FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

Gremlins (1984, USA)

Director: Joe Dante
Cast: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton
Running Time: 106 mins.

Billy gets a very special Christmas present: A mogwai (Kantonese for monster or devil). A cute little furry thing called Gizmo. The problem is: keeping mogwais ain’t that easy. You get them wet, they spawn more mogwais. You feed them after midnight, they morph into the little monsters called gremlins. And if you drop one in a swimming pool…you get violence, terror, and mayhem during the Christmas season. This Spielberg-produced creature feature became understandably very popular. It has many memorable scenes, a super cute hero and a terrific villain in Stripe, leader of the monstrous gremlins. The movie has aged pretty well due to the excellent creature effects (all animatronics). And since it is family oriented, it remains a favorite for the holidays. Not just for eighties nostalgists like me.