Having recently watched the two "Gremlins" movies again, I thought I'd check around to see if anything else related was worth watching. The IMDB pointed out "Gremlins Recall", a fan produced short film sequel that was available on Youtube. It was, given the limitations of budget, remarkably accomplished.
Wing Enterprises have genetically modified Mogwais so they can be pets, safe from the nasty side effects caused by breaking the rules. At a small-town diner, Owen (Randy Irwin) pauses from his job collecting unwanted Mogwai, for some food and to find a place to sleep. Claire (Katherine Rodriguez), a waitress in the diner in enchanted by Trink, Owen's own Mogwai and, thinking it's now safe, feeds one in the truck after midnight. Unbeknownst to her, the medicine treating the Mogwai is not 100% effective, and soon a group of evil Gremlins are again on the warpath.
This film does have a number of positives that many short films, particularly fan fiction ones, do not. The performances are good, not Oscar worthy, but the cast are all professional actors rather than friends and family and all three main cast members do a good job. The premise is interesting too, with Mogwai no longer a secret and the actions at Kingston Falls now common, if perhaps forgotten, knowledge.
The only criticism I can really offer is one that's churlish, given the budget constraints and that is that the puppets aren't particularly dynamic, especially facially. The short does it's best to work around this, keeping them in the shadows or scuttling about knocking things over, but everything time we get a 'hero shot' I'm never convinced that the thing is alive. All that said, there's a death scene for one Gremlin, in the final moments. That's as accomplished as anything in the real films.
Even if we never see this expanded to any form of real sequel, it's good enough that I'll be looking for anything Ryan Patrick produces going forward.
