1984 was a great year. It supplied us with such amazing things as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” performance on the MTV Video Music Awards, Sally Field winning an Oscar and, of course, me. My personal favorite thing to come out of ’84, besides my life (thank you Mom), is Gremlins.
Inventor Randall Peltzer, in an attempt to sell his own invention in a Chinese odds and ends store, ends up buying a small furry creature called a Mogwai for his son Billy. He was given three simple rules on how to keep the creature without incident: Don’t get it wet, don’t feed it after midnight and keep it out of bright lights. Billy was informed of these rules upon receipt of the Mogwai, which he names Gizmo, and fully intends to follow them but the accidental spilling of a drink on him causes Gizmo to replicate.
Unlike Gizmo, the other Mogwai are trouble makers. They trick Billy into feeding them after midnight by messing with his clock. This feeding causes the Mogwai to cocoon and emerge as trouble making, violent Gremlins. My favorite scene in the whole movie is when the Gremlins mess with nasty old Mrs. Deagle’s electronic stair chair causing her to fly up the stairs and out the window. To this day I cannot see one of those chairs without picturing Deagle soaring through the air.
Let me just say that Gizmo is pretty much the cutest thing ever. As much as I want Mogwai to exist, I did ask a few shop owners in San Francisco’s Chinatown for one and they all looked at me like I was stupid. That’s fine, I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that aliens really do look like E.T.
I cannot think of a better way to ring in the holidays than with Gremlins. Other than a few little frights that may scare the much younger members, Gremlins is a fun Christmas movie for the whole family. I hope everyone makes it a part of their celebrations this year.
http://youtu.be/-14d51QTVjo
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Ann Hale is the horror editor for Pop-Break.com and a senior contributing writer, reviewing horror movies and television shows. She is also the American Correspondent for Lovehorror.co.uk. Ann attended East Carolina University, majoring in English Literature. She is a collector of Halloween (the film) memorabilia and is a self-admitted opinionated horror nerd. You can follow her, her collection and her cat, Edward Kittyhands on Twitter and Instagram @Scarletjupiter
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