A Christmas Story of Gremlins Trading Places
Rick Retro’s Realm, Project #4: 2025 Christmas Tour – The early 1980s: cynicism and nostalgia with extra helpings of Dark Whimsy.
Project #4: 2025 Christmas Tour – The early 1980s: cynicism and nostalgia with extra helpings of Dark Whimsy.
The last recap of our 2025 Christmas Tour, Part 2 of “A Very Special Christmas” linked the Retro Reviews of the second tier of Christmas TV specials that ran from the later 1960s to 1970. There wasn’t anything worth checking out right away in the rest of the 1970s, so we headed straight for the early 1980s, and three of my reviews previously posted to the text group in 2024 made their Substack debuts.
First up was Trading Places, the 1983 Eddie Murphy vehicle that was part of his rise to fame. It would have counted as Dark Whimsy were it not for the abundance of adult content that sucked out the Whimsy. We won’t even call it Dark Whimzy, because what delightful childish elements it had were overcome by the “mature” content.
Trading Places is a cynical look at human nature with villains that posit environment vs. genetics as a false dichotomy for explaining good and bad behavior, completely ignoring human free will, to their own undoing. Nevertheless, it is a very funny movie that remains popular and found it’s way to eight of ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked. So I reviewed it.
Trading Places (1983)
Trading Places (1983) — Good story, lots of laughs, but ultimately, too much unnecessary baggage.
B ^
Family Suitability
+ ❌3️⃣ Heavy adults-only content. | R
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⛔3️⃣ Very Poor/Heavily Unfavorable
Next up was the Pure Dark Whimsy masterpiece of comedy and nostalgia, 1983’s A Christmas Story. It made nine of ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked. Our Retro Review praises this film enough that I probably don’t need to add any more praise here. Read the review and see for yourself!
A Christmas Story (1983)
A Christmas Story (1983) — Could this be the best Christmas Dark Whimsy since Dickens?
A+^
Family Suitability
+ ✅1️⃣ Mostly OK for teens and adults. (Grades 10+, ⚠️ Might be considered inappropriate for sensitive teens and adults.) | PGc
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎2️⃣ Good/Moderately Favorable
Our last early 1980s Christmas film was the over-the-top Pure Dark Whimsy 1984 film, Gremlins. It also made nine of ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I checked. If you like your Dark Whimsy really Dark and reading strongly on the comedy portion of the Whimsy scale, this one is for you. If you don’t, it’s not for you. By the time you finish reading our Retro Review of Gremlins, you should know if it’s in your wheelhouse or not.
Gremlins (1984)
Gremlins (1984) — Dark Whimsy hates bright light. Never spill water on it or feed it after midnight.
A+v
Family Suitability
+ ✅1️⃣ Mostly OK for teens and adults. (Grades 10+, ⚠️ Might be considered inappropriate for sensitive teens and adults.) | PGc
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⛔1️⃣ Subpar/Slightly Unfavorable
The Substack debuts of Retro Reviews for three Christmas films from the later 1980s are due up between now and the next recap summary. Enjoy!
Don't forget the popcorn!
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