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CHRISTMAS THREAD: We need to talk about why Gremlins works. It’s important for cinema.
Because the horror in GREMLINS reeeeeally shouldn’t work. The movie sways cartoonish and zany all the time…the antithesis of fear. Jerry Goldsmith’s music has never been sillier - Mrs. Deagle’s theme?
And don’t even start on the bar scene.
Yet GREMLINS is sublime. And genuinely scary when it isn’t being funny. Hell, even sometimes when it IS being funny. How? HOW?
As someone who’s dabbled in horror comedy, I want to talk about how. Because it reveals some important storytelling lessons. This is by no means definitive, and by all means an invitation for conversation. Come @ me bro.
HOW #1: From the very first scene, GREMLINS establishes that every outlandish moment will be character driven.
GREMLINS isn’t a movie where anyone can be wacky for any reason. In fact, most characters are grounded. The wacky moments come from Billy’s dad the terrible inventor, Mrs. Deagle the bitter Scrooge, drunk Mr. Futterman, and tada!…the gremlins.
But even these characters operate within a relatable reality. Aside from his ridiculous inventions and gumption, Mr. Peltzer is a regular loving father. Everything else about Mrs. Deagle’s personality supports her heartlessness: she’s a victim, lonely, disabled in her old age.
Chris you’re talking about character reality but all I see is that gremlin dancing in leggings.
I know, stick with me.
I know, stick with me.
HOW #2: Before the gremlins do anything zany, they thoroughly earn our horror respect.
Think of the first few scenes after the mogwai eat after midnight. Those grotesque, pulsating cocoons. Billy reaching for the phone in the dark classroom and a claw gashing his hand open. Mom slinking through the house clutching a knife as “Do You Hear What I Hear” plays.
Take away the leggings, the Humphrey Bogart outfit, the hand puppet. The gremlin creature design is impeccable, and scary. Before you can successfully subvert anything, first you have to establish it. And GREMLINS establishes a successfully scary monster.
HOW #3: It may be cheesy at times, but there’s a soulfulness to the central relationships in GREMLINS. Billy’s parents. Kate. And of course Billy and Gizmo.
What I’m getting at with all these points — character driven silliness, effective early horror, soulful relationships — is that before it ever dares go zany, GREMLINS first gets us emotionally invested.
Investment is the most powerful force in storytelling. Once you have it, that is exactly when you can go off the beaten path and the audience will follow. That is when you have the power to be fresh.
So what freshness did Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg want to serve? They decided to ask a brilliant question: what do these monsters do when they aren’t murdering people? What’s their secret life behind closed doors?
Again, the answer is character driven. Gremlins aren’t just zip-zoop zany in any way. They’re gleefully exploring the weirdness of human culture. Gangsters, flashers, pub crawlers. And by the time they’re singing along with Snow White’s dwarves, they’re…embracing human culture.
It’s interesting, unexpected, cute, but you can also make the case that GREMLINS is tapping into something subconsciously horrific and human. The dichotomy of destroying what we also love — that’s us on screen.
Lashing out at people we care about. Celebrating polar bears as we passively watch them die off. And particularly with white people, our propensity to embrace other cultures while we also fear and destroy them, from Indigenous peoples to black hip hop culture.
Maybe I’m digging too deep, but I think GREMLINS’ goofiest scenes work with the horror because the audience is engaging with the entertaining but taboo mirror pointing at them.
That thread sizzling under the surface is why GREMLINS manages to sling so easily back into traditional scares and regain our horror respect. Stripe attacking Billy with the chainsaw and transforming in the water fountain in the finale are some of the movie’s best horror moments.
So why is GREMLINS important for cinema? It’s a reminder to writers and studios that audiences crave going off the beaten path, and are willing to engage with some wonderfully new places if you take the time to get them emotionally invested in the story’s reality first.
This isn't specific to horror comedy. It's a lesson that spans all genres.
Why does GREMLINS work for you? Or why not? I have so many other things I want to discuss, like how Jerry Goldsmith allows the gremlins to take over the score as they take over Kingston Falls, but I’ll save that for another thread.
