Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is re-issuing “Gremlins: 25th Anniversary Edition” in celebration of the upcoming release of “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” on Blu-ray for the first time. Once again, executive producer Steven Spielberg picks just the right team of filmmakers to bring to life a nostalgic horror comedy which continues to influence dozens of imitators to this day. It touches on so many levels of adolescence including love, loyalty, overcoming your fears, and following directions. If lead character Billy followed directions, then none of the crazy events of that fateful night in 1984 would have happened.
The Movie:
Billy’s father brings him a unique Christmas gift from his travels. It’s a furry little loveable creature called a Mogwai. It only comes with three rules. Don’t get him wet is the first item on the list. The second is bright light kills the creatures, so keep them out of it. The last rule is never feed them after midnight. Unfortunately, Billy isn’t good with rules. He finds his new pet spawns when it gets wet, creating five new versions of the fuzzy creature. He then realizes that feeding them after midnight causes them to morph into something horribly grotesque and sinister. They change into mischievous little lizard creatures that have a taste for partying and wreaking havoc on Billy’s hometown.
Video Quality:
I found the high definition transfer of the film good. It didn’t lose any of its 1980s luster. It was crisp and clean while still keeping that beautiful film feel. This wasn’t remastered or restored for the Blu-ray release, so there’s nothing incredibly new from that aspect. It’s still the best the film ever looked. Let’s be honest. We’ll be saying that until the end of time. Every time a new and better advancement in film technology rears its head, we’re going to get a new version of virtually any film worth its weight.
Audio Quality:
The Blu-ray includes an excellent 5.1 surround sound mix. Every explosion, gunshot, and cackle of a Gremlin flies out at you in different directions. The atmospheric sound effects such as film reels spinning and unspooling mix well with the excellent score and dialogue. This is definitely an improvement over any DVD releases of the movie.
Special Features:
There are all kinds of great bonus materials on this release. Two insightful commentary tracks give the viewer different information on the film. One features director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell, and special effects artist Chris Walas discussing everything from the plot development to the special effects work and how the movie might have been made today with all the new technology. The other commentary is has director Joe Dante, and actors Phoebe Cates, Zach Galligan, Dick Miller, and Howie Mandel reminiscing about the film shoot and telling “behind-the-scenes” stories.
Over 10 minutes of extra footage features a whole lot more Judge Reinhold, some bits about a conspiracy theory to buy out the houses in the neighborhood by the evil Mrs. Deagle, and the horrific aftermath of Harey Carey’s death as Mr. Anderson. The footage is interesting to see but doesn’t add anything to the film.
The 6-minute “making of” featurette from 1983 is interesting as a nostalgic look back at the film. It includes interviews with a very young Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante. There’s also some fascinating on-set production footage. I’m sure there’s enough material lying around somewhere to make a full-length documentary about the making of the movie, but we don’t get it here.
Two trailers for “Gremlins” and one for “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” are included. A photo and storyboard gallery concludes the extras.
Final Analysis:
Casual fans of the film probably won’t rush out to pick up the “Gremlins: 25th Anniversary Edition” Blu-ray. The film wasn’t remastered or restored for this release. Hardcore enthusiasts of the crazy little creatures will find enough here to justify the amount of money they’ll spend to upgrade to the newer high definition model. The special features and improved audio will convince dedicated consumers to pick this up no doubt.
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Eric Shirey is the founder and former editor of Rondo Award nominated movie news websites MovieGeekFeed.com and TheSpectralRealm.com. His work has been featured on Yahoo!, DC Comics, StarWars.com, and other entertainment websites. Eric has interviewed and worked with actors like Harrison Ford, Brooke Shields, Gerard Butler, Brendan Fraser, Selena Gomez, and many more.
