10 More Horror Movies Way Darker Than Advertised

Gremlins: cute, timeless, harmless fun from Joe Dante, right? Wrong. As many of us forget Gremlins is a horror film as forget it’s also a Christmas film because, well, Gizmo! But behind the fuzzy lil guy lurks a horde of evil.

Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) gets his mogwai for Christmas and it’s all going well until he ignores the three essential rules: Don’t get it wet. Don’t expose it to sunlight. And definitely don’t feed it after midnight. More mogwai spawn from Gizmo’s body, and soon become spiny green monsters hell bent on ruining the festive season.

Granted, the film is loaded with humour, but there is a gradual tone creep throughout, from cutesy fun to mischievous shenanigans to all out murder and bloodshed. The sweet lil monster movie turns dark around the midpoint, as Gizmo's demon offspring are unleashed on the local town, and rampant carnage, murder and scares take over from the established shenanigans and light-hearted fun. This includes Santa being mauled to death, and around 150 of the Gremlins themselves being trapped in a flaming movie theatre.

And don’t even mention Stripe’s blind, screaming, face-melting demise and brief, skeletal resurrection.