When this movie first came out, a lot of parents made the fatal mistake of thinking it was a cute, children's movie. In fact, it was this movie and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" that prompted the film industry to create the PG-13 rating. This one only got a PG.
My mother was one of the parents who confused the movie as one suitable for children.
Needless to say I was horrified by this movie as I was only 4 years old. This movie caused me to be severely afraid of the dark for many years. Yet, strangely enough, I wanted to watch it every year at my grandmother's house at Christmas time. It was tradition.
I think that if parents knew what they were getting into, this wouldn't have been as big a movie as it was, and would probably have been lost among rummage sales, and good will donations as a movie nobody wanted.
I love this movie, and it takes me back to when I was a frightened little boy, who was too scared to check under the bed when he heard those strange noises in the middle of the night. Almost 20 years later, those old scars still haven't healed completely, and sometimes just seeing "Stripe" on the cover will send chills down my spine and prompt me to move to a room with better lighting.
That's damn good film-making. Freddy Krueger didn't even do that to me.
I do get a kick out of the fact that every once in a while, the Disney channel will play this movie around the holidays.
Hoyt Axton's monologue at the begining trys to bring us into the movie by being the "story-teller" but during the movie, we trick ourselves with "it's only a movie." Ending it with Axton's end monologue drags us back into the movie, leaving us with the though... "There just might be a Gremlin in your house."
