Gremlins

Categories: 1984 films | Christmas films | Comedy films | Fantasy films | Horror films

This is an article about the movie Gremlins. See Gremlin for the fantastical beings.

Gremlins
Image:Gremlins.png
Directed by	Joe Dante
Written by	Chris Columbus
Starring	Zach Galligan Phoebe Cates
Produced by	Michael Finnell
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	1984
Runtime	106 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$11,000,000
IMDb page

Image:Neca-stripe-gremlins-20yfare04.jpg

NECA action figure released 2004.

Image:Neca-mogwaii-action-figure.jpg

NECA plushies released 2005.

Gremlins is a 1984 movie directed by Joe Dante. It stars Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates. A sequel called Gremlins 2: The New Batch was released in 1990. Unlike this cartoon-like sequel, the original Gremlins opts for black comedy, which is balanced against a Christmastime setting.

1 Plot summary
2 Awards
3 Technical data
4 See also
5 External links

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Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Inventor Randall "Rand" Peltzer (played by Hoyt Axton) of Kingston Falls goes on a trip to New York City and decides to pick up a present for his son Billy (Galligan). He happens upon a small shop in Chinatown which sells him a small, cute, furry creature called a mogwai (which, in Mandarin Chinese, translates literally as "evil spirit"). Though it seems innocent enough, the seller warns him that he must take the following precautions regarding the creature: he must not let it near bright light (especially sunlight, which can kill the creature), he must not get water on it, and, most importantly, never feed it after midnight.

Rand names the creature Gizmo and brings it home to his son. Unfortunately, although his new companion proves to be a very gentle and well behaved creature, Billy and his friends inadvertantly become careless with Gizmo. They get water on Gizmo, causing him to instantly multiply. Even worse, the new and much more anti-social mogwai (led by Stripe, who has a white mohawk-like hairstyle) that have spawned from Gizmo trick their guardians into feeding them after midnight, and transform into dark green gremlin-like monsters which wreak havoc upon Billy's town. Together with his girlfriend Kate Beringer (Cates), Billy must stop the gremlins before they can cause any more damage. Remarkably for the time and cultural context, the "original" Gizmo is not only non-participant, but even afraid of his evil offsprings and helps Billy and Kate fight them.

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Awards

Gremlins won the following awards:

The 1985 Saturn Award for Best Director, Best Horror Film, Best Music, Best Special Effects, and Best Supporting Actress (Polly Holliday) from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
The 1985 Golden Screen Award
The 1985 Young Artist Award for Best Family Motion Picture - Adventure

The film was also nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Young Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama (Corey Feldman).

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