1984, Gremlins directed by Joe Dante (which I hope you've all seen) comes out at the cinema and in 1990 the sequel Gremlins 2 the new lineage comes out.
For those who have never seen it here is the plot very briefly.
For the Christmas holidays, a father gives his son a Mogwai, a strange little animal bought in a small shop in Chinatown, which multiplies when wet with ordinary water, giving rise to the terrible Gremlins.
Who knows if the director and producers would have ever imagined an invasion of bad copies of their little monsters just a few years later.
1985 The first film of the Ghoulies series directed by the director of Italian origins Luca Bercovici is released.
A boy inherits his father's villa.
In the evening he decides to have a party with some friends and they go down to the basement of the house and make a summons.
And the result will be the Ghoulies, ferocious Gremlins-style puppets / imps.
The film will even have 3 sequels:
Ghoulies II (1988) by Albert Band.
Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College (1991) by John Carl Buechler.
Ghoulies IV Passions of Hell (1994) by Jim Wynorski.
1986 The first film in the Critters series directed by Stephen Herek is released.
Critters are little creatures from outer space which, unlike Gremlins, do not multiply with water but increase in size by eating food.
In reality, the script of the first Critters was already ready before Gremlins came out but the film was only able to be made in 1986.
The film will even have 3 other sequels:
Critters 2 from 1988 directed by Mick Garris.
Critters 3 from 1991 directed by Kristine Peterson.
Critters 4 from 1992 directed by Rupert Harvey.
It seems that there are extended versions of Critters 2 and 3 for American TV.
In Critters 2 the differences would be these:
Brad talking to the bus driver about the criteria
Brad bragging about his karate skills to Megan
hili the dog finding the criteria
A young girl collecting easter eggs before the hunt begins
Wesley arriving at church and sitting with Megan
Brad and Wesley stopping to collect gasoline
The townsfolk helping Megan push start her jeep
Brad and Megan planning summer vacation
1987 Munchies directed by Tina Hirsch is released.
During an archaeological expedition in Peru, a father and his son find a little being inside an abandoned temple.
Brought back to their home, the little creature is stolen by the neighbor of the two explorers and then killed and cut into several parts.
Big mistake.
Every single part will become a new evil little creature.
It even has 2 sequels both directed by Jim Wynorski.
Munchie from 1992 released in Italy only on vhs and Munchie strikes back from 1994 unreleased by us.
1988 the film Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama directed by David DeCoteau where a group of kids have to steal a trophy from a bowling alley for a stupid initiation rite to join a college fraternity.
Unfortunately for them, a "thing" (a little devil) was imprisoned inside the trophy which will make the boys make a wish for each one.
The puppet / imp is clearly inspired by the Gremlins even if in this case it is only one and the plot is inspired by the story The Monkey's Paw by William Wymark Jacobs.
1988 the film Hobgoblins is released, directed by Rick Sloane.
And here we are more and more at Z series levels.
A boy who has found a job as a night watchman in an old film studio accidentally releases extraterrestrial puppets / monsters who have the power to read people's minds and transform their fantasies and desires into reality.
In 2009, the sequel was released, again directed by Rick Sloane, titled Hobgoblins 2.
1989 Beasties directed by Steven Paul Contreras is released.
An alien spaceship from the future lands in California and releases terrible little creatures ready to make massacres.
From 2001 is Boglin 1: book of boglins directed by Ombra.
It is an Italian amateur short film that can be viewed entirely on youtube.
A boy summons a Boglin (do you remember them? Boglin Mattel) to have him at his service but obviously the result will not be the one hoped for.
