Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) is an inventor from Kingston Falls, New York who hasn’t had a lot of success in selling his inventions. Randall is married to Lynn (Frances Lee McCain) and has a son, Billy (Zach Galligan). Randall is in New York City’s Chinatown pushing his wares while looking for a Christmas present for his son. Randall is approached by a Chinese boy (John Louie) who takes him to an antique shop run by his grandfather, Mr. Wing (Keye Luke).
While he is giving the grandfather his spiel about a leatherman-style travel kit, he hears some noises coming from another part of the shop. He investigates and finds a small creature. The young boy calls it a Mogwai. Randall wants to buy the Mogwai for his son for Christmas. The grandfather tells him it is not for sale. Randall offers two hundred dollars for the creature. Again, the grandfather refuses stating that the Mogwai comes with great responsibility and firmly states that the animal is not for sale at any price. The young boy sees the two hundred dollars and tells Randall to wait outside. He sneaks the Mogwai out and trades it for the two hundred dollars. He then tells Randall that there are three rules he must follow. 1. Keep him out of bright light, especially sunlight, it can kill him. 2. Keep him away from water, and 3. Never feed him after midnight, no matter what. Randall is happy with his purchase and returns home.
Billy is a mild-mannered kid who works at the bank and wants to be a graphic artist. Pleased with his gift Billy takes care of the Mogwai, which his father has named Gizmo. It doesn’t take long for the rules to get broken. First Billy accidentally turns on a light which hurts Gizmo’s eyes. Then Billy’s friend, Pete Fountaine (Corey Feldman) spills water on him. That spawns five balls of fur that pop out and expand into other Mogwai. One of the Mogwai sports a white Mohawk and seems to be the leader of the group. It is also the most devious. Billy calls it Stripe. Later Stripe tricks Billy into feeding them. The Mogwai then form cocoons around themselves. When they come out of their cocoons, the Mogwai are now fully fledged gremlins. Billy’s mother manages to kill several of them but Stripe escapes. Stripe ends up at the local YMCA where it jumps into the swimming pool. Suddenly the town is full of evil gremlins bent on causing death and destruction.
“Gremlins” was released in 1984 and was directed by Joe Dante. It is an American black comedy horror fantasy and is considered a Christmas movie. It is a Steven Spielberg production and was written by Christopher Columbus. The film spawned a sequel “Gremlins 2: The New Batch”. A third movie is tentatively scheduled for 2027.
At that time, the Motion Picture Association of America had for ratings, G (All Ages), PG (Parental Guidance), R (Restricted - under 17 needs adult), and NC-17 (Adults Only). This film, as well as a couple like it, inspired the ratings association to add another rating, PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned).
There really is such a thing as a Mogwai. It is an evil spirit or demon and comes from Chinese folklore.
The voice of Gizmo was done by Howie Mandel. Steven Spielberg has a cameo as a man riding an electric bike at the inventor's convention. Barney the dog’s real name was Mushroom. Gizmo was the inspiration for the Furby toy that came out in the late 90’s.