it's going to be close. maybe we could do it tomorrow -- no, tomorrow's when the futtermans are
his wife says he's getting better. he's just been -- rattled.
right. (checks his watc4li we're gonna be late,
no, the -- the taxi roars away -- billy lets go of the door handle just in time.
i'll try and get out early tonight. i have to finish that drawing of the chinatown building.  you know, i -had the whole thing just right they're making we take twent p ies off the world trade center ofjbvilding looks bigger. z? f
yeah, no kidding. i don't think i'm getting that promotion this year.
yeah we do. it wouldn't feel right, getting married on the money i'm making now. it's bad enough that you got me the job --
want to try the revolving doors today? before kate can answer, a worker enters one of the revolving doors. the power-assisted door, going too fast, whooshes him inside, and we hear --
i won't.
hi, marla, how --
yeah, i just have to -- they get on the elevator, with other workers. the doors close.
don't -- but it's too late.
it's almost finished. i just have to make some --
are they going to plant trees 40 there?
but, maria ----
right. he's about to sit down to work, when daniel clamp's lieutenant forster and his clipboard-carrying assistant come down the row of cubicles, looking around.
uh, what's --
my home town.
yes air. it was just a --
sorry, marla.
hi, fred. hey, i was sorry to hear about your new time slot. i think they're making a big mistake.
yeah. i brought you something.
i thought it would look good over here.
horror movies can be meaningful, fred. you should run some of the classics -- frankenstein, m a cula.
you should run some of the classics, fred -- ffankenstein, dracula .
you've seen him?
well -- i wanted to get away from kingston falls. i guess i did.
yeah. that's so they can put people close together and they won't overhear each other. you're not supposed to notice it.
hell. the worker in the next cubicle speaks up.
what?
where did you heaa-11; at?
that music. where did you hear it?
no. it's not by sting. think. where did you --
did you see who it was?
how you doin'? i bear your copier's down.
hey, guy. did you miss me? gizmo does eye movements -- shyly hedging, then admitting it.
yeah, me too. let's put you up here. we don't want to get any water on you.
that bad, huh? how did you get in there? what happened to mister wing? gizmo looks sad -- indicates his armband.
oh. i'm sorry. but then -- he stops at a sudden sound -- voices in the anteroom between the bathroom and the hail.
quick -- get in here. he slips gizmo into the tool box, above his protesting twitters.
sshh -- just wait a minute --
i'm sorry, sir -- let me --
it means "men's bathroom."
in the bathroom?
oh. a little briefcase, sir.
oh. well. my mistake --
that's in there? forster snaps the folder shut. gizmo, restless, rattles the tool box.
oh, uh -- art supplies. i'm mixin ' nts. well, i better get back t 1 here --
gizmo, you've got to be quiet. you don't want to go back to that laboratory, do you?
this?
peltzer. billy -- bill peltzer. marla watches, saucer-eyed, as clamp shakes hands with billy.
oh, it's, uh -- it's automatic. it opens up now and then, in case you need anything.
well -- he likes the drawing
oh. that soundsgreat. i could do it, let's see.
no, i can't tonight. i've got -- an appointment.
oh -- i knocked against it with my leg, i was --
a pet? no, no, i'm alle $,; marla ,\ \ l let.me see. come
you know -- i think if we leave right now, i could go to dinner. just a quick one --
sounds terrific.
gizmo. i have to go now. just wait here, okay? just stay put for a few minutes and -- he hurriedly closes the drawer as marla approaches.
yeah. he grabs his sportcoat, and follows maria toward the elevators. as they go, camera holds on gizmo's drawer. it slowly shakes i open, and the curious mogwai's eyes and ears come into view, i checking out the world of billy's office. gizmo ducks back out of sight . but, a moment later, a chain of large paper clips is tossed down from the drawer, making a ladder to the floor. as gizmo starts hoisting himself over the edge of the drawer,
uh -- could you excuse me a second? i'll be right back. sure. billy heads for an alcove at the
iii.  listen, xate --
nothing. um, nothing's wrong, but i can't go out tonight. i have a --- meeting. with some people.
i know. i'm sorry. but it's good e for -- what we were talking about, you know? letting people know i'm there and everything?
kate, i need you to do something for me. gizmo's here.
it's a long story -- i'll explain it later. he's up in my desk drawer. you have to take him home.
there won't be any "thin ust remember the rules. h a ''.t take bright light -- a ec sunlight. it, 1 his. and you can't get wat him. and the most important thing -- never feed
no. i have to go to this -- meeting. please -- i'll be home as soon as i can, a beat.
great. thanks. he gives her a quick kiss, and leaves the tour guides' office. kate waits a moment, then looks out into the lobby.  44a int. lobby - kate's pov 44a i .and sees billy leaving the building with marla.
hub. that's somethin
well, in there, everything's business --
what does?
wow. i'm being open 4th billy.- haven't talked abqu feelings with anyone.
see, i usually don't pay too much attention to office politics and stuff. i have so much work to do on the illustrations --
definitely. it's like i was saying to kate, i said, honey, you know, for an artist -- maria leans closer to billy, her tone more intimate than before.
oh, we should definitely join -- billy feels something in his lap. he looks down. it is marla's stockinged foot.
-- forces. just at that moment --
no, uh, thanks'. everything's fine.
good. right. he escapes the r au rant.
its me. she undoes the deadbolts and opens the door. billy rushes in.
hi. i'm sorry i'm late -- he gives her a fast kiss on the lips -- and, as he lets go of her, sees that she's spattered with food.
what happened to you? kate doesn't answer -- she looking at the lipstick mark on billy's face.
did you feed him?
hey, giz, how you -- they come into the kitchen, which is a mess from daffy's food, throwing. the mogwai is hidden behind a little barricade of lean cuisine boxes. as kate and billy enter, he throws a lump of frozen pineapple that nails billy on the forehead.
ow! gizmo, what's -- billy leans over the barricade and looks in -- as daffy tosses a glop of cherry cobbler, splattering billy's face.
kate . kate, where did you find this guy?
¿½ where's gizmo? the mogwai spits, then wings kate with a piece of salisbury steak. billy looks at the wall clic: it's 11:15.
we've got to get over here.
there won't be. not if they don't eat after midnight.
we'll have to take him with us. he snatches a lean cuisine box away and grabs daffy, almost getting bitten in the process. kate follows billy as he takes the flailing daffy into the living room and stuffs him into his leather daypack.
you ever want to get out of there, you better relax. daffy settles down to a low rumble.
that's better. they grab their coats, start toward the door.
mister wing was right.
when he came to take gizmo back. i asked him how come he could understand what gizmo was saying.  said you just had to know how isten. but he said i wasn't re cw t. for the 0 responsibili d i'm not -- as they reach the door, the ¿½?q x zzer sounds.
we thought you were coming tomorrow --
oh, uh. that's from -- my boss. i did some stuff that she liked. i mean some work -- he tries to catch kate's eye, but she avoids his look.
uh, the thing is -- i'm afraid you guys can't stay here. i mean, we'd love it if you could, but the, uh - - the building's being -- fumigated.
really sorry . we'll call you.  he backs the futtermans toward the door. ad lib goodnights as billy opens the door, forcing himself to look relaxed as the futtermans go. he watches through the door for a beat, then closes it -- and finds kate suspiciously eyeing his lipstick tattoo.
what -- this? it was just one of those business things. you know, like -- "great job." you don't believe me?
we better get going.
what kind of thing was in the trail mix?
that's it. it's after midnight, and they've eaten. now they'll make their cocoons. and if they get to water --
great. maybe if we shut it off, they'll even close the place down.  billy goes to a corner of the chain-link cage and starts bending links back from the seam, trying to make a big enough opening to slip through.
nothing.
you don't want to -- the guard ignores him, opens the zipper, and looks down into the bag.
no! -- and as the mogwai's departing footsteps are heard, the guard angrily puts billy up against the wall, starts handcuffing him.
we have to find him, before he eats something -- guard b5 he already ate some i billy looks around for kate then realizes she's hiding in the 0 shadows of the concrete recess, unnoticed by the guard.
look, we have to shut this building down. that thing that bit you -- there are more of them, okay? and they're going to turn into -- these monsters, and --
listen, i'm not crazy. people are going to be in a lot of danger. they wreck things. they kill people. if they get out of here, they'll destroy the whole city. they'll destroy everything. listen to me.
thanks for getting – e out of there.
when we get there -- go to your job, like normal, okay? and just keep your eyes open. what time is it?
fred. i know.
i'm going to go up and -- now much?
put it on my bill.
remember, they can't stand bright light. if one of them gets near you -- he's interrupted as marla comes up to them -- and gives billy a squeeze and a kiss before he has time to think.
uh -- marla, this is kate, my --
uh, kate -- listen, think i better explain --
kate -- f
terrific. as billy heads for the elevators, hold on a nearby miller's outpost jeans store that opens onto the lobby. a couple of teenage girl shoppers approach the sales clerk.
mister forster -- ¿½¿½? forster zs: peltzer! what are you doing in this building? you got yourself arrested here last night, and you come back? get security up here. he's out. he starts to walk away, but billy follows his.
mister forster, we have to evacuate the building. right now.
there are .  creatures in the building. they start out as these small, furry animals, but then they eat, and they go into cocoons, and then they become small, green --
just listen to me --
first they eat --
look i didn't make the rules. there are --
sir -- are you all right?
sir, i have to talk to you. there are a -- the door opens again, and a dishevelled forster bursts in.
sir, please listen to me. there are more of these things -- maybe lots more. we've got to get people out of the building -- and we've got to close the building up. we've got to do it before sundown.
these -- things can't stand sunlight. it'll kill them. but once it's night time, they can get out, into new york. if that happens --
well -- um, you know that genetics laboratory, down on --
sir, we have to make sure that none of these -- things get wet. if that happens --
what? what happened?
try and calm down -- where were the -- but as billy tries to understand dr. catheter --
i'm afraid it's pretty bad right now, sir --
yes sir. we'll have to but as he speaks, the electric gremlin emerges from a wall socket behind clamp.
watch out!
he's in the phone system. on hold. that should take care of him for a while.
sure. mister clamp, we have to stop these things from leaving the building. if they get out, that's it for new york -- at least new york. clamp nods gravely, and takes a videocassette from a drawer.
what is it?
yes -- listen, sir, can you set the clocks in the building ahead three hours? all of them?
sunlight kills these things. that's why they're still in here. but when it's sundown -- or when they think it is -- they'll all get together in one place, so they can go out. they'll all be in the lobby.
so around four-twenty -- just before they try to leave -- that's when we can make our move.
it's just an idea. you'll have to set it up. from outside the building, if you can get out there.
there's some things i still have to take care of in here. things and. .people.
yeah. it's going to be tricky. but if it works -- you could save the city.
kate? .a wind storm comes out of the vents. papers from nearby offices swirl into the corridor. as billy bats the flying memos away and struggles against the wind, he hears a noise in a nearby office, and goes inside to investigate.
yeah. mr. futterman, what are you doing here?
0 that's gizmo, mister fu tprtt he's on our side. mr. futterman gives gizmo a hand down from the display case.
i guess they -- pushed him too far.
thank god you're okay.
well -- gizmo got wet, and then the mogwais ate after midnight, and then some of the gremlins must have mutated, from the genetic material.
and if these things get out of here now --
how come?
i don't think we have tli¿½e kate. let's no. `¿½,¿½
don't worry. in a few seconds, mister clamp's going to drop that cloth out there. the sunlight will come in, and --
i know -- 0065
mr. futterman. get that hose. aim it into the lobby.
just do it. do it fast. kate, get a box, and put gizmo in it. keep him dry.  down in the lobby, the happy gremlins keep moving toward the doors.
kate, there's a call on hold in mister clamp's office. can you transfer it down here without going up there?
hurry. kate hurriedly hands marla the box containing gizmo.
that's it'. on the screen of the video-phone, the electric gremlin writhes in agony, trying to gel off hold, as the plastic button blinks beneath the screen. billy grabs the phone fr d kew,. lifts the receiver and holds it out over the mezzanine rani he looks down at the happily showering gremlins -- -- pushes the blinking button dow -- and sees the electric gremlin shoot out of the receiver, swooping down into the lobby --
it wasn't just me, sir. everybody helped. marla here, and -- clamp looks at marla.
i'm sorry about the building, sir.
well, you kept the city safe.
let me see.  re rummages -- comes up with paper and pencil from his pockets and hands them to clamp. but as clamp unfolds the paper --
you want to move there?
uh, that's --
dad!
dad -- o -- but the splash f ater hits gizmo with no effect, and everyone -- includ i the stolid mogwai -- relaxes.
okay.
yeah. i guess i do, now.
he said he wants to go home.
	105:
now, mister wing, you're attached to your business. i appreciate that. i'm attached to my own business. i develop the biggest buildings in new york, and you sell, ah, little things. fine. but i'm not just talking about money here. on the big-screen tv, the image widens to incim a an easel beside clam , holding an architect's render that shows the grandiose of a huge office building,.
"the clamp chinatown center -- where business gets oriented." when i put up a building, it's the biggest -- it's the newest -- it's the best. people are going to be killing each other to get into this building -- the soft o.s. twittering of gizmo is heard from the rear alcove of the store.
they kiss.
ah. well, good work, lly.  catheter moves on. another scientist approaches wally in b.g.
dah dah, dah dah dah dah -- isn't that by sting?
lateness infractions.  and these sat scores --
okay. let me take this stuff off and punch out, and then i'll go get his.
wahqq!
wahoo! no! elbow room! don't fence me --
04, 0 °0o6s
terrific. a screaming catastrophe holocaust murder deadline emergency rush, and there's no e lights.
if you want to make a call, please hang up and try again. we're sorry -- all circuits are busy now.,.
-- seven-twenty-five.
a little to the left. careful, careful.  a fire chief climbs down from an idled hook-and-ladder and comes over to clamp.
screwy, huh? but you know, billy -- the most important part of "american" is those last four letters: "i can." washington didn't give up. lincoln didn't give up --
things come.
i'm going to be, yeah. billy squeezes kate tighter, with gizmo cuddled between them. the door to the building opens again -- and billy's father, the inventor rand peltzer, comes in.