Curator Watchlist
Gremlins
A sharp, mischievous holiday creature feature that blends slapstick comedy, suburban satire, and genuine horror. It’s still one of the best examples of a movie that can be cute, funny, and nasty all at once.
Curator Watchlist
A sharp, mischievous holiday creature feature that blends slapstick comedy, suburban satire, and genuine horror. It’s still one of the best examples of a movie that can be cute, funny, and nasty all at once.
Where to watch: Buy
Fri · 1h 46m
Director: Joe Dante
Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton
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.
Joe Dante
Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton
A sharp, mischievous holiday creature feature that blends slapstick comedy, suburban satire, and genuine horror. It’s still one of the best examples of a movie that can be cute, funny, and nasty all at once.
Gremlins works because it understands that the cutest thing in the movie should also make the audience most anxious. Gizmo is an instant icon, and the film builds real affection around him before unleashing a wave of anarchic destruction that feels both playful and mean. The result is a holiday movie with teeth, one that keeps finding new ways to be funny without losing its bite.
Joe Dante stages the chaos with a cartoonish energy that never fully abandons the suburban setting, which makes the mayhem feel even more deliciously out of place. The practical effects still hold up beautifully, and the movie’s best jokes come from how seriously it treats absurdity. It’s a crowd-pleaser, but a weird one.
What lingers most is the movie’s willingness to let the mother become the action hero and the town become a playground for escalating punishment. That mix of creature-feature spectacle, Christmas atmosphere, and dark comic timing is exactly why it remains such an enduring favorite.
James (Schaffrillas) (3★) · 9586 likes
Every time Gizmo did literally anything I got super emotionally invested. I squealed with delight whenever he was happy, I shouted "No no no no no no no no" every time he was scared or in pain. I would fucking die for Gizmo you have no idea
adambolt (3.5★) · 7289 likes
Why is it that when people talk about strong female characters in movies they never mention Billy's mom fucken executing three Gremlins within seconds of finding them
Willow Maclay (4.5★) · 5444 likes
All Gizmo ever wanted to do was chill out and watch movies. Gizmo spends basically all of his time in Gremlins being so captured in what was on screen during the various movies he decided to watch. So in a way everyone on this site is Gizmo. I'd wager a good deal of us react the same way to sunlight as well, and that makes Gizmo the most relatable movie character of all time for cinephiles. We are all Gizmo
single white femalien (3★) · 4082 likes
where the gremlins get tiny gremlin guns from
•lily• (5★) · 2852 likes
“Gizmo isn’t real” TO YOU. He’s actually sitting next to me right now.
A suburban paranoia comedy with escalating absurdity, practical-effect charm, and a similar balance of menace and laughter.
Shares the same off-kilter comic energy, playful macabre tone, and love of chaotic supernatural misbehavior.
Another crowd-pleasing 1980s effects showcase that turns paranormal chaos into a breezy comedy adventure.
A close cousin in tone: small-town creature chaos, comic violence, and a gleefully unruly monster invasion.
For viewers who like cute-and-deadly creatures, musical irreverence, and a streak of black comedy.
Stylish 1980s genre fun with humor, menace, and a strong sense of pop-culture cool.
If the appeal is the mix of sweetness and unease, this offers a similarly tender outsider fantasy with dark edges.
A family-friendly gothic comedy that turns macabre imagery into warm, playful entertainment.
For viewers who enjoy horror turned into slapstick spectacle, with a hero battling absurd supernatural forces.
A funhouse blend of horror and comedy that leans into practical effects and surreal escalation.
A goofy 1980s creature comedy that scratches the same itch for mischievous little monsters.
Kids-versus-monsters adventure with practical effects, creepy energy, and a distinctly 1980s vibe.
holiday chaos, creature feature, suburban satire, practical effects, dark comedy, family disruption, consumer culture, monster mayhem
horror-comedy, Christmas, practical effects, creature feature, darkly comic, 1980s, suburban setting, holiday satire, monster mayhem, cult classic