History Film / Gremlins1984

* RedEyesTakeWarning: All Gremlins have them. Although they don't normally glow, there's a very striking moment when Mrs. Peltzer slashes open Billy's Christmas stocking thinking there's another Gremlin hiding inside ([[CatScare which turns out to just be a motorized toy robot)]], only to find out a moment too late that a pair of red lights in the tree behind her are ''not'' part of the decoration.

* UniformityException: Both Gizmo and Stripe have a distinguishing feature that sets them apart from the other Mogwai/Gremlins' "standard" design: Gizmo has a white patch over his left eye, whereas Stripe has a mohawk of white hair on his head which he retains as a Gremlin.

* DraggedOffToHell: When the Gremlins heckle Mrs. Deagle, she's convinced [[WrongGenreSavvy they're demons who've come for her]]. [[spoiler:The irony is, in a sense, she''s ''not'' entirely wrong, since the Gremlin sabotage of her stair lift chair gets her killed moments later.]]

* VagueAge: Billy and Kate. They both look like teenagers, and Billy still lives with his parents, but they both seem to be out of high school and already have full time jobs[[note]]Possibly they just graduated high school, but had to go to work right away, due to Billy's father's inventions never working, and Kate's father having died, so he can't provide for her and her mother[[/note]].

* TroublemakingNewPet: Even before turning into Gremlins, Gizmo's offspring demonstrate their cruel and rambunctious streak to the Peltzers' other pets, tormenting Gizmo multiple times, and tying Barney up with Christmas lights. They easily get away with the latter due to Billy's suspecting Ms. Deagle, who vocally hated Barney.

* VagueAge: Billy and Kate. They both look like teenagers, and Billy still lives with his parents, but they both seem to be out of high school and already have full time jobs.

* PoliceAreUseless: Joe Dante probably defines this trope best in the commentary track: "Whenever you have a sci-fi film, and police, you always have to have a scene with the police, and it's always the same scene." Which ends with the police, still not believing Billy despite seeing Gizmo with their own eyes, leaving to investigate the Futterman's "freak accident" with the snowplow, seeing Mrs. Deagle and a guy playing Santa getting attacked by Gremlins, then getting their brake lines cut and presumably dying in the ensuing car crash.

* AnAssKickingChristmas: It falls under this when the town is invaded by monsters on Christmas Eve.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Billy's biology teacher is the only black character in the film, and the gremlins' first victim. ''Possibly''; the finished film walked back most other intended character deaths, so he may have only been injured and heavily sedated.

* CallBack: Early on, Gizmo watches ''Film/ToPleaseALady'' and imitates the racing scenes. At the end of the film, Gizmo races a radio-controlled car, and dialogue from the film plays over the soundtrack.

* ClockTampering: One of the rules for handling mogwai is to never NEVER feed them after midnight (as it turns out, it turns them into gremlins). One night the mogwai in the box are making noises like they are hungry. The alarm clock says it's about 11:30, so Billy feeds them some leftover chicken. The next day, [[StoppedClock Billy notices the clock reading the exact same time]]. Seems the extension cord had been ripped from the plug, the mogwai actually chewed through the electrical cord, [[OhCrap so it was after midnight]] after all.

* CrazyCatLady: Mrs. Deagle again. She is shown to adore her numerous cats and nurture them in a disturbingly affectionate manner. Not that the heartless old hag showed '''any''' of the same kindness to ''children'' who can be made homeless by one word from her, mind you. The fact that the cats are all named after various pieces of currency from around the world plainly shows [[OnlyInItForTheMoney what she REALLY cares about]].

* ADogNamedDog: "Gizmo" is the nickname Billy's father gives him. His true owner, the Chinese shopkeeper, calls him Mogwai, which is also his species.

* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: To the point that the graphic content of the first movie (along with [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom another Spielberg production]]) was used as an indication that a rating between PG and R was necessary.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Ruby Deagle was a dowager in her early sixties, but she was played by Polly Holliday, who was 46 at the time.

* VagueAge: Billy and Kate. They both look like teenagers, and Billy still lives with his parents, but they both seem to be out of high school and already have full time jobs. Kate even works as a bar waitress, implying she's at least 21.

** The ornamental swords hanging next to the door (one of which keeps falling off every time someone comes into the house) is used by Billy on the fourth gremlin to attack his mother.

* EatsBabies: In the original script, a scene was planned where Billy and Kate would have come across a UsefulNotes/McDonalds full of partially devoured people, including ''many'' empty baby strollers and a gremlin so bloated from its feast that it had been abandoned by its fellows.

** Really, one after another after another as soon as the Gremlins hatch:
*** Billy when he gets the phone call from Mr. Hanson saying that "It just hatched."
*** Again when he finds Mr. Hanson's dead body.
*** Billy's mom when she hears the Gremlins upstairs, then goes up to Billy's room and sees the hatched cocoons.
*** Billy calling his mom to warn her that "They've hatched, get out of the house!"
*** Billy ''and'' his mom as the phone call gets cut off, then "Do You Hear What I Hear" starts playing downstairs.
*** Billy's Mom when she sees the Gremlin eating one of her gingerbread men.
*** Billy, when he hears Rockin' Ricky saying that the marines are standing by with fire hoses to deal with the gremlins should they return.
** Stripe freaks out when he realizes that Kate has found a way to repel his Gremlins with a camera flash.

* AloneWithThePsycho: After seeing the gremlin that had attacked Mr. Hanson, Billy immediately knew that his mother was in danger and quickly raced back home. Subverted by his mother [[ActionMom turning the tables]] and taking three of them out herself.

* ArtisticLicenseEconomics:
** As soon as Randall Peltzer finds out that Gizmo reproduced upon getting wet, he thinks that selling mogwai could be his big break. Yeeeeeeeeah... because a species that [[ExplosiveBreeder reproduces]] when exposed to a little water [[SarcasmMode is sure going to stay in demand for awhile.]]. JustifiedTrope -- Rand's frequently shown to be absolutely terrible with money, to the point Billy's the breadwinner for the household.
** So kicking out tenants that can't pay without providing them so much as a single day's extra time even if they beg for it (the woman flat-out says she and her husband have income on the way, but just won't get paid within the allotted time) and treating them like absolute crap (and being such an absolute bitch that everybody in town knows it) is supposed to provide Mrs. Deagle with money, ''how''...?

** On top of telling a woman and her children that she will not allow them so much as a day's extension in their delayed payment and she will have them kicked out of their home on Christmas Eve, Mrs. Deagle establishes she is a complete monster by threatening to snatch Billy's dog and toss the poor thing in her drier in revenge for the dog accidentally smashing her porcelain snowman (Billy offers to pay her back and she insists she will not accept anything less than the dog's life as retribution).

* BunglingInventor: Randall Peltzer's inventions are nothing but disasters that leave tremendous messes behind and it's implied Billy is the primary bread-winner of the family because of this. He still insists in trying to make money out of them, even thinking it would be a good GetRichQuickScheme to try to exploit the mogwais' ability to make more of them by making them wet (even if it's obvious that such a thing would make demand run out real quick, let alone the "newborns are evil" thing).

** The ornamental swords hanging next to the door (and which keep falling off every time someone comes into the house) are actually pretty deadly when put to good use.

* CreatorInJoke: The working titles for Creator/StevenSpielberg's movies ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' and ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' were "Watch the Skies" and "A Boy's Life" respectively. Both were referenced as a CreatorInJoke in ''Film/{{Gremlins|1984}}'' (which Spielberg produced), as two movies reportedly showing in the town theater when Billy walks past it. Also, Rockin' Ricky Rialto's billboard is in the style of Indiana Jones from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''.

* JerkAss: Gerald qualifies although he does seem to have some kind of liking for Billy. He doesn't so much put Billy down as to question why he isn't doing more with his life, even if he's not terribly nice about it.
* KarmicNod: Upon seeing the Gremlins for the first time, [[AssholeVictim Mrs. Deagle]] is convinced "they're" coming for her. Her [[VillainousBreakdown breakdown]] into delusional sobbing before she activates her tampered stairlift and her own demise [[strike: almost makes you feel sorry for her]] makes you cheer as she ''literally'' flies down to Hell where she belongs (the Latin American translation even adds "to go to Hell" to the line below).

* KickTheDog: In the DarkerAndEdgier original script, the gremlins killed the Peltzers' pet dog, and Billy would have returned home to see his mother's head roll down the stairs. In the final version they just dangle Barney up with Christmas lights, and the mother survives with minor injuries.

* LighterAndSofter: While the film contains some genuine scares, and is certainly a lot more serious than its DenserAndWackier sequel, it's toned down a lot compared to the original script draft, where the gremlins usually killed and ate people in exceedingly horrific ways. It includes such scenes as the Mogwai eating Barney (before they turn into Gremlins), killing Billy's mom immediately after they turn (and throwing her dismembered head down the stairs just as Billy walks in the front door and thus landing at his feet...imagine that image welcoming you home as you walk unsuspectingly into your house), a UsefulNotes/McDonalds full of half-eaten burgers (by people) and half-eaten people (by Gremlins). Oh, and Gizmo turned into a Gremlin, indistinguishable from any of the others. Rumour suggests he might have even originally been in the place of Stripe as the leader of the Gremlin gang.

* MyCarHatesMe: Played with. In the beginning, Billy's car refuses to start, forcing him to walk to work. In the middle of the Gremlin attack, it actually starts for him. But later, when he tries to drive it again, it won't start. This might actually have some Fridge Brilliance behind it.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Possibly with Rockin' Ricky Rialto. The gremlins attack him while he's on the air, but he later comes back to the airwaves, apparently none the worse for wear. This could imply that he managed to defeat whatever gremlins attacked the radio station, although the gremlins may also have simply broken off their attack to go to the movie theater with the others.

*** Finally, Billy's Mom when she sees the Gremlin eating one of her gingerbread men.

** "Hi, [[Literature/TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau Doctor Moreau]]."
*** Notably, this isn't the neighbor Billy takes his injured mother to after the Gremlins first hatch (that's Dr. Mollinaro). This is someone Billy sees as he's running down the street to get to work at the bank. Apparently, Dr. Moreau works at the animal clinic...

*** Another E.T reference comes when one of the gremlins says "Phone home"...right before [[CutPhoneLines ripping out the phone line and disconnecting Billy's call with his mother]].
*** One of the theaters is showing ''A Boy's Life'', which was the working title of ''E.T.'', and ''Watch The Skies'', the working title of ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind''.

*** Speaking of which, the iconic Gremlin Rag was [[https://youtu.be/IEQa--ydUDE?t=98 recycled from the segment]] that was a remake of the episode ''Nightmare at 20,000 Feet''. Both the episode and the remake featured a gremlin, making it a clever nod to the story that popularized gremlins.

* VagueAge: Billy and Kate. They both look like teenagers, and Billy still lives with his parents, but they both seem to be out of high school and already have full time jobs.

** The final fate of the Mogwai/Gremlin that Billy lent to Mr. Hanson is never really explained.
*** He could have joined with the other Gremlins afterwards.

** Mr. Wing's Grandson is never seen again in the movie or mentioned in the sequel.