4K Blu-ray Review: Gremlins

Synopsis:​ Anyone who lived through the '80s experienced the magic of Gremlins. For everyone else, now is the time to see one of the decade's defining movies, a wildly original blend of comedy and horror. When Billy (Zach Galligan) receives an adorable pet named Gizmo for Christmas, he's given three rules for its care. Inadvertently, he breaks the rules, and a resulting army of duplicate furballs wreaks havoc throughout the town in this endearing and enduring box-office hit.

Main Feature: "Gremlins" is a delightfully dark film to show children. I recall finding the whole thing weird but very fun. That still remains to this day. What I do not find fun on this new 4K Blu-ray release is the presentation on the new UHD release. Similar to the issue when Blu-rays first hit big, catalog films were simply placed on the format without an upgrade in quality, which made them look worse. I fear this Gremlins release may be an example of what will come when the UHD format becomes a new standard. Still, the film is wonderful to look at in the format, but does not pop like it should. 

Bonus Features: The 4K disc only contains two extras--a pair of commentaries. All other extras are on the standard disc, but all carryovers from previous releases. In fact, there are announced extras from the press release that are not on final release. Sad.

Final Call: While embracing "Gremlins" macabre visuals and dark sense of humor again was fun, the film's presentation should not have been fed to the 4K format without proper consideration--midnight or otherwise. 

Grade: C+