travel inventor and salesman rand peltzer ( singer hoyt axton ) buy an unusual christmas present for his bank employee son billy ( zach galligan ) represent a strange and never before see animal call a mogwai and whom rand christens gizmo . there be three extremely important rule to follow in order to take proper care of gizmo represent do not expose him to light and do not expose him to water and and above all else and never fee him after midnight . a you might expect and rule two be break soon enough and and gizmo spawn a quintet of new mogwai . then rule three be break ( unknowingly ) and the new mogwai metamorphose into little green devil call gremlin that proceed to tear the little town of kingston fall apart . after all this time it be a while since i saw it i still get a kick out of it . equal part scary and funny and with memorable music score ( and catchy central theme ) by jerry goldsmith and and the little monster be inventively realize by chris walas and his effect team . ( the monster range from be frighten to be absolutely hilarious . ) the main problem for some viewer will undeniably be an approach that can be see a mean spirit and ugly . i can understand why some people wouldn not be able to stomach this film and particularly when kate ( phoebe cates ) tell the story of why she doesn not celebrate christmas . overall and this nasty horror or comedy emerges a one of my favorite 1980 picture . this be the first film i saw legendary cult actor dick miller ( a favorite of director joe dante ) in and and he remain an entertaining actor to watch . actor william schallert and kenneth tobey appear uncredited . howie mandel be the voice of gizmo and and the ubiquitous frank welker be the voice of lead gremlin stripe . michael winslow and the vocal sound effect guy from the police academy movie and be also one of the vocal effect artists here . some of you might want to keep in mind that the original draft of the screenplay be even dark and with horrible fate intend for mrs. peltzer and barney the dog . before i go and i want to say that writer turn director chris columbus script do beg question such a represent if the wrong time to fee gizmo be after midnight and when do the right time begin . positive .