Released back in 1984, this cult classic directed by Joe Dante is watched every festive season by people all around the world. The film follows Billy Peltzer, who is gifted a mysterious creature called a mogwai by his father. The mogwai, named Gizmo, comes with three strict rules to care for it: no bright lights, don’t get them wet and famously, don’t feed them after midnight! When these rules are accidentally broken, Gizmo spawns mischievous beings known as gremlins who wreak havoc on the small town of Kingston Falls. Billy, along with his co-worker and love interest Kate, must find a way to rid the town of the pesky gremlins.

Before Gremlins, Dante worked on Pirahna and The Howling. These 2 films set the basis of the majority of his work, black comedy horror films. So, while making Gremlins he took what he learned from his previous films and used them in molding his ideas, having the gremlins kill people, but in comedic fashion. The film is also produced by Steven Spielberg, so on top of Dante’s black humor, it has Spielberg's magical feel to it. You can tell he really helped in fleshing out the story and with the marketability of the film.

Gremlins was highly influential at the time. It pushed censor boundaries, and with Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, resulted in the creation of the PG-13 rating.

Phoebe Cates and Zach Galligan on the set of Gremlins. Credit: Getty Images

Gremlins has many funny scenes, from old women on chair lifts getting blasted out windows at high speeds to the gremlins singing along to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but nothing comes as close to being funnier than the bar scene. Taking up only 4 minutes of the film, we get to see what the gremlins are like when they’re drunk. We have gremlins swinging from lights, gremlins playing cards, gremlins dressed as Humphry Bogart. You name it, there’s probably a gremlin doing it in the scene!

Back to the Future was filmed in the same backlot as Gremlins at Universal Studios. This backlot, known as Courthouse Square, was redressed and renamed for both films and links the two iconic 80’s movies. Gremlins also features many recognisable actors from other classic 80’s films. Pheobe Cates and Judge Reinhold (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), Corey Feldman (The Goonies, Stand by Me) and Dick Miller (The Terminator) just to name a few.

Six years later, Gremlins 2: The New Batch was released, continuing Billy and Gizmo’s story. This film improved upon the humor and gags from the first film and introduced all-new characters. In 2022, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai came out. A kids show that showed how the grandpa from the first film found and befriended Gizmo.

Gremlins is a beloved Christmas classic that continues to capture audiences’ hearts 40 years on. It is a timeless film that combines festive cheer with dark humor and horror, it still feels as fresh and funny as it was back in ’84.

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Gremlins