I don’t know why other than it is the holiday season, but I was in the mood to watch Gremlins. This was one of my favorite movies when I was growing up. I don’t know how long it has been since I last saw it. After watching it, I was happy to see that I still enjoyed it after all these years. Instead of reviewing it and boring you with all the reasons I love it, I decided to pay tribute to the movie. So with a few comments and fun facts sprinkled in, here are pictures, and videos of some of the unforgettable moments in Gremlins.
How could you not love this little guy?
I told you all selling the Mogwai would be a mistake!
I forgot he was in this movie.
The days before PSP and Nintendo DS!
Fun fact 1: The gremlin was actually coined by the British Royal Air Force in the early 1900s. The word gremlin first appeared in print in a poem published in 1929 in the journal Aeroplane. Gremlin was used during WWII to explain the inexplicable mechanical problems that would happen while an aircraft was in flight.
A Gizmo Clone…this can’t be good!
Feed us! Feed us! It’s only 11:30pm.
This seems like a good time to review the 3 rules for keeping your Mogwai happy and safe:
1-keep him out of the light, especially sunlight
2-keep him away from water
3-never feed him after midnight
I always wondered if you can’t feed him after midnight, then at what time in the morning can you feed him? 
Tell me you are not eating my gingerbread man cookies!
This isn’t a chestnut roasting on an open fire.
Fun fact 2: Mogwai can be translated from Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese as meaning monster or demon. In Gremlins, the mogwai is a cute little animal who likes to sing.
It is awesome how they sing the Gremlins theme song.
How I love the bar scene:
Smoke if you got em!
One of the things about the gremlins that always amuses me is how they laugh after they do something bad.
Who needs a bartender?
Fun fact 3: In the original draft of the script, instead of Stripe being a Mogwai who becomes a Gremlin, there was no Stripe the Mogwai and Gizmo was supposed to turn into Stripe the Gremlin. Steven Spielberg overruled this plot element because he felt Gizmo was cute and audiences would want him to be present at all stages of the film.
Hey beautiful!
I think it is best if you let Stripe win.
He is a cool cat.
Fun fact 4: 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 worldwide.
Hey, weren’t you the same Gremlin that held up the bank?
Gremlins like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, go figure!
Gizmo to the rescue!
Fun fact 5: The theater that blows up was subsequently involved in another accident when Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in Back to the Future (1985), smashes into the front entrance at the end of the film. The theater then burned down with the rest of the buildings in the fire that happened right after the filming of Back to the Future Part II (1989).
Gizmo’s revenge!
The final narration of the movie by Billy’s father:
“Well, that's the story. So if your air conditioner goes on the fritz or your washing machine blows up or your video recorder conks out; before you call the repairman turn on all the lights, check all the closets and cupboards, look under all the beds, 'cause you never can tell there just might be a gremlin in your house.”
Hopefully we get a fun and well done part 3 one day!
HorrO
(fun facts taken from IMDB)
Excellent recap of Gremlins, one of my favorite films of the 80s....
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me how scary the movie is whenever I watch it as an adult. They'd never make something like that for kids nowadays!
Andrew: Thanks! I tried to bring back memories for people that haven't seen the movie in a long time. I agree, watching it over I thought I would complain about the fake gremlins, but they look pretty good even compared to some stuff we see these days. Thanks for commenting as always
ReplyDeleteHorr0, that's a great tribute to "Gremlins" - one of the most unique and refreshingly enjoyable movies ever made. I've seen it more than 30 times. No, I'm not exaggerating. :) Fingers crossed there will be "Gremlins 3" one day...
ReplyDeleteNebular: thanks! I'm glad to see others like Gremlins as much as I do. I believe you if you say you have seen it 30 times. I'm sure I have seen it a bunch of times as well. Yes, my fingers are crossed! Thanks for commenting!
ReplyDelete