Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: A horror-comedy about cute little Christmas toy/pets who turn into murderous monsters wreaking havoc on a Norman Rockwellian town. Read more
Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: A wildly original roller-coaster ride of hilarious mischief. Read more
Vincent Canby, New York Times: Gremlins is far more interested in showing off its knowledge of movie lore and making random jokes than in providing consistent entertainment. Read more
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: What's confusing yet ultimately illuminating is the way his gremlins function as a free-floating metaphor, suggesting at separate junctures everything from teenagers to blacks to various Freudian suppressions. Read more
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: Dante is perhaps the first filmmaker since Frank Tashlin to base his style on the formal free-for-all of animated cartoons; he is also utterly heartless. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: At the level of Serious Film Criticism, it's a meditation on the myths in our movies: Christmas, families, monsters, retail stores, movies, boogeymen. At the level of Pop Moviegoing, it's a sophisticated, witty B movie. Read more