Directed by: Joe Dante
Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, Frances Lee Mccain
MPAA Rating: PG
Distributed by: Warner Home Video
Release Date: December 1, 2009 / May 8, 2012
Run Time: 106 minutes
Film: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars
This Blu-ray release was for the film’s 25th Anniversary, so nothing new hear besides a release to support the release of “Gremlins 2” Blu-ray. There has been some really terrible talk about this Blu-ray but I didn’t see any may issues and quite enjoyed it. I grew up watching “Gremlins” and my wife got to experience this film for the first time on Blu-ray. We were both whistling the theme song for days following.
The Blu-ray, while not the best transfer ever, was not the worst either. Have you ever seen “Black Christmas” on Blu-ray?…Yikes! The VC-1 encoded 1080p transfer looks fine for me in its aspect ratio of 1.78:1. Like I said not the best but definitely not the worst. The audio was definitely impressive and worked well with Jerry Goldsmith’s classic score. There are two audio tracks included boasting a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and an Dolby Digital 2.0 track.
The special features included are a bit lacking but worth checking out. There are two audio commentaries included. The first includes director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell and special effects artist Chris Walas. The second commentary track
features director Joe Dante, and actors Phoebe Cates, Zach Galligan, Dick Miller and Howie Mandel. Both tracks are equally decent, one focusing on production and one shooting stories. “Gremlins: Behind-the-Scenes” is a 1983 vintage featurette featuring footage from the shoot. It is dated but fun to take a trip back to 1983. There are also over 10 minutes of additional scenes included, which definitely add some fun scenes and more Judge Reinhold. Lastly, there is a photo gallery and trailers for “Gremlins” and “Gremlins 2: The New Batch”.
Synopsis: A man buys a Mogwai as a Christmas present for his son. The young boy is told to keep the pet away from water, out of the light and never to feed it after midnight. Inadvertently, the creature is dampened and almost instantly, produces half a dozen furry replicas of itself –which continue to multiply and turn the small town upside-down.
Buy It 5/8 on Blu-ray™
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