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Gremlins

Gremlins

List Price: $19.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: There are just three rules...
Review: 1) Buy GREMLINS. 2) Watch GREMLINS 3) Repeat #2 several times

Every time I surf the t.v. and I come across GREMLINS, I will put down the remote and watch it til the end. GREMLINS, for its time, was truly groundbreaking. It was E.T., except with really rotten friends and relatives. Well-paced and directed Joe Dante, with unique performances by Zach Galligan and the gorgeous Phoebe Cates, GREMLINS deftly treads in and out of suspense/horror and comedy. (Phoebe Cates' explication of how her father died is still outrageous.) And there are plenty of pitched battles between the good guys and the unruly gremlins to keep the plot moving. Just don't show this movie to young kids around Christmastime.

This special edition has a lot of goodies that true GREMLINS fans will enjoy, and the quality is top-notch. Just don't get it wet.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best Horror/Comedy of all time!
Review: It follows a somewhat conventional monster movie plot. An ordinary guy witnesses his unusual but cute cuddly pet spawn a horde of evil Gremlins. He tries to warn the authorities, but they don't believe him until the creatures show up and go on a rampage throughout the town. Like in many monster movies, a plan is devised to destroy them, which works, but then there's still one left which needs to be defeated.

Every monster movie convention in the book is used, including all the famous shocks such as something jumping out in the foreground and something jumping out in the background, but what makes this film original is the Gremlins' silly personalities. They don't eat people or kill them in order to survive in any way. They just want to have fun and cause chaos! Their personalities are almost human and seem to represent a side of us that has no morals and just wants to let loose in a world without regulations. At times, you are cheering for the monsters, which makes this movie so unique.

Two major highlights are the bar scene and the movie theater scene where all the gremlins gather together and have a great time!


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: timeless fun
Review: How can something so sweet and cuddly as a Gremlin become so mean and angry like your own kids when they don't get what they want. The ideas behind this hilarious transformation are so marvellous you'd want to watch this one again and again - with or without your own kids present (who knows, they might get ideas). Gremlins is one of the funniest movies ever. A cult-classic.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A DECENT SPECIAL EDITION
Review: Gremlins Stars Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates. Billy (Zach) receives from his inventor father a curious pet called a Mogwai. It looks like a little teddy bear with pointed ears and big eyes. Naming it Gizmo, it's just the cutest little thing in the world...But the Mogwai has some strict rules for care: Never get them wet, Keep them away from bright lights, and never feed them after midnight.

Well through accidents Billy gets Gizmo wet causing him to pop off several little furballs that grow into little Mogwais...hungry little Mogwais...then comes the next problem...They eat after midnight and turn from cute little furry creatures into slimy, sharp-toothed little Gremlins. They breed out of control and soon then entire town is overrun with the marauding little trouble-making pranksters. Their acts range from minor annoyances, to downright murderous as they take over the town. It's up to Billy to set things right and get rid of the Gremlins and their leader known as "Stripe".

Gremlins is a lot of fun. Here's a movie that's just giddy with its own sense of skewered bad taste. While the movie never goes totally over the deep end in its depiction of voracious gore or violence, it does wallow in the mayhem caused by the monstrous antagonists. The movie was originally marketed towards kids and teenagers, though it will appeal to both children and adults alike.

The performances in the film by the humans are all memorable and grand. Polly Holiday (Alice)as the dastardly Mrs. Deagle gets a lot of mileage out of sneering at and lambasting everyone in her way (and of course she gets her just desserts by the gremlins in the most exceptionally evil of ways).

Fans who have been waiting years for this won't be disappointed at the amount of extra features offered on this disc. The supplements start off with not one but two commentary tracks! The first is with director Joe Dante, producer Mike Finnell, and F/X man Chris Walas, and the second features Dante and cast members Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Dick Miller, and the voice of Gizmo, Howie Mandel. What a treat both of these commentaries are! Dante, Galligan, and the whole crew are a real hoot as they go over everything from the creation of the gremlins to razzing each other mercilessly about almost everything under the sun. It's always fun to hear a commentary track that's one part goofy and one party informative-and with Gremlins, you get two tracks for the price of one!

Next up is a behind-the-scenes featurette from 1984 that, sadly, doesn't give us much insight into the production of the film. There are a few interesting interviews (especially with Dante and a seemingly smug Spielberg), though overall this is a brief and very fluffy feature. Ten minutes worth of additional footage/deleted scenes are included with optional commentary. It was a lot of fun to see some of the stuff that ended up on the cutting room floor, though these aren't scenes to write home about. The soundtrack has been remastered into a newly created Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround remix in English.

Fun film and rather typical of the kind of Hollywood fare of the mid 1980's


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hey! Your not Rockin' Ricky fans!?!?!?!
Review: Joe Dante (Gremlins 1 & 2, The burbs, Innerspace, The Howling, and Small Soldiers) directs this masterpiece (his best work in my opinion). Joe Dante was a protégé of Roger Corman (Warlock, Munchies, House, Death Race 2000), the famous producer. He also spent a lot of time working with some guy you may have heard of, Steven Spielberg.

Steven Spielberg also produced Gremlins, and did a masterful job. The Mogwai/Gremlins characters were fun, scary, intelligent, and made you want one and never want to ever see one at the same time. Steven Spielberg wanted to make them lovable, intimidating, scary, and very, very complex creatures, and he hit a homerun.

Gremlins is one of my all time favorite movies. Gremlins is also the best Christmas horror/Sci-Fi movie ever created. Dante and Spielberg made you wish you lived in this little town, made you want to be part of the action/hysteria, and created a movie that was funny, scary, for kids, and for adults. I honestly do not believe there is any part of this movie not to like.

Zach Galligan stars as the main character in this movie. Unfortunately for him, his career did not take off after Gremlins. He did appear in the sequel, but besides that his resume includes Waxwork, Waxwork II, Warlock: The Armageddon, and Cyborg 3: The Recycler. Sorry Zach, you needed a better agent.

Phoebe Cates played Zach's trusty sidekick, and love interest. My favorite movie she was in after the Gremlins movies was Drop Dead Fred. She also appeared in Shag, Bodies, Rest & Motion, and Princess Caraboo. Unfortunately for her as well, her acting career did not take off after the Gremlins movies.

Judge Reinhold and Corey Feldman, now that's a different story, both hit this movie right before their primes. They both also had minor roles, but really added to the movie. I love Judge Reinhold's line when hitting on Phoebe Cates character. He invites her to his "new" apartment, when she rejects him, he comes back with the line "come-on, we're talking cable here." Showing you how dated the movie is when you could get a girl to come home with you based on the fact you had cable, hilarious.

In conclusion, I find Gremlins to be a must have in your DVD collection. You should watch it around ever Christmas, as I do (you also get your money worth out of the DVD if you can keep up that tradition ;). The movie is a classic, and the kids will love this one.

Grade: A+


Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Shocking, isn't it?
Review: I reckon quite a few people will be very surprised when they find out that I'm nearly 21, and I've only just seen Gremlins. I don't know why I never saw it when I was a kid, or seen it on the TV at Christmas. It's weird. I wasn't even sure about the storyline when it was put on. Obviously, I knew the character Gizmo - having begged my Dad to get me the toy in a window a few years ago, and never got it. :( I also think that the Gizmo/Gremlins started off the craze of Furbies in the UK a couple of years ago - little characters that if you switch them on, and line them up with others, they talk/sing utter nonsense to each other! I'm actually sure I still have a few more in my room somewhere, but not Gizmo ones, although I'm sure they're out there.

I was completely unaware of what the film was actually about, and wasn't expecting the 'evil' Gremlins to quite literally come out of Gizmo, and take over the world. I was expecting a nice little happy family movie, based around Gizmo. I'm not so sure I would have enjoyed the movie if I'd been a few years younger, as the evil Gremlins scared the bejeezus out of me! Especially Stripe - scary! There's also some Looney Tunes references in the movie, although coming from my major Looney Tunes fan man, there's even more references in the second one, which I've yet to see. Of course, it was directed by Joe Dante, who did the fabulous Looney Tunes: Back In Action, amongst many others. There's also some other references in the movie: the theatre marquee is showing a double bill: "A Boy's Life" (the working title for Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), and "Watch the Skies" (the working title for Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind). At the movie's finale the Gremlin leader, Stripe, hides from Billy in a pile of stuffed animals. A plush E.T. doll is shown prominently in the shot. This is a gag reference to the scene in Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, in which E.T. also evades discovery by hiding among plush toys.

I didn't spot this until it was pointed out, but while the father is talking on the phone from the inventor's convention, the machine from The Time Machine can be seen in the background winding up to full power. The scene cuts to the house, and when we cut back again, the machine has gone, leaving only a wisp of colored smoke.

Also, there are quite a few cameos in Gremlins, so next time you watch this, watch out for them! Steven Spielberg is the man in the electric wheelchair with a TV monitor. Chuck Jones is the man who looks at Billy's cartoon in the bar. There is a Warner Brothers cartoon playing on the TV. Jerry Goldsmith is at the inventors' conference, immediately behind actor Hoyt Axton in the phone booth. He's wearing a western hat with a mount for the phone. Rumoured to appear as a blink-and-you'll-miss-it-cameo too is George Lucas at the inventor's convention, riding a bicycle.

In Cantonese Chinese, mogwai means demon or gremlin. The Mandarin pronunciation is mogui.

The special edition of this DVD looks really good, with enough to keep a die-hard fan of extras going for ages. These are mostly your stereo-typical extras, but they include: commentary by Joe Dante, Phoebe Cates, Zach Galligan, Dick Miller and Howie Mandel; commentary by director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell and effects specialist Chris Walas; 10 minutes of never-before-seen footage; behind-the-scenes documentary; and photo/storyboard gallery. Two deleted scenes that were included on the Special Edition DVD appeared in some of the original merchandise for the movie. Since most such tie-ins received a script well in advance in order to have product at the time the movie premieres, several things may change within the picture in the meantime. The deleted extended opening is included in the first of 5 book and record sets that Hardee's released with their kids' meals. The scene with Judge Reinhold hiding in the bank vault was included in the trading card set. In addition to restoring the classic Warner Brothers logo to the opening of the movie, it was hoped to release the film along with the classic Looney Tunes short, Fallen Hare, where Bugs Bunny is harassed by a plane gremlin during WW II. This fell through, but, highlights from the short do appear as part of a making of special for the movie, that has also been included on the Special Edition DVD.

Little to no actual dialogue for the Gremlins and Mogwai exists in the script in itself. In addition to several instances of on stage rewrites changing or adding to much of the script, the voiceovers were all mostly ad libs, repeating snippets of just performed dialogue or in reaction to other sound effects or environment. To this end, Howie Mandel recorded Gizmo's lines phonetically for foreign dubs of the movie, where localized dialogue and in jokes helped make the picture successful with audiences world wide.

I'd highly recommend this movie now, although I'd be slightly wary of children seeing it, despite it being aimed at families. It definitely would have given me nightmares! It'll be interesting to see more Gizmo and his evil friends, and I'm glad that although this ends on a slightly bad note, the sequel should be better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: MovieCritic2004
Review: Gremlins is the funny story of a young man named Billy whose inventor father gives him a small, furry, adorible critter called a mogwai. But there are rules to owning a mogwai wicth are, in a string of mistakes, broken, and Billy's gotta get those evil little green things out of his hometown. Every one will love "Gremlins"!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Cute and scary, what a combo
Review: When I first saw this movie I was around 6 or 7 and I just loved it. Some parts could be considered scary, I found it thrilling more then anything else. It is still extremely funny and heartwarming. Besides Magwai's are just so darn cute, how can you not love them at first sight.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: funny for a monster movie
Review: theres this little cute fuzzy mogwai that a dad buys his son for xmas.there were only 3 very simple rules to follow.of course they failed.then the cute one got wet and reproduced dozens of times.then they ate after midnight and became scaly and evil.then they go rampage the town.the kids like it but watch when the chick tells ho hos secret.the way she found out that there was no santa was that thier father tried to come down the chimney dressed as santa and got killed.they dont show this but she does tell the story.its not as good as the sequel i think.its a pretty well likeable movie.it takes place at xmas time.id say its top 10 if it could be counted.its really too silly to be taken very serioius.but its fun.they say its good and it is.the message is if its easily to avoid,then avoid it.the special effects are way better in part 2.will there ever be a gremlins 3?i seriously doubt it.


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