Classic creature comedy horror directed by Joe Dante and produced by Steven Spielberg. When Billy Peltzer (Zach Gilligan) is given the cute and friendly little Mogwai, Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandel), for Christmas, he is told never to expose it to bright light, get it wet or ever feed it after midnight. But one night when a glass of water is accidentally spilled over little Gizmo, Billy soon finds out why he was told to follow this advice as Gizmo begins to convulse, producing five new Mogwai. As Billy and his science teacher, Mr. Hanson (Glynn Turman), then seek to find out more about the creatures, a series of events lead to the escape of a number of them; and due to their heightened intelligence they know exactly how to replicate themselves. Soon after, the town is overrun by a new breed of Mogwai - the 'Gremlins' - who are menacing little reptilian creatures, and far from friendly.

Both Gremlins adventures are collected on this double bill. In the first film an eccentric inventor brings an unusual Christmas gift home for his son Billy (Zach Galligan): a cute, real life teddy bear called Mogwai, obtained from a Chinese trinket store. Upon purchase, the shopowner offers two strict warnings: don't let Mogwai come into contact with water; and don't feed him after midnight. Inevitably, both these stipulations are ignored, and the cuddly creature begins to spawn some distinctly unruly offspring. In the sequel, Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates and Gizmo return (the loveable Mogwai who spawns nasty Gremlins when wet), but this time Gizmo is in danger of dissection by a fiendish doctor (Christopher Lee). On his escape, he gets a dousing and before long the uncontrollable Gremlins (this time in mutated form) are back and wreaking havoc.

Michael Jackson inserts chunks of good-versus-evil fantasy narrative into a series of his own musical numbers, culminating in a sequence in which he stops a gangster turning children into junkies. Joe Pesci and Sean Lennon make cameo appearances.