by Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Christmas movies tend to be feel-good movies, about the true meaning of Christmas or about a small town girl who moves to the big city to become a high-powered lawyer, and for some reason she has to return home and reunites with her old high school. Crush, who is now grown, sculpts Santa Claus out of ice imported from Sweden, and they bond over their love of Christmas. But one Christmas movie stands alone, and nothing in 40 years has come close to the perfect blend of Christmas cheer and dark comedy: Gremlins. The '80s horror comedy is still a part of popular culture today thanks to the mischievous villains themselves, but it's a dark, haunting monologue that makes the film impossible to forget.
Roast Santa
Gremlins The film follows Gizmo, a Mogwai, who is given to Billy Peltzer by his father as a Christmas present, and after violating the first rule that the mysterious Mr. Wang imparted to his father, “Don't get him wet,” a disaster ends up sweeping the world. The city of Kingston Falls, where a horde of villains is wreaking havoc. But no matter what the evil strip and its cronies do to the townsfolk, from crashing an expensive truck into a bedroom to turning an escalator into a launching pad, nothing compares to the terrible tragedy shared by Billy's friend, Kate, a little more than halfway into the movie.
She is played by Phoebe Cates, years after Notorious Fast times at Ridgemont High School Scene, Kate launches into monologue About when her father disappeared when she was nine years old. He missed Christmas, and the family had no idea where he was until a few days later, they started a fire in the fireplace, and the smell alerted them that something was wrong. Her father, dressed as Santa, tried to go down the chimney with the presents, but broke his neck and was stuck dead inside the chimney. The entire story relies on Keats in a monologue that makes it seem as if Kate is struggling to finish almost as soon as she starts. It may seem out of place, but it's the perfect summation of ghost's Dark humor.
The fine line between tragedy and comedy
The first time I heard this story was while watching Gremlinsand it has haunted me ever since, but it predates the film. Urban legends about stumbling Santa Claus have persisted ever since Coca-Cola invented talking Santa, and while some tales are tragic, like Kate's, others mock grown men who get stuck and have to rescue them. Director Joe Dante stuck this story in the middle of the movie to provide some background on Kate and her Christmas PTSD, but it's entirely appropriate for the movie, because it's something so silly that people might nervously laugh at it and find some dark amusement. out of it, but if it happened to you, it would be devastatingly tragic.
The dance between comedy and horror has never been seen in any other film. Gremlins I pushed the envelope so far, along with Indiana Jones And the temple of deathcausing the MPAA to create a PG-13 rating. Not only do most of the deaths happen off-screen, but in the movie, there are only 15 people who die, and most of them are unknown background extras. You could say that the most horrific moment in the entire movie is the death of Kate's father, who only wanted to make his daughter happy and paid with his life for it.
A unique Christmas movie
Joe Dante's masterpiece has stood the test of time thanks to the extreme risks he took in preparing his screenplay Alone at home and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Director Chris Columbus, brought to life with the encouragement of Steven Spielberg's production company. Gremlins This is such a singular success that Dante never wanted to make a sequel, and when he did, he created the silliest, craziest, and murderous film of the franchise by ditching the black comedy for straight-up slapstick comedy. Gremlins 2: The New Batch It's also a great movie and remains one of my favorites to this day, but it's significantly funnier.
Gremlins This may not be what comes to mind when you think of offbeat 1980s Christmas movies Die hardbut it has been a Christmas classic for decades. Just be careful if you're watching it with kids, not because of the violence or murders, but because Santa broke his neck in the chimney.
Gremlins Currently available for streaming Top.
