Gremlins/YMMV

The first movie:

• Accidental Aesop: Think about the responsibility before you get a pet.
• Applicability: The film has been interpreted as a metaphor for everything from puberty to white suburbia's fear of minorities.
• Awesome Music:
  • Jerry Goldsmith strikes again.
  • The question is, which is better? The original Gremlin Rag or the more up-tempo Gremlin Theme from the sequel?
• Complete Monster: All the Gremlins, but especially Stripe/Mohawk. Unlike the other rest of the Gremlins who are more tricksters than villains, he is more sadistic and fiendish. Even as a mogwai he is extremely mischievous and sinister, at one point trying to bite the index finger of Billy Peltzer's friend Pete Fountaine.
  • Lets not forget Mrs Deagle as well. She takes a gleeful delight in threatening to kill dogs, abusing carol singers and, in her most heinous act, takes sadistic pleasure in evicting poor, starving families from Their homes on Christmas. She is the only person the Gremlins directly kill and, by jove, did she have it coming.
• Cult Classic: For many reasons, but above all because of the nostalgia for the '80s and the very strong charm of the series. As an example, this film is considered a nostalgic classics, even in Eastern Europe or Asia.
• Evil Is Cool: Stripe, probably the only Gremlin in the film who's both totally evil and wickedly smart.
• Harsher in Hindsight: At the end of the movie, the old Chinese man says (to the American family), "You have done with the mogwai what your society has done with ALL of nature's gifts!". Fast forward 30 years to the ecological nightmare that is modern China.... Mind you, this was something a Broken Aesop even at the time.
• I Am Not Shazam: For the record, the main Gremlin's name is "Stripe" not "Spike", and the lead Gremlin in the sequel is officially named Mohawk (though Word of God suggests that they are indeed the same character, reincarnated).
• Memetic Mutation: Thanks to this film, the word "gremlins" was primarily associated with its characters. And the official theme, so much that many now remember it more than the film itself.
• Non Sequitur Scene: The whole "Santa Claus" speech comes out of nowhere, and has absolutely no reason to be in the movie than to be disturbing.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: The Atari video game based on the film is rather badly done. Averted by the NES game by Sunsoft.
• Special Effects Failure: There's a few times where one can see the hand of the puppeteer. In particular, the rod in the arm of the plate-throwing Gremlin in the kitchen attack is clearly visible during the over-the-shoulder shots.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: All video games of the franchise use an off key version of the main theme. Subverted with The New Batch for Amiga and Atari ST, which uses genuine arrangements of the film's soundtrack (plus the Gremlin Rag from the first film).
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The first movie bothers to properly introduce several residents of Kingston Falls, even giving them detailed personalities and backstories. Most of them disappear in the second act or end up quick victims of the Gremlims' rampage. It's especially glaring with Gerald (played by Judge Reinhold) who is set up as a jerk deserving of some comeuppance... and is then never seen again after his second scene in the tavern (though he is terrorised in a deleted scene). The sequel seems to go out of its way to avoid the same mistake, even bringing back a handful of the original cast to be utilised more fully.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The Mogwai and Gremlin puppets have aged quite well.
• What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?: This movie, along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom led to the creation of the PG-13 rating in the USA and the 12 rating in the UK. The trailers presented this picture as much more lighthearted than it was. Reviewing it for Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Harlan Ellison described it in terms more suited to Nightmare Fuel. He deplored its many instances of wanton cruelty played for laughs, and said he "heard little children scream and cry" in the theater. The manager later told him he'd never had so many patrons walking out and demanding their money back.
• The Woobie: Gizmo in both films, being abused by his spawned offspring, taken from Billy and Mr. Wing dying in the second film. And then the mad scientist cages Gizmo to start the whole mess all over again.
  • Iron Woobie: Despite all this, Gizmo remains a cute, cuddly, friendly little critter, with genuine affection for most of the people he meets, but especially Billy and Kate. And in Gremlins 2, after being pushed too far, he Takes a Level In Badass.

Gremlins 2

• Awesome Music:
  • Brain Gremlin singing "New York, New York".
  • The NES video game of the film has a pretty damn good soundtrack too.
• Broken Base: Because the two films are so radically different in tone, it's practically an even split between fans who prefer the darkly comic angle of the original or the manic, live-action cartoon vibe of the sequel. Finding someone with an equally positive opinion of both is fairly rare.
• Even Better Sequel: Some, including Joe Dante, consider this superior to the first.
• Harsher in Hindsight: When the movie was released, June 1990, the Gremlins planning to demolish the Statue of Liberty with military grade ordinance served as quick throwaway gag. In February 1993, a 1,000 lbs+ bomb went off beneath the World Trade Center, killing six, and in 2001, the Twin Towers were knocked down.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The extremely overspecialized channels of the Clamp network have become reality. Who knew?
  • John Glover plays Daniel Clamp, an honest, likable Millionaire who subverts many of the stereotypes about corporate executives. Ten years later, he played Lionel Luthor who may just be the trope codifier for the Corrupt Corporate Executive.
• Ho Yay: Between George and Lenny. Then again, all Gremlins are asexual...
• Narm Charm: The long shot of Gizmo running is an obvious composite shot, but adorable.
• Non Sequitur Scene:
  • Firstly, there's the sequence at the beginning where Daffy Duck takes over the Warner Brothers logo from Bugs Bunny, attempts to move it back into place, and then ends up with it around his waist.
  • Later, while Billy is heading to the Clamp Building, policemen in body armor armed with rifles escort an armored van, which opens up to let out mimes. This is given absolutely no explanation whatsoever and has no relevance to the plot.
  • When the conversation between Dr Catheter and Billy begins to skip, slow and distort, then revealing Gremlins in a theatre showing the film playing shadow puppets. A woman comes out to complain to the theatre manager, then the projectionist, looking bruised and bloodied, comes down, stating he is not performing that task without heavy compensation. Then the theatre manager goes into the theatre and speaks to a patron, who turns out to be Hulk Hogan, and manages to get the movie running again by threatening to beat up the pesky Gremlins.
  • For the home versions, the scene was replaced with a similar bit where the Gremlins ruin the tape the viewer is watching. This prompts John Wayne to gun down a few of them and return us to our movie. "I don't need varmints on my ranch, and you folks don't need them in yer TV set."
  • And finally in the novelisation, the Brain Gremlin locks the author out of his study and swipes his typewriter, briefly taking control of the narrative until taking off when the author takes a fire-axe to the door.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: The Game Boy adaptation of the film wasn't as well received as the one for the NES.
• Special Effects Failure: While the puppetry has held up quite well, the stop-motion of the bat Gremlin has not. Nor has the obvious compositing of it into the scenes.
  • The actual puppeteer of the hand puppet Lenny plays with in the toy store can be seen in a few shots.
• Squick: Forster's smile at his "bride" at the end of the film.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Daffy, Lenny and George, though part of the first offspring and merchandised as main characters, mostly disappear from the film after the first half. Even their deaths were edited out of the final cut besides the odd Freeze-Frame Bonus.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Brain injects the Winged Gremlin with a serum that makes it immune to sunlight, allowing it to wreak havoc outside in the daytime. The Gremlin's rampage doesn't last very long, as it's deposed by Murray after only a few minutes, and there are no further attempts to recreate the serum that would have rid the Gremlins of their greatest weakness.
• True Neutral: Grandpa Fred sees monsters attacking people and responds by becoming a reporter. He and Mr. Katsuji never try to stop or help the Gremlins.
• Ugly Cute:
  • Greta the female Gremlin, especially in a wedding dress.
  • Daffy and Lenny are somewhat less uglier than the other Gremlins, maybe because of their highly cartoony designs.