Gremlins

Gremlins, one of the highest grossing films of the 80’s, is a very confused and disturbing one. While it begins as an honest critique of the hypocrisy and crass commercialism unfortunately prevalent in modern society, it veers off into a horror movie where demonic creatures called gremlins wreck horror on a small suburban town during the Christmas season. While it would have been so uplifting to right the moral wrongs with the true spirit of the season, the movie instead meanders aimlessly and ends without any redemptive message.

Randall Peltzer is an inventor who wants to buy a Christmas present for his son Billy and stumbles into a quaint little antique shop in Chinatown. There he buys a furry little creature called Mogwai (which literally means ‘devil’ or ‘monster’). The aged Chinese man who is initially reluctant to sell the creature finally agrees to do so. But he also spells out some important rules to follow regarding its care—the most important being not to feed him after midnight.

Billy and the family are very happy to have Mogwai, but some of the rules are broken and the creature multiplies and the spawned offspring cause havoc in the town. The film bombards the viewer with grisly images of the demonic creatures including those where the creatures are destroyed in an oven and electric blender. Finally the Chinese man returns to reclaim the creature, criticizing the family for not being responsible enough and telling them that they are not ready for Mogwai.

It is consternating the way the filmmakers lured the public into its horrors by keeping the trailer very attractive and benign. It is sad to see a movie which begins on the right note and with so much potential degenerate into mayhem and mean-spiritedness. It is also anti-Christian and anti-Christmas in spirit, though the setting is an attractive small town at Christmas time. Christmas carollers are parodied as demonic gremlins, and the lead female character makes a chilling remark that Christmas is a very depressing time where ‘while everybody else is opening up their presents, some are opening up (slitting) their wrists!’

God does allow people to feel a bit lonesome at Christmas, but only to deepen our relationship with Him. Christmas is also a wonderful season of hope and goodwill. It is ‘a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys’ (from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens).

The antidote to the evils of any society, whether East or West, is not Santa Claus or Mogwai, but a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. There is so much spiritual darkness prevalent today. The world desperately needs the bright light of the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4).

• Violence: Heavy
• Occult: Moderately Heavy
• Profane language: Moderate
• Vulgar/Crude language: Moderate
• Drugs/Alcohol: Moderate
• Wokeism: Mild
• Nudity: None
• Sex: None

Learn about DISCERNMENT—wisdom in making personal entertainment decisions

Every time you buy a movie ticket or buy or rent a video you are in effect casting a vote telling Hollywood, “I’ll pay for that. That’s what I want.” Read our article

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