(5 of 5)
Through sweat and ingenuity, Walas and Dante and Producer Michael Finnell finished Gremlins in about 23 weeks at an inexpensive $11 million. Spielberg, occupied at the time with Indiana Jones in London, spent little time on the set. Recalls Dante: "Steven said to me, 'It's your movie, go make it,' and we went ahead and made it. We got it down to about a two-hour cut and showed it to him. He said, 'It's your greatest work.' And I said, 'Yeah, but is it any good?' "
It is good. It is funny. And it is, visually, the densest movie in a decade. Every frame is packed with enough information, bits of business, incidental eccentricities to fill a Bruegel painting or the panel of an old Mad magazine. And throughout are references to or quotations from Dante's favorite movies: The Searchers, Close Encounters, The Wizard of Oz, To Please a Lady, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Orpheus, The Road Warrior, It's a Wonderful Life, animated cartoons by Warners Old Masters Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett, the complete works of Roger Corman. You have to be sharp to catch some of the references. At a meeting of gadgeteers, Billy's dad chats with Robby the Robot of Forbidden Planet as Spielberg tools about in wheelchair and leg cast; in the background is H.G. Wells' time machine (from the 1960 movie), which, two shots later, has disappeared in a puff of smoke. "This movie is its own triple bill," says Dante. "It's a remake of my other movies and a remake of every movie alluded to in it. I like movies. And I like to make movies for people who like movies." Says Spielberg of Dante: "He's a filmophile. If Joe weren't a moviemaker, right now he'd be at a science-fiction convention."
Gremlins is more than a concordance of metaschlock; it never sacrifices the narrative payoff for an in joke. It is as weird as your Uncle Floyd and as embraceable as little Gizmo. It will lure lots of people into the moviehouses and send them out with shivers and smiles. One word of caution though. As you settle into your seat, whatever you do, don't let your arm drape down so it's just above floor level. Because The Gremle-uns'll git you Ef you Don't Watch Out!
—By Richard Corliss Reported by Denise Worrell/Los Angeles