12.22.2009

12 Days of Christmas: Gremlins

It's Christmas and what better than the perfect gift.

"Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous."

Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) buys a gift for his son Zach Galligan in an old dark shop in Chinatown while visiting Manhattan. It's a small cute furry creature that's called a mogwai (which in Cantonese translates literally as "monster"). There are rules for caring for a mogwai. Don't get him wet, keep him out of bright light, and never feed him after midnight. Naturally all the rules get broken and then the fun begins.

Director Joe Dante (Piranha, The Howling) brings this black comedy to the big screen with his usual in jokes and a combination of horrific and comedic elements. There's lots of biting, clawing, intentional accidents, death by microwave, decapitations, general mass destruction and a quick pit stop in all the chaos to watch a little Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

This movie along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was responsible for the creation of PG-13 rating in the U.S. Both films are a little too violent for PG (which they were both rated) and no where near an R-rating.

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