trb@drutx.UUCP (BuckleyTR) (07/10/84)
from The Review of The News, 7/4/84 ************************************************************************ Grim Laughs ------------- Whether your taste in entertainment runs to the cliff- hanging adventures of Indiana Jones, sentimental stargazing with Mr. Spock and his friends, or observing people with names like "Boogaloo Shrimp" fraying the seats of their trousers on the pavement in back-alley ballets, anyone in search of summer diversion will find no shortage of it in the movie theaters. While Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd continue to scare up large audiences with their super- natural antics in "Ghostbusters," Steven Spielberg has pulled another outlandish creature out of his bag of cinematic tricks to elicit coos, shrieks, and howlish laughter. This time, Spielberg reintroduces us to a bizarre freak of nature that can be alternately cute and cuddly or vile and vicious. In one manifestation, it appears deceptively harmless and appealing, its body - parts of which are bundeled in soft fur - in a constant state on animation. However, it can quickly transform into a loathsome, snarling creature that rallies others of its kind through the streets creating chaos and destruction. It displays contempt for modern technology and was once accused of sabotaging the American was effort. No, Steven Spielberg has not produced a motion-picture comeback for Jane Fonda. Instead, he has littered the screen with GREMLINS, an uproariously grotesque fantasy that makes one think of a Disney film directed by Charles Manson. The title characters are represented by marvels of puppeteering effects for which Spielberg is rapidly earning the reputation of Hollywood's most revered toymaster. Indeed, judging by all of the "oohing" and "aahing" emitting from the audience when the first friendly gremlin reared its fuzzy little noggin, we fully expect to see mass-produced versions become the Cabbage Patch sensation of the next Christmas season. Though produced by Steven Spielberg, the directorial credit for "Gremlins" goes to Joe Dante, who demonstrated his ability for bringing cartoon monstrosities to life in one segment of "Twilight Zone - The Movie." The trouble starts at Christmastime in a small Middle American community when Hoyt Axton, as a congenial inventor of invariably backfiring household contraptions, brings home a box containing an irresistibly huggable pet he picked up in a Chinatown novelty store. As his wife and son, Frances Lee Mc Cain and Zach Galligan are so used to Dad producing strange objects that they hardly flinch when they set eyes on the gnomish animal that could pass for a J.R.R. Tolkien conception of a teddy bear, complete with the heart of E.T. and the eyes of Bambi. No sooner are we resigned to a confectionary plot that would melt the heart of Yasir Arafat than Spielberg and Dante spring their devilish trap, jolting us with the strangest metamorphosis since Dr. Jekyll went into Hyding. It seems that exposure to water causes the critter to multiply faster than a rabbit on Welfare, and feeding after midnight turns the resultant offspring into... well... try to imagine E.T. with rabies. Suddenly the town is in the grip of a demon hoarde, the likes of which can only be described as a Frankenstein composite of Hollywood's most popular creations. Each gremlin has the ears of Yoda, the teeth of Bruce the shark, the smile of Jack Nicholson, and the disposition of Mr. T. Once the gremlins take over, one's perception of reality is cheerfully surrendered as the nasty varmints are given full reign to do their malicious stuff, which ranges from maiming and murdering to blowing their noses on the living-room drapes. The performances by the live members of the cast are sufficiently energetic to keep pace with the raucous goings on, though all are easily upstaged by their animated counterparts. The only pouts we perceived were from pert teen star Phoebe Cates, as Galligan's girlfriend, apparently perturbed to find herself in a film that need not rely on her undressing to attract an audience. Occasional profanity and the sometimes grossly homicidal behavior of the gremlins account for the PG rating attached to this Warner Brothers release. *************************************************************************** The Review of The News, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, Mass. 02178 *************************************************************************** Tom Buckley AT&T Information Systems ihnp4!drutx!trb