Stripe

Stripe was the chief villain of the 80s comedy-horror movie Gremlins - being easily recognised from his many brethren via his distinctive white stripe of fur on his head somewhat resembling a mohawk.

Role In The Film
Stripe's reign of terror began when one of Billy's friends got Gizmo wet, resulting in the "birth" of several mogwai who were shown to be much more unruly than the mostly docile Gizmo - they were also sneaky as they managed to trick Billy into feeding them after midnight, which would result in them mutating into full-grown gremlins.

Billy's mother was attacked by the gremlins and managed to kill a few but Stripe managed to escape - despite Billy giving chase Stripe showed his wicked intelligence when he broke into a swimming-pool and leapt in, resulting in him spawning a literal army of mischievious gremlins and forcing Billy to flee as they stormed the town and caused untold havoc.

However as dawn approaches Stripe and his crew of gremlins must retreat from the sunlight, which is deadly to them, and hide in an abandoned movie theatre where they watch Snow White and The Seven Dwarves (and even sing-along) - Stripe obviously wasn't much of a movie-lover however as he decided to raid a nearby store for candy, temporarily abandoning his "friends".

It was at this point Billy rigs the movie theatre to explode - killing all the gremlins in side, Stripe witnesses this and dives back into the store in a bid to find some water in order to spawn another army - but Billy pursues him and the climatic battle between man and gremlin gets under way - during this battle Stripe shows his vicious side as he attacks Billy with sawblades, a crossbow and finally a chainsaw - he was even ready to use the chainsaw to lethal effect when he was frightened away when Billy's girlfriend managed to open the store windows, allowing sunlight to enter.

Yet Stripe was not going down so easily, retreating into a greenhouse where a fountain is running, the violent monster also manages to find a gun in a case - which he decides to take and puts to use when Billy enters the greenhouse in an attempt to finish the battle once and for all.

Stripe begins to use the fountain to spawn while randomly firing the gun at Billy in an effort to either kill him or keep him at bay and would of likely of been successful if Gizmo did not intervene - managing to open the blinds and causing the sunlight to enter, killing Stripe in a gruesome melting-scene that ultimately left him nothing but a puddle of slime.

Personality
He was a vicious creature, showing more malice than the other Gremlins - who in large were more tricksters than actual villains - showing great hostility towards Gizmo and Billy, especially when they threatened to interrupt his fun. He also has absolutely no respect for life, even other gremlins.

Popularity
Stripe is the most iconic of the gremlins next to Gizmo and alongside his fellow gremlins is probably one of the most famous comedy-horror monsters of the 80s, the popularity of gremlins has also given us some interesting franchises that tried to cash-in on their popularity - such as the Ghoulies and Critters.