Gremlins

_**Cute creatures morph into hellions during Christmas**_ A traveling inventor (Hoyt Axton) brings home a cute animal he bought at a shop in Chinatown for a Christmas gift, but the rules for the animal’s care are broken and all hell breaks loose. Zach Galligan plays the son and Phoebe Cates his girlfriend. “Gremlins” (1984) mixes Christmas movie with Comedy, Fantasy & Horror for an entertaining popcorn flick. The mogwai creatures are cute and you’re not sure how safe the movie is going play out but, thankfully, it turns amusingly edgy. The inclusion of cutie Phoebe Cates helps. The film runs 1 hour, 46 minutes and was shot at Universal Studios, Universal City, California. GRADE: B-