Gremlins (1984)
Gremlins was a rather unexpected movie for it's time. Technically a weird Christmas comedy horror movie. The protagonist goes to a shop taking home Gizmo. The creature after making contact with water multiplies more of his species.
They are officially called Mogwai. Which reminds me of Furby, does anyone remember that toy? Billy was warned to not feed them after midnight. Most of them sneak in food that caused their transformation into Gremlins. This is such a disgusting process.
Imagine how caterpillars make cocoons to transform into either a butterfly or a moth. Somehow they made it into a truly unpleasant thing to look at. Gremlins goes around causing chaos to humans. They don't care if whatever they do is at your expense.
There's a lot of them in the movie to fill up an entire movie theater room. Of course, one of the most rememberable scenes is a mom killed an handful of them in the kitchen scene. Personally, I always enjoyed the old lady that gotten sent outside a window scene myself.
Gremlins was a chaotic movie as soon as they become Gremlins. The scene with the shop keeper was directly parodied on The Simpsons in one of the first Treehouse of Horror episodes. Gremlins are truly rememberable in nearly every scene they're in.
This movie is still heavily being talked about today. I always enjoyed rewatching parts of the movie. Stripe was a great antagonist that stands out from the rest of them. His actual death scene was among the most disturbing in the franchise to watch.
The one time they quiet down funny enough was watching Snow White & The Seven Dwarves movie. You know the classic animated Disney movie yeah that version. Some of the characters takes out most of them in a explosion there.
Easily among my favorite smaller creatures in anything comedy horror to date. I especially loved Stripe used whatever he could find to fight off Billy. Even an chainsaw beating Chucky out by nearly forty years!!!
Yes the original Gremlins predates the original Child's Play by a little over four years. Prior to that, some of the characters broke into a store Stripe head inside of. I felt this Gremlins movie with the little things sticks with you a long time.
The creatures are mostly similar in personality except for Gizmo. Gizmo is the solo good one among all of them. Even he helped to take down Stripe in the end. I felt this had better used of the supporting characters than Gremlins 2.
Gremlins was a rather fun idea for it's time. Even for a Christmas horror movie. It's more light than dark that many people could enjoy. Where it truly shines is the creatures themselves. They were animated by a few classic techniques that's barely used anymore in movies.
A good mix of puppets with animatronics usage. They also used practical effects to spice things up. Now that's impressive with so many creatures they had in the movie!!! There's no question, this was the best entry in the franchise.
Gremlins was truly one of a kind movie. I would be very funny about that getting remade. I don't think a remake could recreate what so many loved about the original Gremlins movie. In my honest opinion, just leave the movie alone!!!
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
This is among the most unexpected movie sequels I ever seen!!! Like Seed of Chucky, they upped the humor in this entry. Yes parts of it are self aware it's not as good as the original Gremlins. To be honest, I felt this might have slightly more rememberable moments than that movie.
It depends on which version, you could be seeing Hulk Hogan cameo that's funny. The joke was the creatures didn't wanna show what's left of the movie. They had people in a movie theater watching the film.
Hogan threatened them to get the movie back on was genius!!! Some of them drank chemicals that mutated. Some of them became hybrids that were cool. My favorite being the Bat Gremlin that referenced Batman for a few seconds.
My other favorite Gremlins was Electric Gremlin and Brain Gremlin respectively. Electric Gremlin is among the scariest in the entire franchise. He can instantly go through many machines with such ridiculous speed.
Brain Gremlin might sound boring at first. Trust me this character was a rather nice addition. He explains his race wants to be an civilization. They are too chaotic for their own good. I loved the scene he's helping while another Gremlin annoying him.
Out of no where, he pulls out a gun to shoot him. He's among the smartest characters in the movie. Shortly after he mutated became the nicest of his species. I will give credit to Tony Randall making him such a rememberable character.
I also gotta mention before someone points it out. Yes there's also a spider Gremlin named Mohawk. He actually shows up in the video game based on that Gremlins movie. Easily among the best looking Gremlins in the movie by far.
I actually felt Gizmo stands out more in this one. Especially when he parodies Rambo taking out that Gremlin. Yes he wore a red bandanna just like the character. Yes I'm a huge Rambo fan myself. Easily among my favorite scenes in the movie.
Christopher Lee who plays an scientist. Along with twin scientists created several chemicals. Some of which the creatures drunked. Robert Prosky plays a parody of Grandpa Munster. In all honestly, I thought it was Al Lewis in the movie.
Yes Lewis was still alive at the time of Gremlins 2. Majority of the movie takes place inside a skyscraper. I know at first that doesn't sound exciting. Then you start to see a few shows being filming inside.
Easily among my favorite characters in the movie. Yes he actually is dressed up as Grandpa Munster. I would've watched the show if it were real. A cooking show that's more common than it was back in the 90s.
Back then there was an handful of them. Now there's so many cooking shows with many shared chefs to lose track of. I know I haven't talked about what started the events of the movie. An janitor caused water to make contact with Gizmo causing him to multiply more creatures.
You actually felt bad for Gizmo here. He really tried to not touch water. He already knows it never leaves to anything good. Just like the last movie, majority of them ate past midnight to become Gremlins.
It's quite risky to film majority of a movie inside one location being a skyscraper. Somehow I think they actually pulled it off!!! The big death scene was mind blowing!!! Some of the characters tricked majority of them to come out in a huge open space area.
As they're getting water one of them unleashes Electric Gremlin. Which quickly fried all of them while shorting out Electric Gremlin shortly afterwards. There's a lot of them by this point in the movie. It was amazing they actually pulled this off the way they did.
Some felt they slightly tone it down from the original. Yes there's some truth to that I can't argue with that. But Gremlins 2 was virtually let's go wild with the concept!!! For me, more of the actual jokes landed more.
Conclusion
Yes the original Gremlins is the better comedy horror movie. But Gremlins 2 was such a fun sequel for it's time. Especially in the early 90s the movie is nearly just as remembered. I sorta liked Gremlins 2 a little bit more.
These are vastly different movies that appeals to different audiences. The original Gremlins is a bit more serious in tone. Gremlins 2 is more life of the party you never wanna go home. Some might view Gremlins 2 as a step backwards because they terrorized a town in the original.
In Gremlins 2, majority of the events happened inside a tall building. But I will say this it worked well with that building. I actually felt more actual creatures were more interesting in Gremlins 2. Gizmo stands out a little more as well.
Some of the main characters was a little better in the original movie. They still felt essential to the overall plot of Gremlins 2. I don't even think Gremlins 2 was the reason for the long hiatus. Sometimes other plans unrelated happens that either delays something for a franchise or cancels them altogether.
The other possible angle is both these Gremlins movies virtually done everything they thought of. They simply ran out of ideas what to do with the concept. I actually think there's so much more they could've done.
I don't know how many of my ideas might've happened in the prequel show off hand. What I do know is I absolutely loved both these Gremlins movies!!! The original is among the essential Christmas horror movies to watch.
Gremlins 2 is essential to watch for a few reasons. Thankfully you won't miss much if you ended up watching that first. Gremlins 2 was simply a little too much humor. But it actually works more than some other horror movie sequels I could think of.
The overall tone with many stuff that happens makes them incredibly different overall experiences to watch. The original Gremlins is more about the chaos spread across a town. Gremlins 2 was putting that chaos inside a tall building like a glass bottle about to explode!!!
The creatures are quite unpleasant to humans. Usually their leaders are the worst among them. Gremlins 2 differing some of their designs was a rather welcome addition. Not only that, Gremlins 2 didn't come off being rushed.
After all, it took a couple years from the original. Most horror movie franchises quickly rushed out sequels around that time. Gremlins 2 was able to be a nice surprise. Ultimately it depends on your taste which Gremlins movie you like more?
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