This is possibly the most meta movie ever made. Forget The Muppets, this film is caked in layers of references, mainly Gremlins 1, its merchandise, the studio that financed it and any earlier film made in the same spirit. Viewed through todays prism, there’s an extra layer of 80s nostalgia (the Twin Towers, live action puppet effects, an 80s Trump type and Phoebe Cates.) There’s a moment where the film – these things used to be shot on film – breaks down as Gremlins take over the projection booth. A woman comes out to complain that this is worse than the first film, and Hulk Hogan yells at the Gremlins to put the movie back on. When Dick Miller is attacked by a flying gremlin, its filmed with Harryhausen stop motion, even though they clearly could’ve used a more modern technique. Then there’s the musical sequence, which directly lifts tricks I’ve seen in 1930s Hollywood films. It’s no wonder the film did poorly at the box office. This was made for film nerds.
The focus is so intensely on the evil gremlins, there’s no place for Gizmo’s cute antics. I get why the evil gremlins are so popular, especially when they’re drinking potions that change them into giant spiders and talking intellectuals. This is a comedy first and not a film to eat vegetables to as the horror is more goop than blood. There is one solid scare when an evil gremlin makes the first full frame appearance, and the spider gremlin is played for straight menace. I love the parade of familiar character actors, like Christopher Lee and Gedde Watanabe. There’s one terrible performance – Haviland Morris from Sixteen Candles – and Zach Galligan blandly in the lead, but John Glover more than compensates.
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