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Gremlins is a 1984 American Black comedy Comedy horror directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday and Frances Lee McCain, with Howie Mandel providing the voice of Gizmo the Mogwai. It draws on legends of folkloric mischievous creatures that cause malfunctions—""—in the British Royal Air Force going back to World War II. The story follows Billy Peltzer, who receives Gizmo as a pet, who then spawns more of his kind that evolve into the titular imp-like monsters that wreak havoc on Billy's hometown during Christmas Eve.
The film was accompanied by a large merchandising campaign and juxtaposes black comedy with a Christmas film. Steven Spielberg was the executive producer, with the film being produced by Michael Finnell.
Gremlins was theatrically released on June 8, 1984, by Warner Bros. to critical and commercial success. However, it was heavily criticized for some of its more violent sequences. In response to this and to similar complaints about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Spielberg suggested that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) alter its rating system, which it did within two months of the film's release, creating a new PG-13 rating. It was followed by a sequel, (1990).
In Randall's hometown of Kingston Falls, Billy works at the local bank, but fears that his dog Barney will be put down by widowed miser Ruby Deagle. His father returns and offers him the mogwai, now named "Gizmo", as a pet and informs him of the rules. Gizmo is friendly and docile, but when Billy's friend, Pete Fountaine, accidentally spills water on Gizmo, five more mogwai spawn from him – a more mischievous sort led by the aggressive Stripe, named after the white and Mohawk hairstyle-like tuft of fur on his head. Billy shows one of the mogwai to his former elementary school science teacher, Roy Hanson, spawning another mogwai, whom the latter experiments on. Back home, Stripe and his fellow mogwai trick Billy into feeding them after midnight by sabotaging his bedside clock. They form cocoons, as does Hanson's mogwai, which soon hatch, emerging as destructive and Reptile imp-like monsters called "gremlins". Hanson is murdered by his gremlin, while those at the Peltzer house torture Gizmo and assault Billy's mother, Lynn.
Lynn and Billy are able to dispatch all the gremlins sans Stripe, who escapes to the local YMCA where he jumps into its swimming pool, spawning an army of gremlins that wreak havoc on Kingston Falls. Many locals are injured or outright killed during their rampage, including Deagle. The police are helpless in the ordeal, as they too fall victim to the gremlins' mischief. After Billy rescues his co-worker and girlfriend, Kate Beringer, when the gremlins attack the bar she works at, and they seek refuge in the bank, the latter discloses that her father went missing on Christmas Eve when she was nine years old, but was then found dead in their house's chimney several days later. Planning to surprise his family while portraying Santa Claus, he inadvertently slipped and broke his neck while climbing down the chimney. Still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to the incident, Kate confesses how this led to her dislike of the holidays.
The trio find the gremlins gathered in the local movie theater due to morning approaching and set off a natural gas explosion, killing them all except for Stripe, who left the theater earlier to retrieve candy at a Montgomery Ward store across the street. They follow Stripe into the store, where he attempts to use a fountain to spawn more gremlins, but Gizmo then opens a nearby skylight, exposing Stripe to sunlight and killing him.
As the local news reports on the incident, Mr. Wing arrives at the Peltzer house to reclaim Gizmo. He scolds the family for their negligence and criticizes Western world for its carelessness with nature. However, as he turns to leave, Gizmo, having bonded with Billy, bids him goodbye. A compassionate Wing then concedes that Billy may be ready to properly care for him one day.
The notion of gremlins was first conceived during the 1920s when mechanical failures in RAF aircraft were jokingly blamed on the small monsters. The term "gremlins" also entered popular culture as children's author and RAF pilot Roald Dahl published a book called The Gremlins in 1943, based on the mischievous creatures. Walt Disney considered making a film of it. A Bugs Bunny cartoon of the era, Falling Hare, shows Bugs battling a gremlin on an airplane. Joe Dante had read The Gremlins and said that the book was of some influence on his film. In 1983, Dante publicly distanced his work from earlier films, explaining, "Our gremlins are somewhat different—they're sort of green, and they have big mouths, and they smile a lot and they do incredibly, really nasty things to people and enjoy it all the while".
After deciding to executive produce the film himself, Spielberg chose Dante as his director because of his experience with horror-comedy; Dante had previously directed The Howling; however, in the time between The Howling and the offer to film Gremlins, he had experienced a lull in his career. Dante began doing storyboard work on the film while also working as a director on (1983), a film on which Spielberg also served as a director. The film's producer was Michael Finnell, who had also worked on The Howling with Dante. Spielberg took the project to Warner Bros. and co-produced it through his own company, Amblin Entertainment.
Designer Chris Walas spoke on the creation of the initial concept of the creatures, “After reading the script, my first idea was to take the tarsier, a little primate, and give it cartoony proportions. I wanted the big eyes to make it cute. I showed it to Mike Finnell and Joe Dante and they asked for some tweaks, so I made the next one. This is more like a puppy. Big, floppy ears. It’s not based on any one dog in particular — just a Cocker Spaniel or something. Fortunately they did not go with it. These were the only two Mogwai I sculpted before the final one.”
The film's script went through a few drafts before a shooting script was finalized. The first version was much darker than the final film. Various scenes were cut, including one which portrayed Billy's mother being decapitated during her struggle with the gremlins, with her head thrown down the stairs when Billy arrives. Dante later explained the scene made the film darker than the filmmakers wanted. There was also a scene where the gremlins ate Billy's dog and a scene where the gremlins attacked a McDonald's, eating customers instead of burgers. Also, instead of Stripe being a mogwai who becomes a gremlin, there was originally no mogwai named Stripe; rather, Gizmo was supposed to transform into Stripe the gremlin. Spielberg overruled this plot element as he felt Gizmo was cute and that audiences would want him to be present throughout the film.
The film mentions an urban legend in which Kate reveals in a speech that her father died at Christmas when he dressed as Santa Claus and broke his neck while climbing down the family's chimney. After the film was completed, studio executives insisted upon its removal, because they felt it was too ambiguous as to whether it was supposed to be funny or sad. Dante refused to take the scene out, saying it represented the film as a whole, which had a combination of horrific and comedic elements. Spielberg did not like the scene but, despite his creative control, he viewed Gremlins as Dante's project and allowed him to leave it in. A parody of this scene is featured in .
In contrast to Galligan, many of the supporting actors and actresses were better known. Veteran actor Glynn Turman portrayed the high school science teacher whose study of a newborn mogwai leads to his death after it forms a cocoon and emerges as a vicious gremlin. Dick Miller, who was a regular in Dante's films, was another experienced actor on the set, playing a World War II veteran who first refers to the creatures as gremlins. Rand was played by Hoyt Axton, who was always the filmmakers' preferred choice for the role even though it was widely contested by other actors. Axton's experience included acting as the father in The Black Stallion (1979), and he was also a country music singer-songwriter. After an introductory scene to Gremlins was cut, Axton's voice earned him the added role of the narrator to establish some context. Mr. Wing was played by Keye Luke, a renowned film actor, whose film career spanned half a century. Although in reality he was around 80 at the time of filming, and his character was very elderly, Luke's youthful appearance had to be covered by make-up.
Corey Feldman, who up to that time had primarily been in commercials, played Pete Fountaine, establishing his early credentials as a child actor; he previously met with Spielberg when he auditioned for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Polly Holliday, an actress best known for her role in Alice, played Mrs. Deagle. Dante considered the casting fortunate, as she was well-known, and he considered her to be talented. Two other well-known actors, Fast Times Judge Reinhold and character actor Edward Andrews, received roles that were significantly reduced after the film was edited; they played Billy's superiors at the bank. Tom Hanks also read for Gerald.
An earlier attempt to use to interpret the gremlins was abandoned because the test monkey panicked when made to wear a gremlin head. and were used instead, so the actors worked alongside them in most scenes. Nevertheless, after the actors finished their work for good, a great deal of effort was spent finishing the effects.
Chris Walas designed numerous small rubber puppets to portray Gizmo and the gremlins. There was more than one Gizmo puppet, and occasionally Galligan, when carrying one, would set him down off camera, and when Gizmo appeared again sitting on a surface it was actually a different puppet wired to the surface. These puppets had many limitations. The Gizmo puppets were particularly frustrating because they were smaller and thus broke down more. While Walas recommended making the mogwai larger to make their creation and functioning easier for the special effects team, Dante insisted on keeping their size small to enhance the cuteness of the creatures. Consequently, to satisfy the crew, a scene was included in which the gremlins hang Gizmo on a wall and throw darts at him. This was included on a list that the crew created known to them as the "Horrible Things to do to Gizmo" list. Rob Bottin and John Dykstra were originally considered to do the special effects, Bottin was Dante's first choice; but he was busy working on Legend (1985).
Other effects required large mogwai faces and ears to be produced for close-ups, as the puppets were less capable of conveying emotion. Consequently, large props simulating food were needed for the close-ups in the scene in which the mogwai feast after midnight. An enlarged Gizmo puppet was also needed for the scene in which he multiplies. The new mogwai, who popped out of Gizmo's body as small, furry balls which then started to grow, were balloons and expanded as such. Walas had also created the exploding gremlin in the microwave by means of a balloon that was allowed to burst.
Howie Mandel provided the voice of Gizmo and prolific voice actor Frank Welker provided the voice of the gremlins' leader, Stripe. It was Welker who suggested Mandel perform in Gremlins. The puppets' lines were mostly invented by the voice actors, based on cues from the physical actions of the puppets, which were filmed before the voice work. When developing the voice for Gizmo, Mandel explained, "Gizmo cute and naive, so, you know, I got in touch with that... I couldn't envision going any other way or do something different with it". The majority of the other gremlins' voices were performed by Michael Winslow and Peter Cullen, while the remaining voices were done by Mandel, Welker, Bob Bergen, Fred Newman, Jim Cummings, Sonny Melendrez, Mark Dodson, Bob Holt, Michael Sheehan and even Dante himself.
The soundtrack album was released by Geffen Records as a specially priced 7-cut mini-album on LP and cassette (Goldsmith's music comprised all of side two) and reissued on compact disc in 1993 only in Germany.
"Gremlins...Mega Madness" was also released as a single, with "The Gremlin Rag" as its B-side (The USA release has Late For Work).
In 2011, Film Score Monthly issued a two-disc release of the soundtrack, with the complete score on disc one and the original soundtrack album on disc two (representing the latter's first North American CD issue); this was the label's final Jerry Goldsmith album. A CD release by Warner Archive Collection was released through WaterTower Music on October 10, 2015.
DISC ONE: The Film Score
Tracks 26–34 are listed as bonus tracks.
DISC TWO: 1984 Soundtrack Album
Gremlins was released into North American theaters on June 8, 1984, the same day as Ivan Reitman's Ghostbusters. Gremlins ranked second, with $12.5 million in its first weekend, $1.1 million less than Ghostbusters. By the end of its American screenings on November 29, it had grossed $148,168,459 domestically. This made it the fourth highest-grossing film of the year, behind Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Since Gremlins had an international audience, different versions of the film were made to overcome cultural barriers. Mandel learned to speak his few intelligible lines, such as "Bright light!", in various languages, including German. Regional music and humor were also incorporated into foreign-language versions. Dante credited this work as being one of the factors that helped to make Gremlins a worldwide success.
Discussing the film's violence, Dante later told reporters that "the idea of taking a 4-year-old to see Gremlins, thinking it's going to be a cuddly, funny animal movie and then seeing that it turns into a horror picture, I think people were upset... They felt like they had been sold something family-friendly and it wasn't entirely family-friendly".
The film became available to audiences again when it was returned to theaters on August 30, 1985. This additional release brought its gross up to $153,083,102, making it Warner Bros.’ most successful film at the time, a record that stood until Batman surpassed it in 1989.
By February 1985, the film had grossed $59.6 million internationally, including $17 million in Japan. It grossed a further $0.2 million in 2019, taking its worldwide gross to over $212.9 million.
While some critics criticized the film's depictions of violence and greed—such as death scenes, Kate's speech and the gremlins' gluttony—for lacking comic value, scholar Charlotte Miller instead interpreted these as a satire of "some characteristics of Western culture", suggesting that Westerners may take too much satisfaction from violence. Gremlins can also be interpreted as a statement against technology, in that some characters, such as Billy's father, are overly dependent on it. In contrast, Mr. Wing is shown to have a strong distaste for television. Kirkpatrick Sale also interpreted Gremlins as an anti-technology film in his book Rebels Against the Future. Another scholar suggested that the film is meant to express a number of observations of society by having the gremlin characters shift in what they are meant to represent. At different times, they are depicted as , the wealthy establishment, and fans of Disney films.
Another scholar drew a connection between the microwave scene and urban legends about pets dying in microwave ovens. He described the portrayal of this urban legend in the film as successful, but that meant it seemed terrible. This is indeed a scene that is thought of as being one of the film's most violent depictions; with even Roger Ebert expressing some fear in his review that the film might encourage children to try similar things with their pets. Catherine Lester casts doubt on whether any children actually did attempt this as a result of seeing the film. Situating Gremlins in the children's horror genre, she argues that child viewers are invited to identify with the gremlins themselves, whose rebellious behaviour may function as a source of subversive pleasure.
John Nubbin reviewed Gremlins for Different Worlds magazine and stated that "All in all, it is just another exploitation film. Trading on Spielberg's name and reputation, it is merely a money-maker - just another summer film which in the end has nothing to keep it in our memories past Thanksgiving."
Colin Greenland reviewed Gremlins for Imagine magazine, and stated that "Two or three good jokes, three or four neat scenes, lots of detail, but overall, a manic melee of pyrotechnics that made random grabs for my sympathy and failed to hold my attention, A bit more coherent thought, and who knows, it might have been something good."
Gremlins has been criticized for more than its depictions of violence. One BBC critic wrote in 2000 that "The plot is thin and the pacing is askew". However, that critic also complimented the dark humour contrasted against the ideal Christmas setting. In 2002, another critic wrote that in hindsight, Gremlins has "corny special effects" and that the film will tend to appeal to children more so than to adults; he also said the acting was dull.
Despite the initial mixed criticism, Gremlins has continued to receive praise over the years and is considered by many critics to be one of the best films of 1984.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 83 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Whether you choose to see it as a statement on consumer culture or simply a special effects-heavy popcorn flick, Gremlins is a minor classic." On Metacritic, the film received a score of 70 based on 13 reviews.
| Best Director | Joe Dante | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Dick Miller | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Polly Holliday | |
| Best Younger Actor | Corey Feldman | |
| Best Writing | Chris Columbus | |
| Best Music | Jerry Goldsmith | |
| Best Special Effects | Chris Walas | |
| Best Make-Up | Greg LaCava | |
| Best Young Supporting Actor | Corey Feldman | |
The film grossed $15.2 million in home sales on DVD and Blu-Ray.
An interactive Gizmo Furby toy was released in 1999.
A product placement deal with fast food chain Hardee's also led to a series of five book-and-cassette/45 records adaptations of the film's story. Starting in the early 2000s, companies such as Jun Planning and the National Entertainment Collectibles Association produced all-new Gremlins toys and collectibles. In 2017 Trick or Treat Studios began producing official Gremlins life-size puppets of Stripe and Gizmo. In May 2019, NECA unveiled their Christmas 2019 collectible, which features two Gremlins singing carols.
A comic book adaptation was published by Western Publishing in 1984.
Atari, Inc. released a completely different (and more technically advanced) game—also called Gremlins—for the Atari 5200 console and the Apple II, Commodore 64 and IBM PC compatible computers. Although the Atari 5200 version went to manufacturing in 1984, the turmoil surrounding Jack Tramiel's takeover of Atari's consumer business resulted in it not being released until 1986.
In the 2000s, more games were released; Gremlins: Unleashed! was released on Game Boy Color in 2001. The game was about Gizmo trying to catch Stripe and thirty other gremlins, while the gremlins also try to turn Gizmo into a gremlin. Both Gizmo and Stripe are playable characters in the game.
In 2011 NECA, published a Gremlins game for the Wii and Nintendo DS called Gremlins Gizmo. This was developed by Pipeworks Software and was released on November 18, 2011.
A Gremlins Team Pack was released for Lego Dimensions on November 18, 2016. The pack includes minifigures of Gizmo and Stripe, a constructible Polaroid camera and radio-controlled car and grants access to an Adventure World and Battle Arena based on the franchise. Howie Mandel and Frank Welker reprise their respective roles as Gizmo and Stripe. In the platform fighter MultiVersus, Gizmo and Stripe are playable characters, along with a map based on the theater shown in the film.
In January 2013, Vulture reported that Warner Bros. was negotiating with Amblin Entertainment to reboot the Gremlins franchise. Seth Grahame-Smith was selected to produce, alongside David Katzenberg. In January 2015, Grahame-Smith stated that the project has been put on hold. In November 2015, Zach Galligan confirmed that the third film will be a sequel and not a reboot. In a December 2016 interview with Bleeding Cool, Galligan again spoke about a third film saying that "Warner Bros. definitely wants it, Chris Columbus wants to do it because he'd like to undo the Gremlins 2 thing as he wasn't thrilled with it, and Spielberg wants to." He claimed Gremlins 3 is being written by Carl Ellsworth. In an interview with /Film in 2017, a script was written by Chris Columbus. His script explored the idea that has been on the fan's mind for a long time: "if all the gremlins come from getting Gizmo wet and feeding his mogwai offspring after midnight, should Gizmo be eliminated?" He described his script as "twisted and dark". In November 2020, Columbus stated that CGI would not be used for the gremlins and that traditional puppets and animatronics would continue to be used.
In 2019, Warner Bros. successfully gained registered trademark of the name and the franchise. That same year, the studio's parent company WarnerMedia greenlit an animated prequel series based on the property for its streaming service, Max. The first season, subtitled Secrets of the Mogwai, premiered on May 23, 2023. The series was renewed for a second season, subtitled The Wild Batch, which was released on October 3, 2024.
In January 2025, it was reported by Deadline that Warner Bros. was developing a third Gremlins movie written by Chris Columbus who also was writing a sequel to The Goonies. Nothing official has been confirmed by Warner Bros. about a sequel for either film being planned.
In music, the Scottish post-rock band Mogwai is named after the film's creatures: as for the reason why the band chose this as their name, their guitarist, Stuart Braithwaite, has stated that "it has no significant meaning and we always intended on getting a better one, but like a lot of other things we never got round to it". Welsh singer and songwriter Rod Thomas performs under the name Bright Light Bright Light, which is a direct quote from the film.
On November 18, 2016, both Gizmo and Stripe made appearances in Lego Dimensions as playable characters in their own Team Pack. Many of the other in-game playable characters, such as Supergirl, acknowledge the duo's rules and they each have their own unique abilities and weaponry; Gizmo having a radio-controlled car inspired by the toy car he piloted in the film's climax and Stripe having a camera-like gadget inspired by the ones manufactured by Polaroid Corporation, one of which Kate Beringer armed herself with during the gremlins' attack on Dorry's Tavern. Both Mandel and Welker returned to reprise their respective roles.
In 2017, some gremlins were featured in the animated film The Lego Batman Movie, with its director, Chris McKay, explaining his love for the characters. These gremlins were among numerous villains from outside of the Batman franchise playing a role in the film, with many of the added antagonists owned by Warner Bros.
In February 2021, a Mountain Dew Zero Sugar ad featuring Zach Galligan as Billy Peltzer and Gizmo was released, which also revealed that Billy has a daughter.
Also in 2021, a trio of Gremlins including Stripe appear in . They were shown running towards the site of the basketball game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad and can be seen cheering from on top of the blue Bronto-Crane from The Flintstones.
Both Gizmo and Stripe appear as playable characters in the 2022 fighting game MultiVersus, voiced by Daniel Ross.
Both Gizmo and the sequel's Brain Gremlin appear in the Teen Titans Go! episode, "Warner Bros. 100th Anniversary" as supporting characters.
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