In 1984, Joe Dante’s Gremlins was such a frightening PG movie that it helped inspire the creation of the PG-13 rating.
The Christmas horror-comedy follows Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) and his adorable new pet, Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandel), a mystical creature known as a mogwai. When Billy breaks the mogwai rules, Gizmo inadvertently spawns mischievous and deadly gremlins that wreak havoc.
Its sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, is leaving HBO Max in just a few days and it’s our top pick for a must-watch movie before it disappears in December.
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Both Gremlins and Gremlins 2 were created before CGI became standard, which is why they relied heavily on puppetry to bring the mogwai and gremlins to life. The sequel took things further, featuring more advanced puppets and designs, including grotesque and bizarre mutated gremlins.
One of the special effects team’s biggest achievements was the slightly redesigned Gizmo puppet, which had a far more expressive face. Even though the mechanical puppet technology is over 35 years old, it still holds up remarkably well. While the gremlins in the sequel aren’t as sinister as in the first film, they show far more personality, making the movie a hilariously meta self-parody.
Director Joe Dante was given complete creative freedom for Gremlins 2, and he used it to satirize and parody his own film. In the original, Phoebe Cates’ Kate Beringer delivers a dramatic monologue about family trauma that fuels her hatred of Christmas. In a hilariously self-aware callback, the sequel imagines Kate enduring a similarly traumatic encounter with an Abraham Lincoln actor played entirely for laughs.
Film critic Leonard Maltin, who famously disliked the first Gremlins, makes a cameo in the sequel. In true meta fashion, he repeats his critical review moments before a gremlin kills him. While it makes little sense in the film’s narrative, his final words are what make the gag so memorable.
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Gremlins 2 is packed with meta humor, and Dante never tried to make the film take itself seriously. Given a much larger budget than the first movie, he delivered a sequel that likely surprised Warner Bros. executives. Among the new cast, John Glover shines as Daniel Clamp, a wealthy executive inspired by Donald Trump and Ted Turner. His performance adds a rich layer of comedy, making the film just as entertaining today as it was back then.
‘Gremlins 2’ Perfectly Blends Horror and Dark Comedy
As mentioned earlier, Gremlins 2 leans more toward comedy than horror, making it less violent than its predecessor. While it lacks some of the nightmare-inducing imagery of the first film, it still reminds audiences, now and then, that they’re supposed to be at least a little scared.
The film balances its darker moments with clever comedic touches, a strategy that works far better here than in the original, where the gremlins could feel too terrifying. By fully embracing the premise’s humor, Dante created a sequel that has become a fan favorite over the past three and a half decades. Its enduring popularity likely helped pave the way for the recently announced Gremlins 3.
Gremlins 2: The New Batch is currently streaming on HBO Max.
