Christmas turns into Halloween.

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2013)

Gremlins has a simple message for American suburbanites. Christmas is cute and cuddly until you get water on it! And if you feed it after midnight, Christmas turns into Halloween. As you sit down to watch this classic film, you immediately know that something bad is going to happen when a big dumb white guy shows up in Chinatown. Peltzer is a putz who sells gizmos, hence when he stumbles onto the furry ball of fun that is a Mogwai, he sees it fit to classify it as another little doohickey that does more harm than good. And therein lies your theme. Gremlins is essentially about man vs. nature and when nature is done destroying technology, it goes after the man and it strikes him right where he lives ...at the bar and the department store. Putzler brings Giz home to his son Billy who immediately gets to breaking all the rules. When Gizmo gets wet, he gives birth to a mischievous group of Mogsters, among them, Stripe. Stripe is a sadistic stalwart who rules over the quartet of Moggies and immediately makes it known to Gizmo that he rejects any familial obligation. Whether Gizmo qualifies as Stripe's father or brother is not quite clear. Billy decides that it's a good idea to give one of Gizmo's siblings to a science teacher so he can poke it, prod it and keep it locked in a cage. Time to break another rule as Billy feeds the Moggles after midnight. After that, Xmas trees attack, a Gremlin goes goo in the microwave and it's a grim grempocalypse for Kingston Falls. The Gremlins multiply and once they get tired of reeking merry mayhem and turning electric chairlifts into catapults, it's off to the cinema to sing along to Snow White. Unfortunately, Billy and girlfriend Kate decide they're gonna poop on the party and ruin the movie (the Snow White movie). Can't give away anymore. Watch it! Love it! Follow the rules!