Gremlin

Randall visits a Chinatown antique store and discovers a small mogwai. The owner, Mr. Wing, refuses to sell it, but his grandson secretly completes the sale. Wing warns Randall about three crucial care rules: never expose the mogwai to light, never let it touch water, and never feed it after midnight.

Randall brings Gizmo home and gives him to his son Billy as a Christmas present. He reiterates the three strict rules for Gizmo’s care. Gizmo proves to be friendly and docile, endearing himself to Billy.

Billy’s friend Pete accidentally spills water on Gizmo, triggering the birth of five new mogwai led by Stripe. The new mogwai are mischievous and energetic, contrasting Gizmo’s gentleness. This event marks the first major escalation of the Mogwai situation.

Billy shows Gizmo to his former elementary school science teacher, Roy Hanson, who becomes intrigued and experiments on Gizmo. Hanson ends up creating another mogwai through his experiments. The incident hints at the unpredictable consequences of tampering with Mogwai biology.

Stripe and his fellow mogwai trick Billy into feeding them after midnight by sabotaging his bedside clock. They form cocoons, and Hanson’s mogwai also cocoons, signaling the imminent birth of gremlins. The rules are about to be broken in a dramatic way.

The cocoons hatch into destructive gremlins, and Hanson is murdered by his own gremlin. Gizmo is tortured by the gremlins and Billy’s mother Lynn is attacked. The household changes from a peaceful home to a dangerous battleground.

Lynn and Billy manage to dispatch most of the gremlins, but Stripe escapes to the YMCA. There, he jumps into a swimming pool and spawns an army of gremlins. The town begins to realize the scale of the threat.

Stripe’s army wreaks havoc across Kingston Falls, injuring and killing locals and overwhelming the town’s defenses. The police fall victim to the gremlins’ mischief, making the situation feel hopeless. Billy and Kate become central to the escalating crisis.

Billy rescues his co-worker and girlfriend Kate Beringer when gremlins attack the bar she works at, forcing them to seek refuge in a bank. Kate reveals that her father vanished on Christmas Eve and was found dead later in their chimney, a trauma that colors her view of the holidays. The pair’s bond strengthens amid danger.

The trio traces the gremlins to a local movie theater and sets off a natural gas explosion that kills most of them. Stripe escapes earlier to Montgomery Ward to obtain candy and spawn more, but Gizmo opens a skylight to sunlight, sealing Stripe’s fate. The town begins to recover as dawn approaches.

Stripe attempts to spawn more gremlins at Montgomery Ward, but Gizmo opens a skylight, exposing Stripe to bright sunlight. The gremlin is killed by the sun, ending Stripe’s threat and signaling the end of the immediate crisis. The remaining gremlins are defeated or dispersed by the precautions and heroism of the townspeople.

Mr. Wing arrives at the Peltzer house to reclaim Gizmo and admonishes the family for their negligence in handling a fragile creature. Gizmo, having bonded with Billy, bids Wing farewell, and Wing concedes that Billy may be ready to care for him properly someday. The encounter ends with a quiet hope for the future.