The Twelve Days of Christmas Movies 2017: Day Seven

Gremlins (1984)

Directed by Joe Dante. Written by Chris Columbus. Starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Dick Miller, John Louie, Keye Luke SCott Brady and Corey Feldman, with the voices of Frank Welker, Howie Mandel Peter Cullen and Michael Winslow.

Randell Peltzer has just bought his son Billy a very unusual Christmas present, a rare creature called a Mogwai with a rather specific set of care instructions. Keep him away from the light, don’t get him wet, and whatever you do don’t feed him after midnight.

Well it would be a pretty boring movie if all the rules were adhered to. But breaking them means the Mogwai multiples, and unfortunately the newcomers aren’t as adorable as original Mogwai Gizmo, and the ‘orrible little critters (sorry wrong movie) run a bloody muck in Billy’s hometown.

Gremlins was a critical and financial success, even though it was released the same weekend as Ghostbusters, Gremlins made more than it’s budget back in the opening weekend, and would eventually rake in $153.1 million. Earning it fourth place overall at that year's Box Office.

There are also a number of interesting links with Back to the Future:
• Steven Spielberg produced both movies
• Billy’s mum is played by Frances Lee McCain who also played Marty’s Grandma/Lorraine’s mum in Back to the Future
• Kingston Falls also doubled as Hill Valley, both movies were filmed on the Universal backlot.

There are also plenty of connections to other films within the movie, for instance the Kingston Falls cinema is showing A Boy’s Life and Watch the Skies the working titles for Spielberg movies E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Are you a Gremlins fan? Does it qualify as a Christmas movie? Let us know in the comments below.