GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH (1990)

After the events of Part 1, Billy and Kate have moved to NYC. They both have jobs in the high tech, high rise Clamp Tower. Their lives seem mildly happy, but as fate would have it, there happens to be a genetics laboratory in the building and who else but Gizmo is being held there!  Imagine that.  Stuff happens and Billy rescues Giz only to carelessly leave him alone in his desk.  Gizmo then decides to go exploring on his own.  Brilliant!  Naturally, he gets water splashed on him and before you can say "Mogwai penis" there's like a thousand crazy gremlins wrecking havoc all over the building. And thanks to the genetics lab these new gremlins come in all kinds of flavors: talking, spider, vegetable, electric, bat, female, etc.

GREMLINS 2 isn't as sweet or endearing as the original, instead it's more for an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek vibe.  That's okay, but in the end, Part 2 doesn't have the same magic that the original had.  It's almost like an explosion of small ideas just slapped together, whereas the original had a straightforward story with likable characters and a sweet hometown feel to it.  If I had to guess, I would say that Spielberg had less involvement with this film than the original.  As it is though, it's still an entertaining watch.

I'm still hoping for a hard R-rated Part 3.

Part 1 - Gremlins (1984)

KILLER PARTY (1986)

Three girls are trying to get into a sorority.  The pledging and partying take place in an old abandoned house.  You can probably figure out the rest by yourself.  Zero gore, lightweight scares, lightning fast nudity, average acting, Paul Bartel in a small role, 80's fashions.  When it's all said and done it's an okay 80's slasher film with some ghost possession thrown in.

The story is kinda bland, but it's really not that bad.  What hurt it the most was that awesome, 80's as fuck, hair metal rock video intro! If the whole film had been as energetic and as imaginative as that video this movie would be a cult classic.  Instead after getting all pumped up in the first few minutes, the rest of the film comes off as a disappointment.  Also why wasn't the girl in the intro the main chick in the film?  She was more attractive than the three leads and she had a better screen presence than all three combined.

Worth watching for slasher completists. Others will probably find it kinda boring.