Fantastic Horror/Comedy

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 2019)

First off I must say I really enjoy watching Joe Dante movies. In fact I can't think of another director I have more fun with watching his or her movies. This I think was his best film. I was lucky enough that at my local movie theatre they were showing free Christmas movies and this was one of the choices. I jumped at the chance and watched this one. Man, I tell you the sound and the music from Jerry Goldsmith were great listening to while watching this film for like the 50th time on the big screen (where it was meant to be shown).
The basic gist of the story is well as I mentioned earlier its Christmas and inventor Rand Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) is out looking for a gift for his son Billy (played by Zach Galligan). He's going through Chinatown and comes across a store owned by Mr. Wing (Keye Luke). Inside he's got exactly what he's looking for; a cute furry, lovable pet named a Mogwai. Thing is Mr. Wing does not want to sell it. Rand works out a deal with his grandson (John Louie) and gets the pet. Thing is there are three rules that you need to follow: 1) Don't get him wet 2) He hates bright light, in fact it will kill him 3) Don't feed him after midnight. As a first time viewer with no understanding of the Mowgai you are shown exactly why each of these steps need to be followed. To make a long story short these rules are not followed and in the end the nice little town of Kingston Falls is being taken over by green, slimy monsters who to say the least are mischievous.
Written by Chris Columbus, who went on to have quite a career directing HOME ALONE, MRS. DOUBTFIRE and a couple HARRY POTTER movies and produced by Steven Spielberg. Also starring Phoebe Cates, Dick Miller, Corey Feldman and Judge Reinhold. Howie Mandel did the voice for Gizmo and both Frank Welker and Michael Winslow used their voices for some of the gremlins.
The music by Jerry Goldsmith is awesome and was one of my favourites when I was a kid back in the 80s. Its electronic and very 80s. I was whistling it coming out of the theatre.
One of the reasons why I love watching Joe Dante movies is because of the hidden things that are in plain sight. For movie buffs I suppose you could say. Like looking for Robby the Robot, the time machine, Spielberg, Goldsmith, Chuck Jones, a Fangoria magazine to name just a few. Its great and Dante always seems to have a wonderful sense of humour in his films as well.
On a side note this along with I would say INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM were the movies that helped push along the PG-13 rating. This was rated PG, but the violence and gore are way too intense for a simple PG rating. The one scene in particular (and yes, I love it) where Mrs. Peltzer (Frances Lee McCain) is battling gremlins in her kitchen using a knife, a blender and a microwave all with gory results.