1984 movie directed by
Joe Dante, written by
Chris Columbus and starring
Zach Galligan and
Phoebe Cates.
Steven Spielberg was among its producers.
Horror-comedy about a small creature, called a Mogwai, purchased by a man for his son which comes with some strange rules for care:
Don't get him wet.
Keep him out of bright light.
Never feed him after midnight.
Of course, these rules are promptly broken. Getting the Mogwai wet causes him to spontaneously reproduce, and his offspring are nasty. They become nasty, scaly Gremlins after tricking him into feeding them after midnight and promptly hop into a swimming pool, multiplying their numbers a thousandfold.
Bright light, of course, kills them and in the end causes the demise of the last Gremlin, leaving only the original Mogwai, Gizmo to be retrieved by the old Chinese man who was the original owner.
A funny movie, somewhat controversial in that it was more violent and frightening than its ads and rating suggested. A sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, was made in 1990 and is considered by many to be better than the original. (It is certainly funnier.)