Basic HTML Version
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 13, 1984
PAGE 7
of vicious creatures that, in one scene, terrorize the boy's
mother in the kitchen. She retaliates by churning up one gremlin
in a food processor and exploding another in a microwave oven.
In its June 17 issue, NEWSWEEK has this to say, and not disapprovingly:
One person calls it "E.T. with teeth." You could also say it's
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" with Muppets•... Once the gremlins
emerge from their gelatinous cocoons, only one question re
mains...: will they wipe out the town, or will [the hero and her
oine] stem the gremlin tide?...
Like Spielberg's other summer shocker, INDIANA JONES, GREMLINS is
sure to arouse outrage in some circles over its gleeful �
nage••.• The movie's demonic toyshop, in which Ken and Barbie
grow fangs and turn into juvenile delinquents..•. Unlike the re
lentless INDIANA JONES, which may leave audiences more worn out
than refreshed, this Punch and Judy nightmare is exhilarating be
cause the viewers participate in the jest••.• If you like your
summer popcorn movies laced with a little more poisoned butter,
GREMLINS is not to be missed.
Another box office biggie is GHOSTBUSTERS, currently even more financially
successful than GREMLINS. It is about three parapsychologists who set up
shop as, as one reviewer calls them, "exorcists for hire." The June 18
issue of PEOPLE magazine reviewed GHOSTBUSTERS as follows, in a "just-a
bunch-of-laughs" commentary:
Forget the bad taste, bathroom humor and tacky sight gags: GHOST
BUSTERS is irresistible nonsense [about] university parapsychol
ogists tossed out of academia for their unorthodox ways...going
into business to serve the public's "supernatural elimination"
needs....
Sigourney Weaver is one of their first customers; the fridge in
her apartment is a gateway to hell. Psychic phenomena run amok.
The ghosts are an untidy lot--they cram leftovers, belch and spew
goo on everything in sight. But it's the Aykroyd-Murray high
jinks that provide inspired lunacy. Facing a spirit with a firm
"Freeze, potato face," Aykroyd is a hoot. And whether it's a
come-on ("I make it a rule never to sleep with possessed people")
or a complaint ("It slimed me, it slimed me"), Murray's delivery
is a fail-safe mechanism for laughter. Director Ivan (STRIPES)
Reitman keeps the Aykroyd-Ramis screenplay zipping right along,
creating something like ABBOT
&
COSTELLO MEET THE EXORCIST.
Aykroyd and Murray make the perfect summer tonic for raising
spirits.
It looks like the spiritual underworld has Hollywood pretty much doing its
bidding these days.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau