{"id":1289,"date":"2006-07-21T21:35:53","date_gmt":"2006-07-22T04:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1289"},"modified":"2021-03-13T14:58:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-13T21:58:39","slug":"gremlins-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1289","title":{"rendered":"Gremlins (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;They&#8217;re watching <em>Snow White<\/em>. And they&#8217;re loving it!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Gremlins-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Gremlins-Poster-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-29553\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Gremlins-Poster-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Gremlins-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Gremlins-Poster-678x1024.jpg 678w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Gremlins-Poster.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA cute, furry creature bought at a Chinese curio shop spawns a breed of evil Gremlins who take over the town of Kingston Falls. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Black Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Dick Miller Films<\/li>\n<li>Horror<\/li>\n<li>Joe Dante Films<\/li>\n<li>Mutant Monsters<\/li>\n<li>Small Town America<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nAlthough this Joe Dante-directed film (a &#8220;summer box-office sensation&#8221;) was marketed squarely at my age group when it was released (I was ten at the time), I never did see it. Truth be told, I used to be deathly afraid of horror movies (five minutes of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32268\"><em>Carrie<\/em><\/a> gave me nightmares for years), and suspected that <em>Gremlins <\/em>would be a bit too scary for me to handle. Seeing it now for the first time as an adult, I have to say I think I was right; as Peary notes, the young kids who would most enjoy the nifty special effects and muppet-like &#8220;Gizmo&#8221; (the original Gremlin) probably &#8220;shouldn&#8217;t see this movie.&#8221; At any rate, about halfway through watching it recently, I suddenly realized that the perfect word to describe it might be &#8220;surreal&#8221;: it&#8217;s sort of like <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29377\"><em>The Muppet Movie<\/em><\/a> meets <em>Dawn of the Dead<\/em> meets <em>Invasion of the Body Snatchers<\/em> meets <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42105\"><em>E.T.<\/em><\/a> meets <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16783\"><em>Alien<\/em><\/a> meets <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7152\"><em>The Karate Kid<\/em><\/a> meets <em>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre<\/em> meets <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3361\"><em>The Wizard of Oz<\/em><\/a> meets <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15461\"><em>It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life<\/em><\/a> &#8212; and I could go on! <\/p>\n<p>Many scenes are <em>truly bizarre<\/em> &#8212; like the one where Kate (Phoebe Cates) explains to Billy (Zach Galligan) why she hates Christmas (her father died while stuck in the chimney dressed as Santa Claus!), or the one where the Gremlins take over a movie theater and gleefully watch <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15970\"><em>Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs<\/em><\/a>. None of it really makes a whole lot of sense &#8212; and just when you think things couldn&#8217;t be cozier, they suddenly turn, as Peary puts it, &#8220;vicious and cruel&#8221;.  A deeper analysis of <em>Gremlins <\/em>kept creeping up on me as I was watching it &#8212; are these ugly, perversely hedonistic reptilian buggers meant to represent a Pandora&#8217;s box of the world&#8217;s evils, everything most obscene about humanity which lurks just beyond our naive grasp? Hmmm&#8230; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Amazing puppetry work<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Creature.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Creature.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1287\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Gruesome special effects<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melting.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Melting.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1286\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A truly surreal, eclectic plot<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/SnowWhite.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/SnowWhite.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1288\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes. This classic &#8217;80&#8217;s blockbuster should be seen by any true film fanatic. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0087363\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classic-horror.com\/reviews\/gremlins.shtml\">Classic Horror Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moria.co.nz\/fantasy\/gremlins.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re watching Snow White. And they&#8217;re loving it!&#8221; Synopsis: A cute, furry creature bought at a Chinese curio shop spawns a breed of evil Gremlins who take over the town of Kingston Falls. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Black Comedy Dick Miller Films Horror Joe Dante Films Mutant Monsters Small Town America Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: Although this Joe Dante-directed film (a &#8220;summer box-office sensation&#8221;) was marketed squarely at my age group when it was released (I was ten at&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1289\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1289"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70485,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289\/revisions\/70485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}