Spielberg's Gremlins: Close Encounters of the Furred Kind
To describe Gremlins (1984) as a kid’s film would be like describing the Bates Motel as a swell place to stay, it is in fact a great Christmas horror monster movie. What else would you call something with an exploding creature in a microwave, the most chilling Santa story ever told and a decapitation into a fire?
Cutesy in a typical Spielbergian world at the very beginning, sure, but it is soon revealed that we, the audience, and indeed the Peltzer family are sorely mistaken and have somewhat misread the situation in the ultimate ‘always heed the instructions’ moment in cinematic history
An animal is for life, not just for Christmas, such is the number one life lesson that we can all learn from the Spielberg Executive Produced, Joe Dante Directed, Gremlins. And lest us not forget the pair know a thing or two about successful monster movies with JAWS (1975) and Piranha (1978) under their directing belts.
In fact, Spielberg helped what he called “the best JAWS rip-off” get released, so it was perhaps inevitable that the pair would work together, a partnership they’d continue with Innerspace in 1987, which starred a post JAWS 3D Dennis Quaid.
Rounding out the trio of talent on Gremlins is then scriptwriter – later Harry Potter Director, Chris Columbus – who was on something of a roll after penning scripts for both The Goonies (1985) and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) around the same period.
This ‘E.T. with teeth’ captivated and entertained and still stands tall as a comedy horror Christmas classic, and you don’t get many of those.
Originally a spec script by the young Columbus the feature was set to be a very different ‘beast’ with the Gremlins being even more dark and twisted, with the irresistibly cute Gizmo turning into Stripe. Meanwhile, Barney the dog was going to be hanged and Billy’s mum’s head was set to roll down the stairs, although thankfully the pair didn’t face the same fates as Pipit and Ben Gardner in JAWS – although it would be amazing to read this much darker version.
Being a Joe Dante film, Gremlins is a veritable reference of film and cartoon delights, from a cameo by the legendary animator Chuck Jones to a blink and you’ll miss it Steven Spielberg cameo and a disappearing Time Machine.
It’s a deliciously wicked and rich film, even until this day and has an almost timeless charm about it like that other 80’s classic Back to the Future, which also shared the Universal backlot as its main set that created the town, Kingston Falls, and it does so spectacularly.
We get suckered into the cute, furry routine just like the Peltzers. It’s a family movie alright, but more about a family’s survival than in the traditional sense of the word. As such it caused such shockwaves Stateside and was one of two films that year, 1984, that helped create the PG 13 rating in America, the other film being Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, directed by a certain Steven Spielberg. And that film still features one of his scariest moments.
For all the Gremlins’ attacking from a Christmas tree, driving a bulldozer into the Futterman house, and causing mayhem in the streets, it’s a very low-key scene that lingers in the memory and proves to be the most distressing, that classic monologue by Phoebe Cates on why she hates Christmas.
It’s a chilling story of her family finding her dead dad stuck up the chimney dressed as Santa Claus, who had slipped and broken his neck whilst trying to surprise them. Inspired, and perhaps only pipped by the SS Indianapolis story speech by Quint in JAWS for its powerfulness.
And Gremlins is also creepy as hell with its set pieces and imagery, from the swirling lights of the swimming pool when Stripe throws himself in at the deep end, the tension of the death of the college tutor scene played against the rapidly beating heart on the projector, on par with anything in The Howling.
Not to mention the discovery of the pods – a nice throwback to Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the classic kitchen scene with the mum defending her kitchen, culminating in death by microwave.
For me, it’s a shame that Dante went for out and out comedy in the sequel as it would have been an interesting study in terror to see them go really, really dark.
Of course, a remake or reimagining has been mentioned but it really does remain to be seen whether the Gremlins would hold the same appeal us knowing that they were merely pixels.
The Gremlin creations by Chris Walas (who went onto win an Oscar for the effects on The Fly and helped wrangle fake fish in Piranha) are pretty much pitch perfect in design, that other unsung hero of the film is also Jerry Goldsmith and his blistering score that manages to be both comical, touching and scary in equal measure.
Gremlins really is a nasty piece of work and is all the more beloved and beautiful for it. Full of boundless energy, Dante clearly has great fun letting the Gremlins run riot in the usual Spielberg-like world, albeit one full of B-movie horror high jinks, and it all works wonderfully thanks to the film’s humour and the charm of its young leads. It may be a special effects led film but it’s the story that drives it, just like Back To The Future.
Alien is often mooted as the monster sci-fi movie of reference but for me it will always be Gremlins, a great big little monster movie.
Words by Dean Newman
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