Demi-Gremlin: Munchies (1987)
My dear readers, I am sure you have found just as surely as I have that there are a number of distinctions to be found among the sub-genre of subhuman mischief makers. The Gremlins are the most beloved, the Critters the most prolific, the Hobgoblins the most notorious and the Ghoulies possess the greatest tonal breadth. The Munchies have somewhat less to boast of, possessing nothing more than a single film (*) of modest means that has never quite cracked its way into becoming part of the larger creature conversation. But just because these Munchies have not earned any sort of superlatives among genre film fans does not make their film undeserving of our attention.
Paul (Charlie Stratton) maintains his vigil over a priceless scientific discovery
Our hero is ostensibly Paul Watterman (Charlie Stratton), whose restless pursuit of witty asides and fondness for comically oversized objects signals him as an aspiring comedian long before his intentions are announced. He is an inspiring sort of fellow, admirably pursuing a career in the amusement arts even though he isn’t particularly funny, like a man deprived of his lower limbs setting out to be a competitive racer. His father Simon (Harvey Korman) is none too approving of Paul’s aspirations and wishes Paul would attend university and adopt a sensible, respectable career, something that may accompany one’s name on a headstone of solid granite, boldly declaring long after one has exhausted their mortal trials that their chosen profession was something of meaning and import. Something more along the lines of alien archeology.
And so Simon drags his wisecracking offspring along on one of his own alien archeological expeditions, where they quickly uncover not only otherworldly artifacts but a living alien specimen. This prototypical Munchie, dubbed “Arnold” by Paul and his girlfriend (Nadine Van der Velde), is safely ferried back to the United States and it is here that Simon proposes a gentleman’s wager -- if Paul can adequately care for the creature for one day, he will be allowed to pursue his comedy ambitions in Los Angeles. If he fails, he will be forced to into some sort of drab labor that will be reluctant to reward his disdain for seriousness.
Arnold in the lively company of fellow Munchies
Paul is not exactly the type one would want in charge of any sort of venture and his idea of wardship is to introduce Arnold to print pornography before abandoning him to pursue his own carnal intentions. Though Paul is irresponsible enough to lose sight of his uncle’s invaluable discovery entirely on his own, the odds are further stacked against him by his interfering uncle Cecil (Harvey Korman once more) who kidnaps Arnold and mistreats him in a most shameful fashion. The abuse Arnold suffers becomes the catalyst for a jarring metamorphosis that turns Arnold into a nearly identical creature with slightly longer claws and a much less charitable attitude.
Munchies veers heavily towards the Gremlins movies in terms of tone, style, soundtrack and creature design. Mogwais emerging from their cocoons as hell-raising Gremlins is similar to the manner in which the Munchies transform into angrier, less well-behaved Munchies. Pre-transformation Arnold sounds almost indistinguishable from Howie Mandel’s rendition of Gizmo, a similarity that becomes rather uncomfortable during Arnold’s onanistic moaning. And the filmmakers are not shy about displaying their influences, lacing the film with unsubtle references to Joe Dante’s work. In a tidy little twist of fate, Munchies even features appearances by future Gremlins 2: The New Batch players Robert Picardo and Paul Bartel, no doubt sensing greater duties on the horizon and honing their craft for creature features to come.
Some might find Munchies to be nothing more than a shameless Gremlins imitation but I would argue that it fills a a yawning void in in contemporary cinema -- namely, that there are only two Gremlins movies. In fact, in the year Munchies was released, there had been only a single Gremlins tale available for the viewing public. For three years, fans of the original had only the original to assuage their need for reptilian bipeds and their violent shenanigans. This criminal oversight on the part of Hollywood’s elite is satisfyingly rectified by career outsider Roger Corman and his collaborators. The filmmakers are even savvy enough to include a cheeky bit of “meta” commentary by imbuing the Munchies with the ability to replicate themselves endlessly when hacked to bits. Munchies that are forcibly divided into smaller, less cohesive parts are able to grow new Munchies from their own severed limbs, much the same way Munchies has sprouted bits and pieces of Gremlins into a separate entity. Though the franchise wasn’t as indomitably reproductive as the Munchies themselves, I find it hard to begrudge anyone who chooses to declare their imitative intentions so clearly.
Munchies runs 83 minutes and is rated PG.
(*) After screening both Munchie (1992) and Munchie Strikes Back (1992) and composing a verse lamenting time he had lost, P.G. formally concluded that they are related to Munchies in title alone - Penny Dee, Ed.
