Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

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Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and Chris Columbus collaborated on this modern Christmas classic. "Gremlins" is a mild horror film set in a small town that is easily a stand-in for Bedford Falls from "It's a Wonderful Life." Leave it to these three guys to inject a lot of subversive, sarcastic humor, using the vile Gremlins as their horror-comic tool.

The plot is well-known - a wacky inventor brings home the "perfect Christmas present" from a mysterious Chinese shop - a Mogwai. The Mogwai, Gizmo, is beyond cute (particularly thanks to the voice work of Howie Mandel). But Giz has flaws - namely 3: He hates bright light, he can't get wet, and you can never, ever feed him after midnight.

Of course, these rules get broken throughout the film, with terrific results. The Gremlins overrun the town, causing hilarious, murderous mayhem along the way. It's up to Zach Gilligan and Phoebe Cates as the stereotypically-nice guy and gal to save the day.

The plot is simple - the joy is in its execution. This is one of the best Christmas movies to come out in recent years and is a wonderful antidote to all the holiday movies that focus solely on existential angst or rampant commercialism, although there is just enough anti-commercialism message in this flick to make it worthwhile.

To be fair, "Gremlins" is light-hearted stuff, but can be a little scary if you're kids are young (say, 6 or so, older kids should do just fine). A couple of humans and a gazillion Gremlins meet their makers in unpleasant ways, and the Gremlins are pretty scary up close. The kids will quickly adopt Gizmo as a favorite, but there are quite a few dark moments - and you'll never look at a microwave the same way again.