I love it when Billy’s mum just goes full on badass

The story of how her dad died was voted one of the hundred best scenes in cinema history by Empire magazine. It's a stone cold classic.

Growing up in the eighties was a lawless time. I seem to remember hearing that Joe Dante (or Chris Columbus) felt that children are mature enough to understand darker, more adult themes. When you look at the Grimm fairy tales, those stories deal with some very morbid subjects. I'd say the creators of this movie were successful in creating a modern Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

I always love seeing people's reaction when they first hear Kate's Christmas story 😂 Some people hate it, others like me think it's absolutely brilliant.

Phoebe Cates' dark Christmas story, in the midst of this goofy monster movie, is such tonal whiplash and I love it. It's set up perfectly in her earlier scene about depression and the suicide rate around the holidays. So much of the first act is setup for third act payoffs (the juicer, the gremlin story, Gizmo watching the race movie, etc).

"Did kids like this?" It was the 80s, and we were Generation X kids. lol

I was obsessed with this movie as a child. The scariness of it really didn't even compare to the other way messed up movies my parents let me watch, "The Excocist", "The Thing", "American Werewolf in London", etc. At the time Hardee's, if I remember correctly, was giving away Read-Along Gremlin books with their kid's meals. But that included actual lil vinyl records that played the words and music for the books. I had them all!

Not the WB lot. It's the Universal lot. Same town square from Back to the Future. Notice the courthouse / clocktower. :)

I loved this movie when I grew up. Eighties was the best decade for film in my opinion. The sweet spot for me is between 1975 and 1995, film from that era was breaking barriers and becoming what made modern cinema. Gremlins was created from stories WW2 pilots would tell of little creatures messing with the plane whenever they hit issues, so they fit the origin of the idea into the film when the old man discussed this.

The only movie that scarred me for life was Never Ending Story. The scene that is Not To Be Mentioned got me.

Contrary to what a lot of us 80s kids like to claim, many parents actually complained about this movie being inappropriate for children. Which was then parodied in the sequel.

The story she tells of her father dressed as Santa and dying whilst climbing down the chimney is a popular urban legend.

Please watch "Gremlins 2" too ! Gizmo is even cuter in the sequel !

This film is one of the reasons we have the PG13 rating, I remember when it came out.

I had a huge crush on Phoebe in the eighties lol.

As a 7 year old who saw this in the theater, I loved this movie and, as dark as it was, had and have no problems with Kate's backstory. There's no betrayal of trust, she literally let us in on her trauma. She took us into her trust. And, as dark as it may be it is, in fact, so incredibly simple any child can understand it. No complicated nuance, the nature of her pain couldn't be more simple to understand or easy to empathize with.

I was 5 in 1984, and I absolutely loved this movie. Also, when they expanded the rating system for movies it was only ment as and used as a guideline. In the 80s and first few years of the 90s you could actually go to the Movie Theater and watch a R movie without an adult.

Billy’s mom is the undisputed MVP of this movie. 💪🏽

You definitely need to watch GREMLINS 2, I *guarantee* you'll love it! The studio let them do whatever they wanted so they made an incredibly clever comedy that's full of old movie parodies, satire and a full-blown musical number. They even make fun of that dark Christmas monologue she gives in this movie, she starts giving a speech about why she hates Abraham Lincoln's birthday and Billy stops her haha.

The legend of gremlins came about in World War 2 when planes that seemed ok would have problems for no reason. It was then added to anything that did work but now does not.

The callback joke about Phoebe hating Christmas is EXCELLENT!! First rate joke you rarely ever come by and you'll love Zach Galligan and Dick Miller reacting to it!! (In Gremlins 2 that is) (and I watched this with my son in the 2006 when he was 4.)

Has anyone recommended Big Trouble In Little China?

I hope they never remake this movie because you know Gizmo and the Grimlins will be CGI .

As someone who grew up in the 80s, yes, our parents didn't give two s***s what we watched . . . and we played with a lot of toys that could kill us. Also, the whole bit of the guy not liking foreign vehicles is more to do with Japan at the time than anything regarding the Cold War. Another great reaction video. Keep up the good work.

If you want to see more of Billy’s art career, review “Gremlins 2.” He and Phoebe move to The Big City (can’t recall where) and Gizmo finds his way back into Billy’s life---with disastrously hilarious results. Funny you should mention the flashlights in ET. In that scene in ET when the feds were looking for ET in the woods with flashlights, those were edited in later. In the original print, they were carrying guns, and Spielberg went on a PC kick sometime in the ‘90s and edited the guns out in later DVDs, Lucas-style. Not sure if the originals are still available.

At the time there was a lot of worry that Japan was going to economically dominate the world. You can see it to varying degrees in movies of the period "Rising Sun" and to lesser degrees in "Back to the Future Part II" and "Die Hard"

So, true story. Growing up, there was a kid on our street who locked himself out of his house. Rather than wait for a family member to come home and let him in, he decided to gain access through the chimney. He of course got stuck. Luckily someone heard him crying and the fire department was called to retrieve him from the chimney while we kids all watched. Ah, the Seventies.

Maybe it's the morbid side of my humor, but I friggin love the Kate xmas story! The thought of her dad having such a ridiculous idea in the first place is laughable but then to amplify it even further by her being the one to set him ablaze is hilarious. I'm also a huge fan of tonal whiplashes in movies or songs although it's not for everyone.

Fans at the time would have know Mrs. Deagle as Flo from Alice. "Kiss my Grits"

omg you’re back!! happy new year, friend ❤️ i cant believe how much this movie terrified me as a kid like wow. i was fully traumatized especially bc of that microwave scene LMAO kid’s movies back then were wild as hell... loved this first watching!!

A couple of easter eggs - - At the beginning of the movie, the movie theater appears to be showing 'A Boys Life' and 'Watch the skies'. These were the original working titles for 'E.T.', and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' - Joe Dante is a big fan of legendary animation director Chuck Jones. Mr. Jones has a cameo in the film (Billy is showing him his art in the bar), and it can be argued that the design of the mogwai was inspired by Mr. Jones' style. - At the inventors convention, there are some great gags involving the time machine (from the George Pal movie of the same name), which disappears when they cut away, and come back, Steven Spielberg can be seen driving a small electric vehicle, and Jerry Goldsmith is on the phone next to Billy's dad, later replaced after a cut away, and return, by Robby the Robot, who is quoting lines (in the original voice) from 'Forbidden Planet'. Mr Fedderman served during World War II. Unexplained mechanical problems (usually with aircraft) were often attributed to 'gremlins' Ceck out 1943s BugsBunny cartoon 'Falling Hare' (You should be able to find it on KZfaq)

You should do the movie, "Willow" it's awesome.

Just a little fact, Howie Mandel is the voice of Gizmo 👍👍

I personally liked that scene about her dad .

I love Kate's Christmas story, and I think it's a perfect fit for this movie, giving it sort of a dark backdrop. It's a classic, and it sure explains why she had a problem with Christmas.

A: Saw this in the cinema when it came out. I was...7, I think? My older sister took me, and I remember her punk ass trying to compound the jump scares. B: This movie, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, are why PG-13 exists. Thanks, Spielberg. C: I don't know about anyone else's parents, but I know mine were incredibly permissive about what I watched and read. I remember watching 48 Hrs with my dad. They were more worried about me sneaking off into the woods and meeting up with a rattlesnake. Loved your commentary!

My bf introduced me to this and Scrooged and I'm addicted every xmas now.

Speaking of inventor fathers... have you seen Honey I Shrunk the Kids? I think I've asked this before but I can't remember.

i love Phoebe Cate's speech about Christmas, and her revelation about what actually happened to make her hate the holiday

You keep referring to this as a children's movie; I don’t think it was ever pitched as that. (I saw it in the theatre when it was first released.)

Gremlins 2 is totally worth a watch. It’s not tied with a holiday and it’s hilarious. Also can we appreciate the theme song? It’s just a brilliant theme song that just makes me happy

I saw this in a drive in movie with my parents when I was 7. All I remember was coming home and looking in the kitchen cabinets to see if the Gremlins were under there. lol. I do enjoy it. Love Gizmo.

Howie Mandel? I had no idea! This was so much fun! Thanks Shanelle. I agree with you about the chimney. I was laughing out loud all through this in the theater! :-)

This is LITERALLY the film that caused PG-13 rating to be created.

I loved watching this movie as a kid. I really wanted my own Gizmo. We had a female cat growing up that we named Gizzy as a female version of Gizmo.

That's correct. Parents in the 80s really didn't care what their Gen X kids watched, which is why Generation X weren't coddled or hypersensitive.

So would have loved to have Billy's room when I was his age lol But yeah, those of us growing up in the 80's weren't shielded from everything that might be scary by our parents, and yes, at that time things like this were considered PG. As for the Santa/Dad story, that's actually an old urban legend sort of thing that they used, maybe the older generations knew it more than modern ones did, but that's why that particular story got pulled in, standard Christmas horror/urban legend.

1. Keep them out of the light. 2. Don't get them wet. 3. Don't feed them after midnight.

I just wanted to make two comments unrelated to the film itself. When the old man talked about gremlin's in the machinery during the war that actually has some basis of truth to it. Many soldiers would support what he said. Also you said the snow had to be fake because the car was covered completely well that's not quite true as I've been in cold environments where the snow quite literally covers everything in its path.

The rules with gremlins also applies to cats. 🤣

When the tabloids got a hold of some pictures from the making of Gremlins, before it was called Gremlins. Before anyone knew what this was they just knew that weird looking creatures were involved and that Spielberg was involved they assumed that this was the sequel to E.T. I specifically remember magazine covers with pictures from the set of Gremlins with the headline "E.T. 2." I think I saw that on like the National Enquirer.

i like how gizmo billy and she are so likeable when all this chaos happens around them....its a nice contrast

Gremlins was a 15 certificate in the UK back in the day. I am still lucky enough to still have the movie sheet poster from the cinema that gave it to me.

This small town is actually filmed on the same lot where Back To The Future was filmed.

Doing a great job keep up the great work. Love the movie and the tree in the back ground of the room.

Gremlins is directed by Joe Dante who also directed innerspace, the burbs, small soldiers and looney tunes back in action

Now do Gremlins 2. They will parody the dad dying in the chimney scene.

When I saw you were "reacting" to this I said to myself, "You know... there's gonna be a LOT of "NO's." Oh yes, This is a "Goonies" level "odd chemistry..." minor mishap that stumbles into a scary, yet endearing cult classic. Acting power and a cute "Christmas Toy" saved it for me. "Baby Yoda" proto type.

Did the tram tour at universal studios back in the 90's. So surreal.. I remember being 5 years old begging my parents to take me to gremlins in the theatre, and my brother wanted Ghostbusters. My brother won and I loved Ghostbusters. We Saw gremlins a week later Had my hands over my eyes almost all the way through. I was terrified. My parents laughed the whole time

You always make me smile when you get excited and laugh etc. Your videos are defo feel good and help me through all the crap going on in world. Thanks :) love from North wales

I can't wait to see your reaction to the sequal.the old woman's speech about the dog is from Mrs. Gulch from wizard of oz.

I was 9 when this came out although I didn't see it until I was 10 and it was out on video cassette. The 80's were a different time and most parents (including mine) weren't really into censorship. My parents never even watched this I think. I probably watched it alone.

This has always been one of my favorite Christmas movies.

Howie Mandel and veteran voice actor Frank Welker (Freddie Jones (Scooby Doo) since 1969) both provided the vocal sounds for Gizmo. Michael Winslow (Larvell Jones, Police Academy) did the voice of Stripe.

I saw Gremlins when I was 17 or 18 when it came on cable. Maybe it was my age maybe it was just me but I thought the Phoebe Cates monologue was hilarious. Believe it or not I actually started watching it because of Hoyt Acton, who played the father. He was a successful songwriter and singer in the '70s (Joy to the World, Never been to Spain). BTW, The algorithm recommended a video of your stand up. You look taller in these.

You should watch the sequel to gremlins because it’s hilarious and crazy

I saw this movie at about 5 or 6 I'm 24 know and the only thing I remember scaring me for a while was when the first gremlin you see pops out of the cabinet. It's still one of my favorite movies to this day

I watched the movie for the first time in 1985 on VHS when I was 12 years old. I remember that I was afraid in the dark after that when I tried to sleep that night.

I saw this when I was 6.. at the theater... i proceeded to see it an additional 12 times.. literally.. during its theatrical run (Summer of 84 and the following Dec. when it was rereleased).. to the point that my dad would leave me in the theater by myself and go see something else.... it was a different times. Far from scarring me.. this was my Star Wars.. My Avengers.. it was the movie that defined my love of horror movies.

I remember this movie fondly when I was a kid. It was awesome seeing the Gremlins cause havoc but also pretty scary. Parents did not care as much back then, but there was a lot less rating and no internet. I recommend Secret of NIMH and Who Framed Roger Rabbit if you've never seen them.

I saw this movie in the theater with my mom and grandmother when I was 9. I love it!!! My grandmother was freaked out especially by Stripe's death scene. It's funny because as a kid I got scared so easily at movies. Around the same time I saw Ghostbusters in the theater and that scared me so bad I had to walk out a little into the third act. One scene in The Muppet Movie scared me big time. I saw Airplane! in the theater when I was 5, and that movie scarred me for life. Yeah, Airplane! At that age I just couldn't understand it and took everything seriously and it ended up warping my fragile little mind. Of course now I love that movie. I think what was different with Gremlins was that the movie had a tie in with Burger King, I think, for 4 weeks they had these read along books with records. Each book told a different part of the story, each week a different book was available. I collected all 4 books and together they told the entire movie, and this was before I went to see it. Now today I would hate to be spoiled like that, but back then knowing everything that was going to happen I think prepared me so I wasn't scared. Going to have to disagree with you about Tim Burton directing being a lost opportunity. I completely hate the idea of him having directed this movie instead of Joe Dante! I totally see how talented a filmmaker Burton is but in my opinion, with some rare exceptions like Big Fish (I love that movie) Burton is a lot more style over substance. All his movies look fantastic, but a lot of times they leave me feeling empty, like I didn't connect with the characters. It's like he took the old adage "show, don't tell" to the extreme, you have to have some exposition, some dialogue driven plot moments. Joe Dante on the other hand, he's one of my favorite directors. Every one of his movies I love! I recommend them all! The only one I haven't seen is The Howling. Also, his movie Explorers, it may have one of the all time greatest first and second acts, unfortunately, Dante was going over budget and the studio pushed him to finish the movie quick and cheap, so the third act isn't what he wanted and it's pretty bad. But the movie is worth watching for the first 2 acts. A great thing about watching Gremlins over and over as a kid into adulthood is it gives one a lot of time to mull the film over and let my imagination make up explanations for things that didn't make sense... Like why was Gizmo good and the other mogwai evil? The five new mogwai came from water used to clean dirty paint brushes, and so they were born tainted. The one Billy made with the eye dropper...maybe the dropper wasn't too clean. I've always imagined Gizmo was birthed by a drop of water from a pure mountain stream in China. What does not feeding them after midnight mean when it's always midnight somewhere in the world? Also, at what point is it safe to feed them again since its always after the previous midnight? It means midnight relative to wherever in the world you happen to be. Midnight is when the sun is exactly on the opposite side of the Earth. The sun which direct exposure can kill mogwai, but maybe it has other effects on mogwai, like how some flowers can only bloom at night, maybe just the sun being up keeps their metamorphosis in check. When the influence of the sun is at its weakest...midnight, then the power of the mogwai is at its peak and it takes until sunrise for the sun to reassert its dominance over mogwai biology.

Finally a reaction video that actually gives constructive criticism and actually comments on the movie, suscribed

I saw this when I was 8. It was a little scary, but I don't remember really being scared. I loved it! I thought that it was kind of gross in parts but it didn't really bother me. I liked it so much I named my new cat Gizmo.

The old man is referring to Gremlins, it was an old wive's tale that pilots would talk about when something strange happened on a mission to their planes. "Gremlins unhooked the ailerons and I had a lot of trouble maintaining level flight". You probably didn't grow up watching old cartoons , here is a Bugs Bunny with Gremlins. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/epeopNWV2bDXaKs.html

GRRRRR8 PICK OF AN ALL TIME CLASSIC & I MAY I SAY YOURE LOOKING GORGEOUS TODAY.

I certainly remember seeing this movie in the theaters, even passing by that icon poster at the time. I must have been 9 when it came out. I remember bragging to my 3rd grade teacher that I was going to go see it, and I wasn't scared; having thumbed through several Starlog magazines featuring the cast and creatures and sincerely believing I could handle it. This movie turned out to be my parents worst nightmare. It freaked me out for a good two weeks, and the night we came home from the film, I couldn't sleep at all. I was literally freaked out that Gremlins were all over the house. I know it was miserable for them, and looking back, I feel awful: no one slept, and every light was on in the house, thanks to me. But those creatures looked, and seemed, real at the time. But, to this day, I love it, and have a deep appreciation for the animatronics and the musical score for the film. I still watch it every year....minus the screaming panic attacks of course ;)

I know it's morbid but the chimney scene makes me laugh so hard only because of how ridiculous it is. The imdb trivia is interesting.

Definitely not reading too much into it. Plenty of horror films, especially from the 1970s and 80s, had political messages or undercurrents.

Phoebe's story is hilarious😂 the whole movie is adorable ❤

I love how this movie is a fusion of 50s creature movies with 30s and 40s melodramas. The two best examples are playing in Billy's house...the original Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, and the mother is watching It's A Wonderful Life. Love your reaction!

The end shot is hilarious because they did come out with smokeless ashtrays Yeah parents weren't as focused on safe spaces overprotective in the 80s allowing kids to live & learn

I never realized how much the gremlins' death screech sounded like the xenomorphs' dead scream from Aliens.

Great reaction video. I enjoy all your vids. Keep 'em coming...I saw both this film (I was 5 in 1984) and the sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990 - I was 11) in theaters. Neither film scared me (it was Superman 3 in 1983 that scared me, I was 4 at that time. The scene towards the end of that film, when the lady turned into the robot, that really scared me & gave me nightmares as a kid for a couple of weeks...and that film was rated PG too). I thought Gizmo was so cute. My parents got me a toy plush Gizmo when I was that little for Christmas. I also had the collectible Gremlins storybooks (there were 5 storybooks with 45' records that told the entire story from Gizmo point of view that came with kid's meals that were in promotional tie-ins with Hardee's burger chains. I had all of 'em, so I knew almost the whole story prior to seeing the movie on the big screen)...I have both films on Blu-Ray in my movie collection 💿💿... Definitely check out the sequel, it is a lot of fun but brace yourself, it is somewhat different than the first (going into the more of the comedy, parody and satire route than straight mischievous horror like the first one was. 2 is not a rehash of the 1st for sure. Also watch for all the celebrity cameos and references to other classic movies in Gremlins 2: The New Batch). Also check out Critters (1986), it is sort of like Gremlins but does it's own thing as well (adding more sci-fi into the mix - and there is even an ET reference in that movie). It was mildly successful spawning 3 more critter sequels (and yes I have them all on Blu-Ray too )...Peace out 😁✌️...

The beginning when the music kicks in and the title card comes up, is Courthouse Square. When the title card appears, on the right is the Clock Tower from Back To The Future, and is being used as the school in this movie. You'll see the school buses just pulling in, which is where Doc Brown lands after sliding down the cable from the tower. The piece of road the buses are on is where Marty has to hit 88mph at the end of BTTF. The set used to be called Mockingbird Square as it was a famous landmark in To Kill A Mockingbird... but after BTTF, it was renamed Courthouse Square. It was burned down numerous times, but Universal keep rebuilding it. Other voice-over actors in the movie were Michael Winslow (Jones in Police Academy) and... Peter Cullen, famous as the voice of Optimus Prime. Cullen also created the clicking sound made by the Predator. First time I saw Gremlins I would have been about 4 or 5. It came out when I was only 2, so we had it on VHS. I thought it was awesome :D Only bit that scared me was when Billy's Mom is in the house alone, and "Do you hear what I hear" starts playing. 6:58 yeah the 80s had a number of Mini-Creature Features. Gremlins, Munchies, Critters. Actually, you should watch Critters from 86 :D It's got the Mom from E.T in it and an early turn from Scott Grimes and Billy Zane.

In the 80's we loved movies like this. cable TV showed everything and it first came out.

I saw this movie in the theatres as a child and it terrified me. Thanks for your watch and review of this classic film, it was very entertaining!!

Love your insights! Keep these coming. 😀

I was 3 years old when this came out. I think I was 5 or 6 first time I remember watching it

For real, I love your legit cinematic deconstruction. Clearly someone who appreciates the art form! Subscribed!

Things were different in the 80's. What a great decade to grow up in. My best memories are in the 80's.

Another great reaction to an 80's classic, nice work. I watched this in the theater when I was eleven and absolutely loved it. It was also the beginning of my life-long crush on Phoebe Cates. 😊

The scene in the bank when Kate explains to Billy why she dislikes Xmas is poignant and you're not expecting it, so it blindsides you. If I had experienced something that horrifyingly tragic at the age she did, I'd have an adverse perspective of Xmas too.

My parents took me with them to the theater to see this...when I was FOUR YEARS OLD. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 The very last part where he's walking down the street and you hear the narration..."There just might be a gremlin in your house." I distinctly remember pulling my feet all the way up into my seat at the movie theater, then refusing to get out of the seat when the lights went up because THERE MIGHT BE A GREMLIN UNDER MY SEAT!!! My parents had to pick me up and carry me out. 🤣🤣🤣 Still, this was a childhood favorite of mine. LOL. Oh, the 80's. Good times.

I saw this in the theaters when I was 7 and it scared me to death but I also loved it and help foster my love love for creature features today.

welcome to being a kid in the 80's! Not sure if you noticed but one of the gremlins in the bar was just a straight up flasher. Trench coat and everything. Hahaha what a glorious time to be a kid.

When we adopted a little Yorkie, they said Gizmo & Chewy were the top names. And that chimney speech is a classic. One of my favorite scenes in cinema history lol

Judge Reinhold was practically in every 80s movie back then I swear!!

this movie came out when I was 3. I think I saw around 7. I don't remember ever being scared. One of my favorite movies growing up. Still watch it to this day with my little nieces and nephews.

I saw this when it was in theaters when I was 7. I was one of the last of my friends to see it. It was everyone's favorite movie that summer (along with the Karate Kid) and one of my favorite theater experiences of all time. I still remember so many of the audience responses vividly. And a few years later, my best friend had a chihuahua named Gizmo.

I love the last line of the movie “There just might be a Gremlin in your house.”