In the pantheon of Christmas movies, Joe Dante’s 1984 film Gremlins, with a script by a 24-year-old Chris Columbus, remains an enduringly subversive and hilarious gem
I didn’t expect (or want) Twilight Zone—The Movie to be Borgesian, but I did rather hope that John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller—the four young directors who are paying homage to the TV series—would tease us with more artful macabre games than the ones of the old shows.
Pauline Kael’s review of Gremlins in 1984 was, much like the film itself, a mixed bag. She acknowledged its entertainment value and technical accomplishments but ultimately found it uneven and morally questionable
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