Of all the valuable life lessons Gremlins has taught us, two are most important: 1. Society needs rules. 2.
There’s nothing more fun than breaking them. That contradiction is the movie’s oozing heart. Because of human ignorance, the cutest creature on earth spawns an army of slimy monsters.
But even as the reptilian goons terrorize the small town of Kingston Falls, it’s hard for the audience not to cheer on the mayhem. “The Gremlins themselves are creatures that adhere to nothing except their own momentary, impulsive desires,” says Zach Galligan, who plays Billy, the (human) star of the film. “They’re essentially Freud’s version of the id.
It’s just, ‘Whatever you want to do, they do.’ They’re anarchists, quite honestly. They don’t follow any rules.
And I think that not only 10-year-olds, but I think secretly a lot of 40- and 50-year-olds love that idea and live through the Gremlins vicariously.” Since its release 40 years ago this week, Gremlins has appealed to our base instincts. But what makes it a classic is that there’s far more to it than its core of silly madness.
Director Joe Dante threw horror, science fiction, slapstick, satire, family drama, and holiday nostalgia into a blender and pushed the puree button. Amazingly, the swirl of green goop he created congealed and formed a masterpiece—one that’s both madcap and governed by a specific set of rules that people still remember today. “Somebody once said to me that I make movies and .
