Which Gremlins Character Are You?

Learn More About Gremlins

Released in 1984 and directed by Joe Dante, Gremlins is a horror comedy that mixes holiday cheer with creature-feature chaos. Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment produced the film, and its blend of cute and terrifying helped spark conversations about the PG rating, which led to the creation of the PG-13 rating later that year.

The story begins when an inventor buys a strange, adorable creature called a mogwai from a Chinatown shop and gives it to his son Billy as a Christmas gift. The mogwai, named Gizmo, comes with three rules: keep him out of bright light, never let him get wet, and never, ever feed him after midnight. Of course, the rules are broken.

Zach Galligan plays Billy and Phoebe Cates plays Kate, with Hoyt Axton as his father Randall and Keye Luke as the shopkeeper Mr. Wing. Howie Mandel voices Gizmo, while the villainous Stripe, leader of the gremlins, is voiced by Frank Welker. Together they power a story that keeps flipping between warm small-town comedy and genuine scares.

Much of the film’s appeal comes from its practical effects. The creatures were brought to life with puppets and animatronics, giving them a tactile, handmade feel that still holds up decades later. The gremlins’ antics, from wrecking a bar to causing a movie-theater riot, are among the most iconic scenes in 80s horror comedy.

The film’s dark humor and its small-town Christmas setting have made it a perennial holiday favorite. A sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, arrived in 1990, and an animated series, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, continued the story in more recent years.

If you love spooky comedies, try our quizzes for Which Ghostbusters Character Are You?, Which Beetlejuice Character Are You?, and Which Scream Character Are You?. Each one offers a different mix of laughs and chills.

So are you the sweet Gizmo, the troublemaking Stripe, the well-meaning Billy, the fearless Kate, or the wise Mr. Wing? Take the quiz and find out.