Gremlins: Merry Christmas to all those creatures…

“We wish parts of this movie would happen to us. Another part for this movie we hope will never happen to us.”—Steven Spielberg

In the seasonal monster movie Gremlins, a man is given a strange creature as a pet—which then generates other creatures that unleash chaos over a whole town on Christmas Eve.

Overall, Gremlins is a morbid, yet campy take on holiday gift-giving. Quite frankly, the whole movie may be a cautionary tale of kneejerk consumerism around Christmas in an effort to buy the affection of a loved one. Or, it could just simply be Steven Spielberg shattering the mold of traditional holiday movies.—GREMLINS—Christmas Movie or Not? (Regal Movies)

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Scroll down to watch a video that provides interviews with people on set during the making of Gremlins

GREMLINS — Behind The Scenes

The 1984 horror comedy film Gremlins was a big success, but also criticized for its violence. In response to this and to similar complaints about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins executive producer Steven Spielberg suggested that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) alter its rating system. This is when officials created the PG-13 rating.

The voice of the main creature in Gremlins, Gizmo, was given by Howie Mandel. The film also starred included Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, and Frances Lee McCain. Gremlins was directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus and produced by Michael Finnell.

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Chris Well

Chris Well been a writer pretty much his entire life. (Well, since his childhood.) Over the years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. He now is the chief of the website Monster Complex, celebrating monster stories in lit and pop culture. He also writes horror comedy fiction that embraces Universal Monsters, 1960s sitcoms, 1980s action movies, and the X-Files.

https://chriswell.substack.com/
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