Fresh
A wildly original roller-coaster ride of hilarious mischief.
Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine
Gremlins
Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous.
1984 · 1h 46m · PG
Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Directed by
Joe Dante
Overview
After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.
Director and cast
- Joe Dante Director
- Zach Galligan as Billy Peltzer
- Phoebe Cates as Kate Beringer
- Hoyt Axton as Randall Peltzer
- Frances Lee McCain as Lynn Peltzer
- Corey Feldman as Pete Fountaine
- Keye Luke as Grandfather (Mr. Wing)
- John Louie as Chinese Boy
- Dick Miller as Murray Futterman
- Jackie Joseph as Sheila Futterman
- Polly Holliday as Ruby Deagle
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
87%
Tomatometer
Fresh
A horror-comedy about cute little Christmas toy/pets who turn into murderous monsters wreaking havoc on a Norman Rockwellian town.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Rotten
The humans are little more than dress-extras for the mechanics.
Variety Staff, Variety
Fresh
What's confusing yet ultimately illuminating is the way his gremlins function as a free-floating metaphor, suggesting at separate junctures everything from teenagers to blacks to various Freudian suppressions.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Rotten
Dante is perhaps the first filmmaker since Frank Tashlin to base his style on the formal free-for-all of animated cartoons; he is also utterly heartless.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
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