Gremlins (1984)

Directed by: Joe Dante
Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, and Hoyt Axton

Gremlins Movie Synopsis

Our story starts in China town. We know it’s Chinatown because there are a lot of Asians and the roads are mysterious and smoky. A poor man’s short round is guiding Randall Peltzer into a store that sells all sorts of Chinesy looking artifacts. Randall is an amateur inventor along the lines of one of the greatest inventors of all time – Data, and I mean Data from Goonies, not Star Trek. Randall is hoping the shop will agree to sell one of his inventions. He is distracted by some singing and finds the cutest little creature which the Chinese grandfather shop owner identifies as a mogwai. Unfortunately for Randall, he doesn’t speak Cantonese, otherwise we would understand what mogwai means and avoid the need for a movie altogether.

The grandfather refuses to sell the mogwai to Randall, but he is able to purchase the mogwai from short round. He learns the only three rules that govern owning and taking care of the mogwai: 1) keep it out of bright lights, it hates it and sunlight will kill it; 2) never get it wet, don’t even give it water to drink; and most importantly 3) never feed it after midnight – although he never explains the practical application of these rules. Midnight according to which time zone? When does this rule expire? What about water in food? These as well as other crazy questions (see Phoebe’s Cates story later in the film) aren’t answered.

It’s Christmas time in Kingston Falls, a town that looks eerily similar to Marty McFly’s Hill Valley. Randall gives this harmless little creature, who he names Gizmo, to his son Billy as an early Christmas present. Billy works at a bank for the evil bank owner, Flo from Alice. He is sweet on his co worker, the red bikini wearing whore from Fast Times …

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