Gremlins

With Steven Spielberg's influence seemingly absent, Joe Dante's anarchic view of life is given full rein in this chaotic but cracking sequel. The action is transplanted to a skyscraper in New York where mad scientist Christopher Lee inadvertently lets the evil gremlins loose to take over the entire building. As with the original, Dante bombards the screen with a never-ending stream of movie spoofs, slapstick violence and sly little treats for film buffs. Stars Phoebe Cates and Zach Galligan are back again, but most of the laughs come from the supporting players: Lee, John Glover, Robert Prosky and Roger Corman veteran Dick Miller. View it as a live-action cartoon and strap yourself in for a roller-coaster ride.

Juvenile horror comic, a kind of deliberate inversion of E.T. Slow to start, and a little too knowingly nasty, with variable special effects; but a pretty hot commercial success.