Gremlins

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

1984 1h 46m EN

👍

7.1

SOLID

🍅

86%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.3

IMDB

★7.1TMDB · 7,182🍅86%Rotten Tomatoes●70Metacritic★7.3IMDB · 272,878

FantasyHorrorComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.

“Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous.”

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Cast

Zach Galligan
Billy
Phoebe Cates
Kate
Hoyt Axton
Rand Peltzer
Frances Lee McCain
Lynn Peltzer
Corey Feldman
Pete
Keye Luke
Grandfather
John Louie
Chinese Boy
Dick Miller
Mr. Futterman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joe Dante
Writers: Chris Columbus
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $153M — a 13.9× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

42 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Gremlins Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joe Dante, shot by John Hora. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Noel Regney. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tina Hirsch shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates and Hoyt Axton carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joe Dante directs. John Hora behind the camera. Noel Regney scores. Tina Hirsch cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $153M — a 13.9× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
242 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
4Part of the "The Gremlins Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Joe Dante, shot by John Hora. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Noel Regney. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Tina Hirsch shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates and Hoyt Axton carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous.".
10IMDB entry: tt0087363 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 25 themes, including "small town", "monster", "holiday", "department store".
12Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: John Hora
Original score: Noel Regney
Editing: Tina Hirsch
Production design: James H. Spencer
Makeup / hair: Cheri Ruff
Sound: Steve Maslow
Stunt coordinator: Mike H. McGaughy
Runtime: 106 min · 1h 46m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $11,000,000
Box office: $153,083,102
Return: 1392% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Gremlins (1984)
Rotten Tomatoes: 86% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 70/100
IMDB rating: 7.3/10 · 272,878 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

8 wins & 7 nominations total

Part of

The Gremlins Collection

Gremlins is a 1984 American horror comedy film directed by Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg was the film's executive producer and the screenplay was written by Chris Columbus. The film is about a young man who receives a strange creature called a Mogwai as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive, evil monsters. This story was continued with a sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, released in 1990. Unlike the lighter sequel, the original Gremlins opts for more black comedy, which is balanced against a Christmas-time setting. Both films were the center of large merchandising campaigns.

Also by

Joe Dante

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Community reviews

What people are saying

mizjmarie2014-11-10
★ 5/10
Overall, movie was strange. It did have a few suspenseful moments, but overall want that great of a horror film. And I definitely wouldn't call it a comedy. Based on all the hype it has had I wasn't that impressed.
Wuchak2020-09-16
★ 6/10
Cute creatures morph into hellions during Christmas A traveling inventor (Hoyt Axton) brings home a cute animal he bought at a shop in Chinatown for a Christmas gift, but the rules for the animal’s care are broken and all hell breaks loose. Zach Galligan plays the son and Phoebe Cates his girlfriend. “Gremlins” (1984) mixes Christmas movie with Comedy, Fantasy & Horror for an entertaining popcorn flick. The mogwai creatures are cute and you’re not sure how safe the movie is going play out but, thankfully, it turns amusingly edgy. The inclusion of cutie Phoebe Cates helps. The film runs 1 hour, 46 minutes and was shot at Universal Studios, Universal City, California. GRADE: B-
Peter89Spencer2020-12-03
★ 8/10
Weirdly, it's one of my favourite Christmas movies! It was heartwarming, a little scary and outright amusing. It's one of those films where the bad guys still the show. Also, is it me or does the girl look a little like adult star Ava Dalush?! Anyway, what I'm saying is, Gremlins is another classic.