Who loves the opening?

Even the scene that follows a few minutes later that shows Billy walking to work really shows the beauty of what Kingston Falls was before the gremlin invasion. We see the movie theater in all its glory, foreshadowing its complete destruction later, the Montgomery Ward department store that most of the 3rd act takes place in, Dorry's Tavern, the bank. We get an entire setup of the location that becomes complete chaos later on.

And even though Kingston Falls is depicted as a postcard perfect town in the middle of Christmas, there's something much darker going on beneath the surface. Even before the gremlins attacking the town, there's Mrs. Degale, Mr. Corbin, Gerald, Pete's bully father, the cops who won't even help the santa guy getting attacked. Kingston Falls had a touch of evil beneath the surface even before the gremlins dropped in. I actually mentioned in another post how the gremlins attacking is almost like a metaphor for the Peltzer family seeking revenge on those in the town who wronged them.

This is evident not only with Mrs. Deagle's death, but in the kitchen attack scene where Lynn angrily yells "Get out of my kitchen!" and stabs the plate-throwing gremlin to death. In my opinion, there's a lot of symbolism there with her taking her anger out on the bad people in the town. There's even a deleted subplot that depicts Mrs. Deagle plotting to demolish the homes of Kingston Falls residents who can't afford their mortgages so a chemical plant can be built in their place.

So, I apologize for going off topic on my own post, but I think this all makes the beautiful opening scene of the movie even more important. It's one of the rare moments where we see Kingston Falls in all its happy Christmas glory before we even see its darkest moments.