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Gremlins
After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.
1984 · Directed by Joe Dante · 106 min · Fantasy · Horror · Comedy · Screenplay in the scene database · 19 frames
Tagline
Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous.
Plot
Struggling inventor Randall Peltzer visits a Chinatown antique store to find a Christmas present for his son, Billy. In it, Randall uncovers a small and furry creature called a mogwai (Cantonese: 魔怪, 'devil'). The owner, Sam Wing, refuses to sell it to him, but his grandson secretly does, warning Randall to remember three important rules concerning its care – keep the mogwai away from light, especially sunlight, which will kill it; do not let it come in contact with water; and above all, never let it eat after midnight.
In Randall's hometown of Kingston Falls, Billy works at its local bank, but fears that his dog Barney will be put down by widowed miser Ruby Deagle. His father returns and offers him the mogwai, now named "Gizmo", as a pet and informs him of the rules. Gizmo is friendly and docile, but when Billy's friend, Pete Fountaine, accidentally spills water on him, five more mogwai spawn from him – a more mischievous sort led by the aggressive Stripe, named after the mohawk-like tuft of white fur on his head. Billy shows one of the mogwai to his former elementary school science teacher, Roy Hanson, spawning another mogwai, whom the latter experiments on. Back home, Stripe and his fellow mogwai trick Billy into feeding them after midnight by sabotaging his bedside clock. They form cocoons, as does Hanson's mogwai, which soon hatch, emerging as destructive and reptilian imp-like monsters called "gremlins". Hanson is murdered by his gremlin, while those at the Peltzer house torture Gizmo and assault Billy's mother, Lynn.
The duo are able to dispatch all the gremlins sans Stripe, who escapes to the local YMCA where he jumps into its swimming pool, spawning an army of gremlins that wreak havoc on Kingston Falls. Many locals are injured or outright killed during their rampage, including Deagle. The police are helpless in the ordeal, as they too fall victim to the gremlins' mischief. After Billy rescues his co-worker and girlfriend, Kate Beringer, when the gremlins attack the bar she works at, and they seek refuge in the bank. Kate discloses that her father went missing on Christmas Eve when she was nine years old, but was then found dead in their house's chimney several days later. Planning to surprise his family while portraying Santa Claus, he inadvertently slipped and broke his neck while climbing down it. Still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to this incident, Kate confesses how it led to her dislike of the holidays.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Chris Columbus
- Cinematography: John Hora
- Edited by: Tina Hirsch
- Music: Noel Regney, Jerry Goldsmith
- Production design: James H. Spencer
- Produced by: Michael Finnell
Cast
- Zach Galligan as Billy Peltzer
- Phoebe Cates as Kate Beringer
- Hoyt Axton as Randall Peltzer
- Frances Lee McCain as Lynn Peltzer
- Corey Feldman as Pete Fountaine
- Keye Luke as Grandfather (Mr. Wing)
- John Louie as Chinese Boy
- Dick Miller as Murray Futterman
- Jackie Joseph as Sheila Futterman
- Polly Holliday as Ruby Deagle
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Spanish
- Studios: Amblin Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures
- Budget: $11,000,000
- Box office: $153,083,102
- Themes: small town, monster, holiday, department store, pet, human animal relationship, bars and restaurants, sunlight, halloween, salesperson
More by Joe Dante
On this film
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