Cross It’s A Wonderful Life with ET and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and you’ll get something close to these entertaining and occasionally grotesque tales from producer Steven Spielberg, writer Chris Columbus and director Joe Dante.

In the first film we meet Billy Peltzer (played by Zach Galligan), a young man whose inventor father (Hoyt Axton) gives him an odd Christmas present in the shape of a tiny, adorable furry creature called a Mogwai, which is named Gizmo. The pet comes with a set of rules: don’t get him wet, don’t feed him after midnight and keep him away from direct sunlight. But Galligan breaks the first rule and the damp little critter pops out a dozen smaller offspring. Then the offspring break the second rule and, overnight, turn from cute furry guys to malevolent scale-covered trolls with world domination on their mind. The only way to stop them: rule three. But it’s an anxious (and extremely funny) battle to make it to daylight, with the bad gremlins finding ingenious ways to multiply over and over until they’re a force to be reckoned with.

In the sequel, Zach Galligan is back, along with Phoebe Cates, his girlfriend from the first film. They’re both working in an ultramodern skyscraper owned by a Donald Trump clone (a hilarious John Glover). Galligan’s furry little buddy is captured by a mad scientist, who not only helps it multiply, but invests the nasty, scaly offspring with intelligence and the ability to talk. What follows is imaginative mayhem that spoofs old movies, modern television, and the conveniences of postmodern technology. In many ways, the sequel is even more inventive and laughter-inducing than the original.

Both films are packed with special effects, all the most impressive when you consider the gremlins are puppets, not computer generated imagery. Expect a wild and fun-packed (if occasionally dark and scary) ride.

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Jody is the kind of guy that every 1970s teen looked up to. He’s in his early 20s, has a cool car, splendid 1970s hair, a leather jacket, plays guitar and (naturally) snags all the girls. His little brother, Mike, in particular, admires him and emulates him at every turn. Things start to go astray, however, when the two brothers and their friend Reggie attend a funeral for a friend. Mike notices a tall man working at the funeral home; in the course of his snooping, he sees the tall man put a loaded coffin into the back of a hearse as easily as if it was a shoebox. Jody doesn’t believe his little brother’s stories, though, until he brings home the tall man’s severed finger, still wriggling in what appears to be French’s mustard. From there, the film picks up a terrific momentum that doesn’t let up until the sequel-ripe twist ending.

Phantasm was one of the first horror movies to break the unspoken rule that victims were supposed to scream, fall down and cower until they were killed. Instead, Mike and Jody are resourceful and smart, aggressively pursuing the evil inside the funeral home with a shotgun and Colt pistol. Furthermore, the script has a great deal of character development, especially in the relationship between the two brothers. The film even has a surprisingly glossy look, despite its low-budget origins, and little outright gore (except for the infamous steel spheres that drill into victims’ heads). This drive-in favourite was a big success at the time of its release, and spawned three sequels. Little wonder; it includes an inventive story, likeable characters, a runaway pace and, of course, evil dwarves cloaked in Army blankets. The end result is one of the better horror films of the late 1970s. Hot-rod fans take note: Jody drives a Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda, the pinnacle of 1960s muscle cars, rounding out his status as a Cool Guy. –Jerry Renshaw

Phantasm

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