Gremlins [Blu-ray]
by Joe Dante
![Gremlins [Blu-ray]](/images/Gremlins-Blu-ray-B001AQT0UY-L.jpg)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Frances Lee Mccain, Hoyt Axton, Phoebe Cates, Polly Holliday, Zach GalliganDirector: Joe Dante
Brand: Warner Brothers
Producer: Michael Finnell
Producer: Steven Spielberg
Producer: Frank Marshall
Producer: Kathleen Kennedy
Writer: Chris Columbus
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Danish (Subtitled); Dutch (Subtitled); Finnish (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); Norwegian (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Swedish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby TrueHD 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby TrueHD 5.1; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby TrueHD 5.1; German (Original Language); Italian (Original Language), Dolby TrueHD 5.1; Portuguese (Original Language); French (Dubbed), Dolby TrueHD 5.1; Italian (Dubbed), Dolby TrueHD 5.1; Portuguese (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
Published: 2009
Blu-ray Release Date: 2009-12-01
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Gremlins is a wildly original roller-coaster ride of hilarious mischief. One minute your hair will stand on end, the next you ll hold your sides with laughter at the havoc these supposedly gentle furballs create when the rules surrounding their care and feeding are inadvertently broken one fateful Christmas. Written by Chris Columbus and directed by Joe Dante, Gremlins unleashes special effects th
Movie Reviews of Gremlins [Blu-ray]
Movie Review: "Monsters, John -- monsters from the id!" (plus Milk Duds from the concession stand)
Summary: 5 Stars
"Gremlins" is one of the great guilty pleasures of motion pictures. It's an absolute classic, tremendous fun every time you watch it. As one reviewer said, it's "a hoot".
Though "Gremlins" comes across as a perverse take on the holiday cheer of "It's a Wonderful Life" (the dis-connection is explicitly made within the film), one cannot overlook "Forbidden Planet". Just as the "Great Machine" allowed the Krells' inner demons to take physical form, so are the gremlins a representation of our normally suppressed murderous impulses. Otherwise, why would Billy Peltzer * be so careless about the rules?
This is not as much of an interpretive stretch as it seems. Most of the scenes in which the "bad" or unlikeable characters are punished or killed were removed from the final cut. Mrs. Deagle (the film's equivalent of Old Man Potter) is murdered in a grotesquely comic manner, but the scene which "justifies" her offing (she's forcing the bank to foreclose properties on which a chemical plant will be built) was deleted. (Though the director's desire to keep the film moving along is justifiable, most of these scenes should have been restored for home video.)
In Renoir's "Boudu Saved from Drowning", the title character is another "id monster" whose animal presence utterly disrupts a middle-class family. There's little doubt that Stripe blowing his nose on the curtains is an homage to Boudu wiping his shoes with a satin bedsheet.
"Gremlins" also has an element of Hitchcockian voyeurism. One of the film's "pleasures" is watching punishment meted out to those deserving it, through an agency (the gremlins) whose behavior we are not responsible for. Our "murdering id" can be vicariously gratified without legal or moral consequences.
"Gremlins" anticipates films like "Puppet Master", "Hostel", and "Saw", which tittillate the audience with scenes of people being murdered or mutilated in a graphic, detailed fashion. **
"Gremlins"' iconic scene, in which Billy's mother kills three of the gremlins -- by grinding up one in a mixer, stabbing another repeatedly, and (classically) blowing up one in a microwave oven -- was the one that most aroused audiences (both pro and con), as it cuts close to the bone of how we would /sometimes/ like to handle our personal problems. Mrs. Peltzer isn't killing rats -- the gremlins are sentient, consciously malicious beings. Like, your boss, maybe?
In the running commentary, Joe Dante remarks several times that, had CGI been available, "Gremlins" would have been an altogether different film. Indeed. One of the film's charms is the audience's awareness that it is watching fur-and-rubber puppets "live" on the soundstage, performing an especially nasty "Punch & Judy" show. CGI just wouldn't be as much fun.
The Blu-ray transfer ranks a B -- "Gremlins" was not a sharply detailed film in the first place. (The image quality suggests an excellent projection print, rather than the camera negative.) On the other hand, one can better appreciate the beautifully complex lighting. And let's not forget Jerry Goldsmith's terrific score, one of his best. It's a pleasure to hear a score in which instruments are selected for their particular effect (a la Herrmann), and which doesn't continually drone on.
Unhesitatingly recommended.
* The name suggests the verb "pelts". The gremlins are very good at throwing things.
** It wasn't the first. "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" (and its sequel) were quite gruesome, but nothing much was said about the violence.
Summary of Gremlins [Blu-ray]
GREMLINS - Blu-Ray MovieGremlins is a whee of a film (if you don't mind the occasional gross-out) from producer Steven Spielberg, writer Chris Columbus, and director Joe Dante. Zach Galligan is the young man whose inventor father (Hoyt Axton) gives him an odd Christmas present: a tiny, furry creature that comes with a set of rules: don't get him wet, don't feed him after midnight, and keep him away from direct sunlight. But Galligan breaks the first rule and the damp little critter pops out a dozen little offspring. Then the offspring break the second rule and, overnight, turn from cute furry guys to malevolent scaly guys with world domination on their mind. The only way to stop them: rule three. But it's an anxious (and extremely funny) battle to make it to daylight--and the bad gremlins find ways to multiply over and over. Great special effects and a gruesome sense of humor make this a wild (if occasionally dark and scary) ride. --Marshall Fine
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