Spoiler warning: the following text reveals the entire story and ending of Gremlins (1984).
In Gremlins (1984), Billy Peltzer receives the mogwai Gizmo as a Christmas gift, but an accident involving water produces five more mogwai, including Stripe. When these new creatures eat after midnight, they form cocoons and transform into gremlins. Stripe spreads the infestation through town by jumping into a swimming pool. At the end, Gizmo prevents him from multiplying again and exposes him to sunlight, which destroys him.
Directed by Joe Dante from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, the film blends horror and comedy in a Christmas story set in Kingston Falls. The essential distinction is that reproduction through water and transformation after feeding are two different events.
What are the three rules for mogwai?
- Avoid bright light: it bothers the creatures, and direct sunlight can kill them. This vulnerability is also crucial in the fight against Stripe.
- Keep them away from water: when Gizmo gets wet, new mogwai emerge from his body. Water increases their numbers; it does not instantly turn Gizmo into a monster.
- Never feed them after midnight: a mogwai that eats during that period forms a cocoon and emerges as a gremlin, with a much more aggressive appearance and behavior.
The film offers no scientific explanation for these rules and does not establish a precise time when feeding would become safe again. In the story, the important mistake is feeding the group after midnight has already passed.
How does Gizmo give rise to Stripe and the other mogwai?
Inventor Rand Peltzer finds Gizmo in a Chinatown shop owned by an elderly man known as Mr. Wing. Wing refuses to sell the creature because he believes caring for it demands too much responsibility, but his grandson secretly makes the sale. Rand takes Gizmo to Kingston Falls and gives him to his son Billy, passing on the three instructions he was given.
Billy's friend Pete accidentally spills water on Gizmo. Five small balls of fur emerge from his back and grow into other mogwai. One is named Stripe because of the white stripe on his head. Unlike the gentle Gizmo, Stripe and his companions behave aggressively from the start. Billy also takes another mogwai to science teacher Roy Hanson, who observes the water-based reproduction and keeps a specimen at school.
Stripe causes trouble at home as well: the family dog, Barney, is found suspended among Christmas lights, and Billy wrongly suspects Mrs. Deagle. The danger increases when the mogwai manage to mislead Billy about the time. The alarm clock cord has been cut; believing it is still before midnight, Billy feeds the group. Gizmo refuses to eat. At school, the specimen Hanson kept also manages to eat after the forbidden hour.
From mogwai to gremlins: how is the town overrun?
The next morning, the mogwai that ate are enclosed in slimy cocoons. When they emerge, they are gremlins. The school specimen kills Hanson. At the Peltzer home, Lynn fights the creatures in the kitchen, kills three, and, after Billy arrives, the fourth is also eliminated. Stripe escapes.
Billy chases Stripe to the swimming pool at a sports facility. By jumping into the water, Stripe causes reproduction on a massive scale. This is how the threat spreads beyond a single household and across Kingston Falls. Billy tries to alert the police, but they do not initially believe him.
On Christmas Eve, the gremlins sabotage equipment, attack residents, and take over parts of town. Mrs. Deagle dies after her stairlift is tampered with and launches her through a window. Other monsters cause a snowplow to crash into neighbor Futterman's home. At Dorry's pub, they force Kate Beringer to serve them as they drink and wreck the premises; she escapes by using the flash of a Polaroid camera to stun them.
Billy finds Kate, and they take refuge in the bank. There, Kate reveals why Christmas is painful for her: her father died while trying to surprise the family dressed as Santa Claus by entering their home through the chimney. Her memory adds a personal tragedy to the night when the whole town is in danger.
Why do the gremlins die in the movie theater while Stripe survives?
When Billy and Kate leave the bank, they realize the streets are empty because the gremlins have gathered in a movie theater to watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Billy causes a gas leak and starts the fire that blows up the theater. The two escape, and the blast destroys the creatures watching the movie.
Stripe, however, had left to look for candy at a nearby department store. Because he was not inside the theater, he survives the explosion and remains dangerous, especially if he finds more water.
How does Stripe die in the final confrontation?
Billy pursues Stripe through the department store. The gremlin turns the store's objects and weapons against him, including blades, arrows, and a chainsaw. Kate switches on the store lights and forces Stripe to retreat, but the fight is not over: Stripe reaches a water fountain and begins another attempt to reproduce.
Gizmo intervenes. Driving a toy car, he reaches a window blind and opens it, allowing the morning sunlight inside. The sunlight strikes Stripe before he can finish multiplying. His body breaks down and melts, ending the threat posed by the gremlin leader. Stripe is not defeated by the movie theater explosion; the sunlight let in by Gizmo is what kills him.
What happens to Gizmo and Billy afterward?
After the attacks, Mr. Wing arrives at the Peltzer home to take Gizmo back. He rebukes the family for failing to respect the responsibility of caring for a mogwai. Gizmo says goodbye to Billy, and Wing allows that the young man might be ready to care for him someday. The film ends with Gizmo alive but back with his original guardian.
Water, food, and light: the sequence of transformations
| Trigger | What happens | Example in the film |
|---|---|---|
| Water on Gizmo | More mogwai are born | Pete's accident produces five creatures, including Stripe |
| Food after midnight | Mogwai enter cocoons and emerge as gremlins | Stripe's group tricks Billy about the time |
| A large amount of water on Stripe | The gremlin population grows rapidly | Stripe jumps into the town's swimming pool |
| Direct sunlight | The exposed creature is destroyed | Gizmo opens the blind and defeats Stripe in the store |
This chain of events explains why Gizmo remains a mogwai: he gets wet and produces other creatures, but he does not take part in the feeding that triggers metamorphosis. It also clarifies why Stripe seeks out a fountain at the end: he wants to start another round of reproduction, which is interrupted before it can produce another horde.
