I doubted that GREMLINS would hold up after all these years, but holy hell, it does. With the structure of a B horror movie, the film somehow defied the odds and became a classic that generations are still talking about forty years after its release. And yes, this is 100% a Christmas movie. Let me count a few of the reasons:
- It opens with a dad buying a Christmas gift for his son.
- Discussions between Kate (Phoebe Cates) and Billy (Zach Galligan) about Christmas and her tragically funny story where she *gasps* spoils who Santa Claus is!
- The homage to Frank Capra’s IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE with Kingston Falls in the place of Bedford Falls.
- The film opens with “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love, has “Do You Hear What I Hear,” “Silent Night,” and several more Christmas songs playing throughout.
- And so many more.
Upon rewatching it, I also started digging into the film’s theme, which is all about consumerism. The movie paints Americans as greedy. Audiences see this the most while watching Hoyt Axton (Billy’s father) buy/steal things from nature instead of spending time with his family. He’s so consumed with the next sale that he doesn’t realize all his son wants is to be home with him… instead of getting the latest “gizmo.”
None of that would matter, though, if the characters weren’t so damn lovable, and the script by the late/great Christopher “HOME ALONE” Columbus wasn’t so much fun. The film sets itself up to be violent and scary yet pulls away from that at around seventy-five minutes when it goes into comedy chaos mode with Phoebe Cates serving Gremlins at the bar. Even with the comedy, it still has some scary parts. Chris Columbus knew big things are far less frightening than small things (spiders, snakes, etc). He uses this to his advantage, setting up ample opportunities for the Gremlins to jump-scare the audience.
I watched GREMLINS as a child, and now I’m excited to rewatch it annually as part of my holiday tradition. However, I might wait a few years for my 2-1/2-year-old to get older. That way, I don’t scare him into thinking, “There might just be a Gremlin in our house.”
It’s available on Max.
