Gremlins (1984)

Gremlins (1984) is a darkly comic holiday-horror romp about a small-town Christmas gone spectacularly wrong. When young Billy Peltzer receives an adorable Mogwai named Gizmo, he’s warned to follow three simple rules — keep it out of bright light, never get it wet, and never feed it after midnight. Inevitably the rules are broken, Gizmo spawns a horde of mischievous, increasingly malevolent gremlins, and the quaint streets of Kingston Falls descend into chaotic, destructive mayhem. Equal parts slapstick and genuine scares, the film mixes warm family moments and Norman Rockwell–style small-town charm with increasingly outrageous special-effects creatures and anarchic humor. Directed with a brisk 1980s energy, it balances thrills, laughs, and a surprising streak of darkness. What you’ll experience: sharp, fast-paced comedy and jumpy horror in equal measure; inventive practical creature effects; escalating set-piece destruction; and a holiday setting that makes the laughs feel cheerfully wicked rather than purely scary.

Actors: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton

Director: Joe Dante

Runtime: 106 min

Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror

6.6 /10 70 /100 7.3 /10 7.0 /10