4. Mogwai Are Governed By Ridiculous Rules - Gremlins
The furry mascot and hero of Joe Dante's essential nostalgic horror comedy is, of course, Gizmo the mogwai who becomes the pet/companion of Billy, but there are three very important rules which you must follow in order to successfully keep a mogwai without endangering the lives of the entire neighbourhood, and they're all ridiculous. The rules are simple: no bright light, no water, and never feed it after midnight. The first two represent the perfect counter-argument to Darwin's Theory Of Evolution: after all, how could a creature (even a magical one) live on Earth - a notoriously bright and wet place - without either dying out entirely or evolving? And then there's the third rule: never feed it after midnight. This will turn the mogwai into a gremlin, and nobody wants an evil, scaly and clawed monster with a sick sense of humour running around. But the key problem with this one is that when exactly is it never after midnight? Do the mogwai take daylight savings and time zones into account? What if they had something stuck in their teeth at 11, but finally get it free after midnight? This all seems far too much hassle for the sake of a pet.
