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Gremlins

1984

Joe Dante

Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Frances Lee McCain ...

6.6

106,268

Fantasy. Comedy. Horror Young Billy Peltzer's (Zach Galligan) everyday smalltown life is given a lift when his travelling salesman father Rand (Hoyt Axton) buys him the ultimate Christmas gift in a far-off Chinatown--the mogwai--an adorable little big-eared, furry, brown and white creature. But the old man who sold the creature gave three rules that must always be followed when caring for the mogwai: 1) no water 2) no food after midnight 3) no bright light. ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"It's fun (...) The whole movie is a sly series of send-ups, inspired by movie scenes so basic they reside permanently in our subconscious (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Vincent Canby The New York Times	"'Gremlins' is far more interested in showing off its knowledge of movie lore and making random jokes than in providing consistent entertainment."	NEU
United Kingdom	Caroline Westbrook Empire	"Hilariously overblown (...) This serves as a delightfully offbeat reminder of how inventive and witty blockbusters seemed when you were a kid (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Variety	"The humans are little more than dress-extras for the mechanics."	NEG
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"Dante's subversive and occasionally unnerving high jinks with the processes of movie watching reveal not only a skepticism toward the media (...) but also a profound respect for the viewer"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"Spielberg's finger wagging is overwhelmed by Joe Dante's roaring, undisciplined direction, which (...) pushes the imagery to unforeseen, untidy, and ultimately disturbing extremes."	NEG
United Kingdom	Almar Haflidason BBC	"A film that offers plenty of unpredictability (...) It presents the briefest plot and injects some cruel twists that are really quite funny (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Tom Huddleston Time Out	"The result is a jangling, lunatic sugar rush of a movie, in love with everything it satirises and bursting at the seams with psychotic energy (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Philip French The Guardian	"An ingenious, delightfully scary fairytale horror flick (...) The final message, delivered by a Chinese sage, is perhaps even more arresting today."	POS
United States	Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune	"A horror-comedy about cute little Christmas toy/pets who turn into murderous monsters wreaking havoc on a Norman Rockwellian town. There's a moral there someplace (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS

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