The Gremlins Essay

Gremlins

The movie,​ Gremlins,

​

is a 1984 comedy/horror film and features great stars like

Zach Gilligan who plays Billy Peltzer, Phoebe Cates as Kate Beringer, Hoyt Axton as Randall Peltzer, and of course Gizmo, whose voice is done by Howie Mandel. This film is set in Kingston Falls, New York, in the 1980’s around Christmas.

The film starts off with Randall Peltzer on the road trying to sell his outrageous inventions to storekeepers. While he was on the road he stopped in Chinatown seeking people to buy his inventions. The next thing you know he stumbles upon a weird antique shop. While he was in the shop he started to hear strange noises. Randall was curious to know what was making those noises. He quickly found out that is was a Mogwai, which is a small, cute and fuzzy creature. After falling in love with the mysterious creature and thinking it was going to be the perfect Christmas gift for his son, Billy, Randall was told by the owner of the shop, Mr. Wing, that the Mogwai wasn't for sale. Randall

was really upset as he was leaving the shop, but then Mr. Wing’s grandson offered to sell him the Mogwai because they were in desperate need of money. The boy, however, had three rules that had to be followed in order to have the Mogwai. Number one, never have it around bright light; sunlight will kill it. Number two, don't ever get it wet, and number three, never ever feed it after midnight. Randall

agreed to these rules and started to make his way home. When he got home Randall was eager to see what Billy's reaction to the new family member, his furry friend Gizmo, would be. Billy was ecstatic about his new pet and couldn’t wait to show him off. A few days later Billy's friend Pete stops by delivering their Christmas tree and gets to meet Gizmo for the first time. Everything was going well until water accidently spilled onto Gizmo. All of a sudden furry balls started to pop out of Gizmo’s back and started to form into more Mogwai! Billy noticed that they all looked the same except that one had a white stripe on its head. Confused about the situation but eager to learn more, Billy went to his science teacher, Mr. Hanson, to try and get some answers. Mr. Hanson decided to run a few tests on one of the Mogwai and said that he would let Billy know if he discovered anything as soon as he could. Back at home Stripe, the leader of the Mogwai, had concocted an evil plan and cut the wire to Billy's clock so that they would be fed after midnight. The next day Billy woke up and saw a bunch of giant, slimy, green cocoons all around his room. Once the cocoons hatched the Mogwai that had been inside weren't cute and furry anymore. They had transformed into nasty, scaley, horrible, gremlins! The gremlins, led by Stripe, got loose and started to attack the whole town, causing terror and utter chaos. Could they be stopped? Billy would need some help, ingenuity, and a bit of luck if he was going to have a chance.

Visual special effect have been used in movies almost since the beginning of filmmaking. The vast majority of films that come out of Hollywood, as well as many independent films, utilize special effects to bring the characters and story to life. Special effects can range from the explosion of a vehicle or building, to complex puppets or

robots, to incredible computer generated images or CGI.

Gremlins did a fantastic job of pushing the boundaries of visual effect considering CGI was not being widely used in 1984. The visual effects team accomplished this mainly through the use of elaborate, hand­made puppets and marionettes. They relied on their skills to create some of the movie’s main characters such as Gizmo, as well as Stripe and the other gremlins...the very creatures for which the movie was named. The gremlins had to be impressive and the visual effects team did not disappoint. Stripe and the others were extremely well detailed. They had beady little eyes, a mouthful of razor sharp teeth, and were covered in what looked like slimy green scales. For the time they were really quite scary looking. On the opposite end, they also created the furry and adorable, wide­eyed Gizmo. Audiences fell in love with him instantly, and everyone wished that they had a Gizmo of their

own.

In order to further bring the characters to life, it was important that the right voice actors were cast. Howie Mandel provided the perfect, baby­like voice of Gizmo, which only made him even more enduring and left audiences with the famous “bright lights, bright lights” line just may be quoted by people until the end of time. Frank Welker also did a wonderful job as Stripe and other gremlins. Although they used very few words, the various laughs, grunts and other noises ranged from comical to downright diabolical. It seemed natural to chuckle during the bar scene when the gremlins were laughing, singing, and causing a ruckus, yet cringe a little when Stripe would use an evil tone. In addition, the casting of Zach Galligan seemed perfect. He portrayed the cute, sweet boy next store, Billy, effortlessly, and yet when called to action by the vicious gremlins, was

able to transcend into the brave and strategic hero. The casting of actors and their ability to become their characters is crucial, and Gremlins delivered.

Gremlins is a classic movie which I recommend to anyone who enjoys a comedy­horror film. It tells an interesting story and does a good job of hitting the emotional elements of its genre. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.