The Box

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

A good concept, not an original one but with a real potential to be both fun and scary, and a creepy-looking DVD cover were what drew me into seeing 'Gremlin' in the first place. Also do have a high appreciation for horror/sci-fi, and thee are a fair share of good to great, even classic, examples.

'Gremlin' is not to be confused with the 1984 film (a great one) of the same name, either as a film or in assuming it is connected to that film. They have nothing in common other than the title. Seeing 'Gremlin', it has its good points, that stop it from being a complete shambles, but a lot of bad ones that stop it from living up to its concept. There are certainly far worse films in the genre and overall and it didn't leave me angry or cringing, just that it is very underwhelming that doesn't do a good job with its objectives of being fun or scary.

There are good points. The creature effects are surprisingly competent and the monster does evoke some genuine creepiness. 'Gremlin' has moments of excitement, creepiness and suspense, like with the Anna and the monster confrontation.

It's effectively lit and shot too sometimes. The soundtrack has eeriness when it isn't being intrusive or obvious.

Sadly, too many things bring it down. The acting ranges from barely adequate to embarrassing, worst of all being Kristy K. Boone whose performance was all over the place. The characters are uninteresting and annoying, with naively silly and sometimes illogical decision making and behaviours, a primary example being with the police.

Excitement, thrills, creepiness and suspense are too far and between. The scares are generally not enough and suffer from predictability and lack of tension. The lack of atmosphere makes the pacing suffer, giving 'Gremlin' a dull feel frequently. The story is far too minimal, another thing that affects the pacing with the padding and over-stretching, bland and often ridiculous.

Rest of the visual effects are pretty bad and the editing is sloppy, also too many instances of the camera work being unfocused and the sound/soundtrack killing the atmosphere with over-obviousness. The direction is not a hack job as such, but there is very little distinguished about it.

Overall, 'Gremlin' wasn't irredeemable but it underwhelms. 3/10 Bethany Cox

"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.