Top 10 Alternative Christmas Films: 7. "Gremlins"

December 20, 3:36 PMClassic TV ExaminerDoug Krentzlin

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Everyone knows the big 3 of Christmas films: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “A Christmas Carol” (Alistair Sim). For those of you who would like to view something different for the holidays, here is the seventh of ten recommendations of alternative Christmas films (to be presented in chronological order).

7. “Gremlins” (1984)

“Gremlins” isn’t the first horror film set during the Christmas holidays (Tod Browning’s 1936 “The Devil Doll” takes that honor), but it certainly uses the setting in a particularly subversive way.

Set in fictional small town Kingston Falls (which is virtually a dead ringer for Bedford Falls in “It’s a Wonderful Life”), “Gremlins” gets started when would-be inventor Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) gives his teenage son Billy (Zach Galligan) a small mythical creature called a Mogwai as, what else, a Christmas present.

Mogwais come with 3 very important rules: Don’t expose them to bright light. Don’t let them come in contact with water. And most importantly, don’t ever feed them after midnight. Of course, the last two rules are violated and the result is a horde of rampaging little demons terrorizing the town.

Directed by Joe Dante and written by Chris Columbus, “Gremlins” is a perverse little fantasy that manages to be both funny and scary (often at the same time). The supporting cast includes Phoebe Cates, Frances Lee McCain, Keye Luke, Polly Holliday, Scott Brady and Dante regular Dick Miller.