Let me preface this whole write up by saying that Gremlins contains one of the most influential scenes of my pre-teenage filmmaking career. \u00a0Armed with a camcorder (weighted on my shoulder like a boulder) I must have tried to re-create and incorporate the thing blowing up in the microwave scene at least three times, much to my mom\u2019s, and my friends\u2019 moms\u2019, despair. We really do get attached to Gizmo though without too much screen time. \u00a0The kids were all \u201coooohs\u201d and \u201caaaahs\u201d at the little cute puppet as expected (or required). \u00a0It only takes a few shy Gizmo moments and one Gizmo race car driver scene to sell a whole audience on cuteness. \u00a0I think the contrast of cute and scary is a lot of what works with the child audience.<\/span><\/p>\n Throughout the film there is a push and pull with comedy and simple scares. \u00a0Green monsters jumping out and long shadows are the extent of scares while there are few gross out scenes (Gizmo shooting furry bubbles from his back, a gremlin in the blender and the aforementioned legendary microwave explosion to name a few). \u00a0These are tamed with recurring laughs at Billy\u2019s dad\u2019s terrible inventions or Corey Feldman fighting gremlins from his bedroom window. \u00a0Reviewing with the kids after the movie I think the take away is much more comedy than horror. \u00a0My youngest hasn\u2019t made it through a legitimate scare movie of any real degree and he loved Gremlins.<\/span> Needless to say the kids loved it. \u00a0Revisiting, it stood up better than most movies subjected to love as a kid watched again through adult eyes. \u00a0Maybe it\u2019s because I didn\u2019t have any expectations other than what it really was. \u00a0A simple movie that pulls at every boyish childhood scorecard. \u00a0Cute creatures, green monsters, stuff breaking and a theme song that is catchy enough that after figuring it out on the keyboard my son played it as incessantly as a gremlin for weeks. While there are a few scares and some dark humor, like Phoebe Cates\u2019 dad breaking his neck as Santa Claus, don\u2019t worry, you\u2019re kids will most likely miss the moroseness of it. \u00a0They\u2019ll just hear, \u201cMy dad died on Christmas\u201d. \u00a0They\u2019re waiting for green monsters to blow up things.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Mom says : I would like a goat named \u201cGizmo\u201d.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Best guess : 8+, it can be pretty anti-social<\/b><\/p>\n Grown Up score : B+<\/b><\/p>\n Kids\u2019 Grade : It was great!<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gremlins (1985) Dir: Joe Dante (also known for Innerspace, Explorers) Let me preface this whole write up by saying that Gremlins contains one of the most influential scenes of my pre-teenage filmmaking career. \u00a0Armed with a camcorder (weighted on my shoulder like a boulder) I must have tried to re-create and incorporate the thing blowing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4660,8635,8646,9319],"class_list":["post-10517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-articles","tag-comedy","tag-gregs-movie-night","tag-gremlins","tag-horror"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"900w-Brownie\"](\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/900w-Brownie.jpg\")
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\nWe\u2019ve all seen this movie right? \u00a0I mean, really? \u00a0However, I challenge you with WHEN did you last see this movie? \u00a0Revisiting the movie so many years later I was struck with the fast pace of the story. \u00a0The protagonist, Billy, quickly sets to work breaking every single rule he was given allowing the movie to bask in it\u2019s extended mayhem. \u00a0Getting them wet, exposing to light and letting them eat after midnight? \u00a0It could have only happened faster if he checked it off a list. \u00a0For the record, Billy\u2019s next mistake after breaking the rules is putting his trust into his high school science teacher. He promptly dies first chance he gets discovering nothing! \u00a0From there it\u2019s pretty much plotless destruction. \u00a0Which is why it works so well with the pre-teen crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\nMost of the back half of the film is really a long montages of sociopathic, slapstick green monsters. \u00a0Falling, slapping, smoking, swinging from the ceiling, you name it. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t seem like a responsible parent such as myself should be exposing my 9 and 10 year olds to a puppet that consumes enough beer to literally make himself pass out after chugging a beer but \u00a0I can defend myself. \u00a0These are monsters! \u00a0They are the bad guys! \u00a0The same monsters smoking 15 cigarettes at once are the same monsters killing people and breaking windows and we KNOW that\u2019s wrong. \u00a0Extrapolate and you get my point.<\/span><\/p>\n