Gremlins

Among the sort of people who have time for that kind of thing, there’s an ongoing debate about whether Joe Dante’s gory creature-feature masterpiece Gremlins is really a Christmas movie or just a movie set at Christmastime. Meaning, Phoebe Cates’ tragic monologue about Christmas Day disappointment aside, is there enough of the true spirit of the reason for the season and blah blah blah gratuitously stuffed in between the scenes of Rube Goldberg-inspired anarchy and Tex Avery demon splatter-punk to fill the viewer with holiday cheer? But go to your neighborhood big box on December 24 and compare the Norman Rockwell-painted greeting card and Thomas Kincade snow village scenes to the overworked single mom pepper spraying a would be eBay impresario over the last Snuggles the Dream Puppy or whatever the hell, and you remember that there’s nothing red-and-greener than a Gremlin in a blender.