Gremlins

Gremlins (1984)

23 corrected entries

(14 votes)

Corrected entry: Gremlins die when they see bright light. When they start taking over the town, street lanterns don't seem to bother them until the end of the movie, where they suddenly hide in a cinema "because it's too bright outside." Inside the bar, lots of Gremlins got killed by the flash of a camera, and one Gremlin even died from the light of a simple match, although Gizmo survived a similar camera flash in the beginning of the movie without a problem.

Correction: Only sunlight kills them, not bright lights. They can't stand bright lights and cower away from it, but they don't die.

lionhead

Corrected entry: The Gremlins die, or at the very least are stopped in their tracks, if exposed to bright light, and we see in a couple of scenes that a flash from a Polaroid is sufficient for this. How then are the many Gremlins OK when sat within the range of a very powerful projection light that is projecting Snow White onto the screen in the cinema?

Correction: Direct sunlight hurts them, but not reflections or any type of artificial light. Artificial light is just discomforting. The projection isn't bright enough to give them discomfort. The Polaroid wasn't all that bright either but the shock of the sudden light startled them, that's all.

lionhead

Corrected entry: During the scene when the gremlin tampers with the brake cable on the police car, the car then pulls off down the street and you can see the brake lights come on as the car slows up to go round a sharp corner. (01:07:00 - 01:07:55)

Correction: Just because the "brake line" was tampered with does not mean that the electical signal sent to the "brake light" is automatically cut as well. Therefore, it is possible that the light can still come on if the brakes don't work.

Jazetopher

Corrected entry: When the gremlins are attacking Billy's mom in the kitchen, the kitchen is well lit with a window that allows sunlight into the room. If bright light kills gremlins, wouldn't they die when they enter the kitchen?

Correction: There are only killed by contact with direct sunlight, as far as I can see there is no direct sunlight on the Gremlins in this scene. Also, they are only afraid of bright lights, it does not kill them, only sunlight can do that.

Corrected entry: Unless it's a different style, the Gremlin in the mailbox could not have thrown letters back out or pulled a human arm into the box. The front flap pulls up another piece of metal that prevents theft of mail from the box.

Movie Nut

Correction: Gremlins are also small enough to fit into the mailbox bodily, then sabotage that flap (we know they like breaking things), then climb out and party as described.

dizzyd

Corrected entry: At the very end of the film, just before the credits start rolling, the clouds in the sky can be seen to move behind the moon - this is impossible.

Correction: Actually, the clouds are moving *in front* of the moon (if you look carefully, you can see mostly transparent wisps). The moon is so bright and the cloud layer so thin that the light shines through them.

JC Fernandez

I believe most people will see it as in front of the clouds if they are even paying attention.

Most people would be wrong, then. You can see faint shadows over the moon as the clouds move past it. They're passing over the front of it while moon illuminates through them as the correction states. It's not the greatest effect in the world (it all appears to be layers of matte paintings), but nothing about it is a mistake per se.

TedStixon

Corrected entry: When Billy is talking to the Sheriff and his Deputy, he explains what the creatures are, and shows them Gizmo. The cops don't take Billy's story seriously and even mock him, even after the phone call about the Futterman's Snowplough "accident." Why didn't Billy simply tell the Sheriff about the dead Teacher or get them to call the Dr where Billy left his injured mother? The mere mention of a dead body should have to be investigated by the police, and the word of a local respected Dr should also be enough to back up Billy's story and give him the help he's need to stop the Gremlins.

The Rodent

Correction: The sheriff and deputy were seen after talking to Billy simply driving away from a man dressed as Santa being attacked by gremlins; right before they got into an accident (and presumably why they were nowhere to be seen the rest of the movie). They are drunk and incompetent. Billy not doing a good job of convincing them of Gremlins is not a plot hole, but a plot contrivance.

Corrected entry: When Billy is having car trouble before work, he opens the bonnet and a lot of steam rises from the engine. VW Beetles have air cooled engines, which do not contain water to create steam.

Correction: No, but they still have oil and other fluid which could give off smoke - it's pretty difficult to tell the difference between steam and white smoke on screen.

Phixius

Corrected entry: When the "Whistle While You Work" sequence is shown from "Snow White" the music is wrong. It sounds like music from the film, but it's not from that particular song.

Correction: The music is correct during that sequence. However in the middle of the song it switches to "Whistle While You Work", which can be seen on-screen while Billy and Kate sneak by it. The gremlins were seen playing with the film rolls, so perhaps they made a direct cut.

Corrected entry: When the policemen get back into their car, the gremlin has let the fluid out of the brakes. The policemen drive off, but can't stop. Remarkably however they seem to have no trouble in the next scene, stopping the car and turning left.

Correction: The Gremlin tampers with the brakes when the car is stopped outside Mrs. Deagle's house, it then pulls away, it doesn't stop again.

Corrected entry: When they enter the department store at the end of the film, it is dark outside, so where did the strong sunlight that killed Stripe come from?

Correction: The first ray of dawn. It would appear blindingly bright in the dark store.

Soylent Purple

Corrected entry: When they're at the cinema the movie "Snow White" starts up during the "Heigh Ho" sequence. Later, while Billy and Kate are sneaking around, it's the "Whistle While you Work" sequence which comes before "Heigh Ho", not after.

Correction: With gremlins in the projection room, who knows in what order they are playing the reels.

Corrected entry: When Mr. Peltzer is telling his wife he can't come home for Christmas, you can see Robbie the Robot in the background, he was used in many movies, such as a movie in the 1950's called "Forbidden Planet". You can also hear him say, "Would 60 gallons be sufficient", which was a line he said in Forbidden Planet.

Correction: ALL the lines used by Robbie the Robot were lifted from "Forbidden Planet", the movie for which he was created. To the best of my knowledge that has been his last appearance to date (2004).

Corrected entry: How did the Gremlins know the lyrics for "Heigh Ho"? They hear "heigh ho" and then sing "it's home from work we go" without having heard the line sung in the film.

Correction: They may have sat through the movie more than once. Also, they seem to be "born" already quite intelligent. They don't seem to need to learn anything else like walking, etc. They could have inheirited racial memories and know anything that Gizmo (who is very old) knows.

Myridon

Correction: TV's aren't all that bright, and he is some distance away from it.

Grumpy Scot

Corrected entry: In the beginning when Billy is late for work, he puts out his name plaque and it is upside down. A few moments later, it is right side up.

Correction: The name plaque becomes upright when Mrs. Deagle enters the bank, and gets attacked by Billy's dog. That was plenty of time for him to put it the right way up.

Hamster

Corrected entry: Gremlins have three fingers, but there are four sratches on Billy's shirt when Stripe claws him.

Correction: Three fingers, one thumb, four scratches.

Corrected entry: In the first shot of the hi-tech phone box, behind it on the right is the time machine from the film The Time Machine. There are people standing around it, while it starts to spin. In the next shot of it, it is gone.

Correction: If you look, you can see smoke rising and the judges of the invention convention looking around for it. It's just a background gag implying that the time machine worked.

Corrected entry: The Chinese boy states that sun light will kill them instantly. So why don't the two gremlins die in the biology lab, when the sun light hits them through the blinds?

Movieman123

Correction: It is stated that BRIGHT light kills them. Sunlight through the blinds, does not affect them as much, because it is not as bright as full light, and they are moving, so constantly the spots of light on their skin change positions.

Corrected entry: Given they are in the middle of winter with a fresh snowfall on the ground - you don't see anyone's cold breath outside in ANY scene and you should.

Correction: This has been pointed out in numerous other films already - visible breath has nothing to do with cold, but how humid the air around your nose/mouth region is. It is entirely possible that after the snow fell, the humidity dropped to a point where breath would no longer be visible.

Twotall

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where the cop car flips over, if you pay attention, you can see the metal plate that's welded under the car that helps it flip over. (01:08:25)

More mistakes in Gremlins

Randall Peltzer: Well, that's the story. So if your air conditioner goes on the fritz. Or your washing machine blows up. Or your video recorder conks out; before you call the repairman, turn on all the lights, check all the closets and cupboards, look under all the beds. Cause you never can tell. There just might be a gremlin in your house.

More quotes from Gremlins

Trivia: At the beginning of the film, when Billy is late for work, you see two films playing at the movie theater: "A Boy's Life" and "Watch the Skies." The former was the original title for "E.T." and the latter was the original title for a proposed sequel to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Two films directed by executive producer Steven Spielberg. (00:08:30)

More trivia for Gremlins

Question: I have the original VHS version and I've noticed that some cuss words have dubbed over on the DVD. Yet The original VHS is still rated PG any reason why, other than the fact to make it more of a family film.

Answer: The original film was released before the PG-13 rating existed (it was one of the films responsible for its creation). Producers decided to remove some of the language and violence for the DVD release to avoid complaints about the PG rating.

More questions & answers from Gremlins

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.