight kids and adults alike.
The movie reflects Spielberg's interest in small town America in the 1980s which was also featured in films such as Back to the Future, ET and Poltergeist. Dante also makes a critique of the consumerism of the 1980s and its petty minded xenophobia.