Gremlin

I should mention up front that I am not a huge gore/horror film fan. Perhaps this means I am a bit harder on films in the genre or not, I am not sure…but I do occasionally enjoy a horror film if the story engages me. In addition, the film has absolutely nothing to do with the film Gremlins and the creature looks nothing like a gremlin…and ultimately, you learn it isn't a gremlin…so why the title?! I have no idea.

When the film begins, some selfish guy gives a fancy looking box to a family member. But inside is a horrible creature that has an insatiable thirst to kill. And, once you've received the box you must find someone you love and give it to them soon or the monster inside will eventually kill your entire family. After the monster came out and started killing people, none of them ever called the police but they just piled up the dead family members in the basement for safekeeping. And, they didn't consider throwing the box into a blast furnace or inside a huge block of cement or in the middle of the sea. Instead, they just wait as one by one they are sliced and diced. If it sounds as if I didn't like the story in Gremlin, you are absolutely right. The problem was although the acting is competent and the CGI acceptable, the story just never made a lot of sense to me. And, when you ultimately learn what the creature is, this isn't enough of a surprise to save the picture. The movie is watchable but nothing more.

"What do you think happens to us when we die? I don't know. I guess it's a lot like it is before you're born."

First of all, let me warn all of you who assume that this is a continuation of the 1984 masterpiece "Gremlins". Believe me, this movie has nothing to do with it. Not even close. Not when it's about the level of entertainment. Not content wise. And certainly not when you look at the acting skills. If there was one particular aspect that got on my nerves while watching this B-category horror, it was the terrible acting. Not only was it silly sometimes. But it felt so amateurish and forced. There is not even a sparkle of humor present in this movie. No malicious Gremlins who organize an orgy in a local pub. Or an elderly lady being launched while sitting in her chair lift. Or were the moronic conversations meant to be humorous? I'm afraid not.

However, the starting point and basic idea were quite inventive and original. A metallic cube, with a clock-looking image full of astrological drawings, that contains something you don't want to be confronted with. And there's only one golden rule that'll make sure you'll get rid of this detestable thing. You just have to pass it on to someone you love. Talking about a dilemma. A poisoned gift for someone you really love. And that's what James eventually did when his family probably already has been liquidated by the bloodthirsty creature. He gives it to his mother. Little did he know there were more family members in his mum's house at that moment. And before you know it, the little creature begins using its sharp limbs and bodies start piling up. Eventually it's Adam Thatcher (Adam Hampton) who's shackled to the devilish box.

The most positive thing about this indie horror, is the design of the-creature-with-a-tireless-killer-instinct. Despite the fact that the budget is significantly lower than most movies with computer-generated creatures, they've succeeded in creating a highly realistic little monster. But, as in "Big ass spider", the non-proportionally shaped copy is of much lower quality. It looks like a fake, plastic figure that comes to life using stop motion techniques (Even "Shaun the sheep" looks better). Similar to the giant insects in SF films of the 70s. Also content wise it was quite creative. For example, it's not obvious for the Thatcher family to get rid of the cube. If they think that they are put out of their misery just by randomly passing it on to someone (a bit as how the problem was solved in "It follows"), they are in for a disappointment. Apparently, the mysterious creature can feel in a certain way that you don't really love the new owner. The fact that the box shows up over and over again, regardless of what Adam is trying to do, was to be expected. To be honest, it was utterly annoying after numerous attempts.

If this film was made in the 80's, the end product would be appropriate and undoubtedly added to other released monster-horror films. Unfortunately, the looks of the gremlin (I still wonder why it's called that way), the rare exciting moments (the confrontation between daughter Anna (Katie Burgess) and the monster) and the intriguing subject won't make it a great movie. And this is caused, in particular, the inadequate acting, the stupidities, the sometimes bad SE's (especially the wounds looked kitschy) and the limited story line. The naivety with which certain problems are solved, is sometimes quite ridiculous (like hiding bodies in the basement). And once again, the policemen aren't smarter than the two idiots from "Dumb and Dumber". Most hilarious moment was the response of a detective who advised detective Harris (Kyle Pennington) to contact Lucy Anifero, a gypsy and apparently someone who knows something about occult and bizarre things. After Harris got a decent explanation about the devilish cube, the first comment of this detective was : "She's hot, right?". You can't expect that such an idiot would solve the case.

Are you a fan of such a type of SF-horror and you're a fan of anything that's related to the 80's, I can recommend it (there's even an Alien-like fragment). You won't be flabbergasted and you won't be blown away by world-shocking novelties, but it can provide brief entertainment.

PS. I read this hilarious review on Letterboxd and actually summarizes it a bit : My roommate and I decided to watch a movie tonight. I asked her if she wanted to watch The Dark Tower, 'cause I hadn't seen it yet. She said "No, I've already seen it and it's the worst movie of the year". So we watched this instead. Once it was over, her only comment was "We should have watched The Dark Tower…"

More reviews here : http://movie-freak.be

Not an entirely bad movie. The story concept has a lot of promise. An insidious curse is placed on a mysterious box that contains a blood thirsty gremlin. Before the gremlin is released, the person in possession of the box must pass it off to someone they love, or the gremlin starts killing everyone around them.

It's actually an entertaining movie with some pretty bad acting. Not all acting is bad, but enough to raise eyebrows many times throughout the movie. A few actors are pretty good.

The nail in the coffin was what the writers did with the script. There were some seriously illogical (dumb) decisions made in the movie. Why on Earth would the characters do some of the things they did? No answers, except some seriously bad plot writing. There was so much more the writers could have added and subtracted to make this a good film. Like redo the dad character and add maybe add a little more X-Files like mystery to the detective. And darken the film and give the creepy critter some shadows to hide in like old 70's flicks with horrifying creatures that hide in the dark.

Otherwise, it was entertaining and had a couple scenes I didn't anticipate.

Not as cheesy as ScyFy flicks. Could have been on par with other creepy critter flicks with more budget, small plot rewrites, and more creative camera work. Maybe a big studio will get some ideas later.

Gremlin isn't a reboot or remake that associated with the mogwai movies, this is a complete different type of story. Going into this film i didn't know what to expect hoping it would impress me in being a good movie as the premise of this film's background of the box is good in setting it tone but sadly this film lack's any impact in being a great.

The acting is OK but amateurish with minimal effort in trying to carry this film forward which didn't appeal to me alone, at best this film is a typical syfy channel movie. The only good thing is the visual effect which seem to have some budget which all the money has gone into as the creature itself is well designed.

Sadly this film might appeal to the demographic that enjoy these low budget B movies which this film is, but if you looking for a well made film i would recommend avoiding this film as it not that great.

The survival instincts of the characters of this creature feature were worse than a zerg rush. It seems that literally the family fighting the creature threw every member at it trying to beat it. Because they are not murderers. The family doesnt even hardly fight the thing its like the characters gave up at the beginning.

The creature is about the size of a chihuahua. Its hard to be intimidated by it. Lets imagine this put a chihuahua on chopstick stilts and give it butt knives anyone who was not caught of guard should be able to kick or swat it away in which the the teen daughter shows this is possible and the 9ish son tosses it. So this in the end is like the wilderness magazine that tried to pass off the 15 minks as a life or death struggle.

So they really need to focus on better creatures or make the creatures behave in ways that make them more threatening