Gremlins 1984

Critics score:
85 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: A horror-comedy about cute little Christmas toy/pets who turn into murderous monsters wreaking havoc on a Norman Rockwellian town. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: A wildly original roller-coaster ride of hilarious mischief. Read more

Vincent Canby, New York Times: Gremlins is far more interested in showing off its knowledge of movie lore and making random jokes than in providing consistent entertainment. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: What's confusing yet ultimately illuminating is the way his gremlins function as a free-floating metaphor, suggesting at separate junctures everything from teenagers to blacks to various Freudian suppressions. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: Dante is perhaps the first filmmaker since Frank Tashlin to base his style on the formal free-for-all of animated cartoons; he is also utterly heartless. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: At the level of Serious Film Criticism, it's a meditation on the myths in our movies: Christmas, families, monsters, retail stores, movies, boogeymen. At the level of Pop Moviegoing, it's a sophisticated, witty B movie. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Dante gleefully sinks his teeth into the kind of fluffy, sugary, sickly small town fantasy beloved of his pal and sometime producer Spielberg. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: The humans are little more than dress-extras for the mechanics. Read more