51 Reasons Why Gremlins Just Might Be The Greatest Film Of All Time...

26. Mogwai: That is, the Scottish post-rock band who owe their name to Gremlins- mixing metal (occassionally), math rock, art rock and shoegaze theyre a fucking delight to behold. Not for everyone, but exceptional in my eyes. 25. It's Definitely Not Racist! Though, like Ghostbusters, criticism was aimed at the film, claiming otherwise. Supposedly, the Gremlins themselves were thinly veiled personifications of the worst stereotypes of African Americans- they are depicted "devouring fried chicken with their hands," listening to black music, breakdancing, and wearing sunglasses after dark and newsboy caps,which obviously proves it! Or not. The thing about these stereotypes is that you either give them licence to mean something or you dont, and immedaitey assuming that these puppets are obviously meant to be black because of their actions seems a little backward to me. Oh, and it dodged another potentially racist bullet by casting Keye Luke as Mr Wing, and not Jon Pertwee, who had been suggested as a contender for the role, which I fear may well have left as bad a taste in the mouth as Peter Ustinov's appearance as Hnup Wan in One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing does today. 24. The Film Poster Within a Film Poster: Ive already mentioned it above, but this poster is genius wrapped in crafty genius. The update, adding a mischievous Stripe with a marker pen made an event out of the film poster like had never happened before. 23.

Ruby Deagle: I want your dog. Billy Peltzer: Barney? Ruby Deagle: Give him to me. I'll take him to the kennel, they'll put him to sleep. It will be quick and painless compared to what I would do to him. Billy Peltzer: What could you do? Ruby Deagle: I'll catch the beast myself. He'll get what he deserves, a slow painful death.Maybe I'll put him in my spin-drier on high heat. Mr. Anderson: That would do it all right!

22. The restored Warner Bros shield- though it would now be similar to Mcdonalds without the Golden Arches, believe it or not the Warners shield wasnt a mainstay of Warner output in the years heading up to Gremlins' 1984 release. Now it's as recognisable as Jesus, and rightly so.