Gremlins

Gremlins is an American horror-comedy film directed by Joe Dante and released in 1984. It is about a young man who receives a strange creature named Gizmo as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive monsters. more...

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This story was continued with a sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, released in 1990. Unlike the lighter sequel, the original Gremlins opts for more black comedy, which is balanced against a Christmas-time setting. Both of the first two films were the center of large merchandising campaigns.

Steven Spielberg was the film's executive producer, with the screenplay written by Chris Columbus. The film stars Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates, with Howie Mandel providing the voice of Gizmo. The actors had to work alongside numerous puppets, as puppetry was the main form of special effects used to portray Gizmo and the gremlins.

Gremlins was a commercial success and received positive feedback from critics. However, the film has also been heavily criticized for some of its more violent sequences. Critics alleged these scenes made the film inappropriate for younger audiences who could be admitted into theatres under its PG rating. In response to this and to similar complaints about other films, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) reformed its rating system within two months of its release.

Plot

The film starts by introducing the character Randall "Rand" Peltzer, an inventor of modest abilities and questionable success. He is from the fictional community of Kingston Falls, and travels to Chinatown in New York City to sell his inventions and pick up a present for his son Billy. A young Chinese boy takes Rand to his grandfather's small shop, where Rand takes interest in a small, cute, furry creature called a mogwai (which, in Cantonese Chinese, translates literally as "evil spirit"). Mr. Wing, the Chinese boy's grandfather and owner of the shop, refuses to sell the mogwai even when Rand offers US$200 for it. This is money that the Wing family desperately needs. Consequently, Wing's grandson secretly sells the mogwai to Rand. Though the creature seems innocent enough, the grandson warns Rand that one must take certain precautions regarding it. Namely, one must not let the mogwai near bright light, especially sunlight, which can kill the mogwai; one must not get water on the mogwai; and, most importantly, one must never feed the creature after midnight.

Rand names the creature "Gizmo" and brings him home to his son. Billy has recently completed high school and has taken up a job at the bank to make ends meet for his parents, with whom he still lives. He has a dog called Barney whose mischievousness makes both him and Billy the target of harassment from Mrs. Deagle, an elderly woman with much financial influence. Being a bitter, malicious person, she threatens to kidnap and murder Barney.

Read more at Wikipedia.org