Imagine being pursued by a great white shark around your living room. Itâs never going to happen â but Joe Danteâs antiChristmas comedy-horror Gremlins (1984), back on screen soon to mark its 40th anniversary, is as close as you get to Jaws without the ocean. Humans are preyed on by feral hordes of seemingly cuddly little animals. When the filmâs young hero Billy (Zach Galligan) is given a âmogwai,â a furry creature who looks like a baby Yoda, as a seasonal gift, sheer bloody mayhem ensues.
One key reason Gremlins was such a runaway hit, and has inspired so many imitators (Critters, Ghoulies, and Munchies among them), is that it unleashed its pint-sized monsters into everyday American domestic life. This isnât King Kong or Jurassic Park. It is not set in a jungle, a national park or during a deep sea dive. Some of the most dramatic scenes take place in the heroâs family kitchen, when Billyâs resourceful mother (Frances Lee McCain) forces an especially vicious gremlin into the microwave and splatters another in the food mixer.
Another reason for the filmâs enduring popularity is its very double-edged depiction of the chihuahua-sized fiends. At times, director Dante actively encourages the audience to identify with these anarchic little varmints. Theyâre eerily human in their behaviour â but itâs humanity at its very worst. They gamble, slurp beer, guzzle popcorn and, late on in the movie, one of them, in a dirty Mackintosh, is even seen flashing. During the filmâs most glorious and subversive scene, hundreds of the grotesque beasts are shown in a cinema singing along in ecstatic chorus to the âHi Hoâ anthem from Disneyâs Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
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