Gremlins - Ep. 121

Death is coming to your little town, Sheriff. It's the real time. Why do you want to know, Mike? I want to know who I'm looking at. Whatever you do. Hello, everybody. You are listening to episode 121, Gremlins. Merry Christmas, Maddie. Merry Christmas. What's up, Mike? How you doing, buddy? We're doing pretty well. It's pretty damn cold outside. Yeah, the East Coast has been brutal, man. It's pretty awesome. Very Kingston Falls-ish. You know what I mean? Yes. Kingston Falls in December.

Yeah, we're here to talk about this classic movie, but we got a couple things to talk about first. A couple things. Patreon, if you want to subscribe, you can join us at patreon.com slash alone in the dark podcast. We have a very special episode coming up, which is what, Matt? So this month we're going to look back at 2025 and see what we thought were, you know.

Yeah. Memorable movies. Hits and misses and all that kind of good stuff. Runs in between. Yeah, because there was a lot of horror that came out in 2025. So that's going to be a fun episode. So we're going to check that out. We also have something really fun that we're doing for the first time. We're doing a little contest because...

We just, we just like activated our new store, which you can find on our Instagram account. If you go to Instagram and click on the links in our bio, you can get to our store. But we're going to give away a free t-shirt. to anybody that does something tonight so

Matt usually gives a little clue to what our next episode is somewhere throughout the podcast. Yep. And he's going to give a little clue to next month's episode and the first person to guess what movie it is and email us at alone in the dark. arc podcast at yahoo.com will win a free t-shirt of your choosing from our store. So we have several, we have our new design, a new logo. We have our classic logo. We've got the fuck off Wade shirt.

We've got the Vincent Drug shirt. So if you would like a free T-shirt, pay attention tonight. Listen for Matt's clue. He's going to give a clue. And if you catch the clue. Email the first person that emails. We're going to look at the timestamp if, you know, people, you know, send an email around the same time. The first person to do that. wins a t-shirt and we will contact you and get your shirt and we'll announce the winner on the next podcast. Does that sound good, Matt?

Sounds awesome. All right. So we're going to do that. What else, Matt? So we do this thing where we kind of jump back to a former episode to mention it really quickly. So what was. your former episode, Matt, that you wanted to talk about. So I'm going to jump back to episode 62, which was very thematically aligned to what we're talking about tonight. Creatures great and small. Oh, that's perfect, Matt. That's a good one. Yeah.

I remember we talked about a lot of things on that. Actually, some obvious and some maybe not so obvious. I was going to say, we didn't talk about the Gremlins, did we? I don't believe so. I don't think they were on that one. We could do 17 more episodes of those. I agree. Creature episodes. I agree. That's a great one. Matt, I went back to episode 83, and it's going with the Christmas theme here, Horror Naughty List Part 3.

Oh. And that was our most recent one, I believe. It was, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I thought that was fun to jump back. If you're in the holiday mood, you want to jump back to our horror naughty list. And there's two others behind that one, too. Lots of despicable people that we give cold to. Yes. Talk about what kind of presents we would give them. Lots of fun stuff. Super fun. Yeah, super fun. Yeah, it's great. So anyway, Matt, we are talking about a little movie from 1984 called Gremlins.

What is it? It's your new bed. Number one, you've got to keep him out of bright light. Number two, keep him away from water. This is incredible. and probably the most important thing don't ever feed him after midnight what are these things gremlins How come a cute little guy like this can turn into a thousand ugly monsters? That was Mrs. Deagle. I'll bet every kid in America would like to have one. They might even replace the dog as the family pet. All right, Matt. Joe Dante.

Yeah, Joe Dante. Mike, let's first say that this film was distributed by Warner Brothers. Yeah, Warner Brothers. What does that mean for Gremlins now that potentially it's going to be owned by Netflix? What does this mean for a film like Gremlins? Well, what's this? Isn't there like a...

There's a new Gremlins thing that's out right now, or coming out, right? There's something they're working on, something of the Mogwai or something like that. Are they really? The third in film? I don't know if it's a film or a TV show. I don't really know. But is this going to be a Netflix property now? Well, nothing's gone through. Yeah. I think this is a year out at least. I don't think they're really going to...

But who knows? But what does it mean for these older films? That's what I want to know. Yeah, that's true. Are they going to be shelved for a while? Or is Netflix going to release them? So buy your physical media today, folks, because you never know. You never know when things are going to be gone. Snatch it up. Matt, so some...

facts about gremlins right directed by joe dante joe dante man you know what i love about the way that spielberg because this is kind of like a spielberg produced movie hugely yes and it's very spielberg Written by Chris Columbus, which is pretty cool. And the cool thing about the screenplay was that it was like a lesson.

Chris Columbus wrote this as like a practice. A spec. Yeah, it was a spec thing that he did. He never intended it to be sold or anything like that. And we'll talk about that later as to what that script actually looked like in pieces. Oh, yeah. We'll mention some. It was very different. Yes. But Spielberg was a fan of something Joe Dante did called Piranha, which was a huge ripoff of Jaws. Absolutely. And I think, actually, didn't Spielberg's company sue?

I'm not sure about that, but I know that Spielberg appreciated at a later, much later time. Yes. But he appreciated the tongue in cheek way that he. sent up jaws i think he said piranha was like the best rip yeah no because it was because of the craft right because joe dante is a craftsman and he's very good at it yeah but he's also got this devious sense of humor that i think spilled that

Spielberg doesn't necessarily have in all of his films. He has a warmth, but not necessarily that wickedness, right? And Joe Dante has that in spades. And I think it was enough for Spielberg to be impressed and say, hey, I want to give this guy the chance to make this movie. You know what I mean? He also did The Howling.

between you have to remember too which was which was very impressive uh-huh yeah yes um a couple things i like to just talk about is the development of the gremlins themselves and how crazy you know it took it was a lot of work to come up with the what they settled on with the animatronics and the At one point, I don't know if you know this, they actually took monkeys and put masks on them and tested them in the studio to see if it was possible.

And the monkeys just went around and just shit everywhere. And they were like, not a good idea. We're going to move on from this one. You know what I mean? Dude, what do you think of the tagline on this one? Cute, clever, mischievous, intelligent, dangerous.

I don't like it. Let's just throw a bunch of adjectives there. Yeah, it's a little far. It's just a little in your face. It seems like a brainstorming session more than it does an actual tagline. Maybe it was, and they were just like, hey, that's the tagline. Wait, we left it all on there? I thought we were going to pick two or three or one.

We always talk about genre, right? Specifically genre, sub-genres of horror. That's why we're here. What would you characterize Gremlins as? Because, you know, Spielberg insists. insists that this is not a horror film. Yeah. So, dismissing Mr. Spielberg respectfully, with all due respect. Right. Comedy horror or horror comedy? Where would you put this?

It's obviously a monster movie, right? Yeah. But is it a comedy horror? Does it lead with comedy and insert the horror, or does it lead with horror? Where do you think? I think it sits more in the comedy horrors. See... I don't even want to pinpoint one of those, Matt. To me, it's a family movie. It's a twisted family movie. It's a twisted family movie.

I see it as a heartwarming family movie. Heartwarming. All right. It is for me. It is for me. There's parts of it for sure that I agree with that. But if you push me into a corner and say, Mike, you have to decide, is it horror comedy? Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm talking about. We're not just going to try.

to shove it in a box. I'm just thinking where you fit with this. I would say it's more comedy horror than horror comedy. I agree. Yeah. If we had to, like I said, I don't want to shove anything in a box. Right. But since we're kicking it around a little bit, and by the way...

we will talk about characters and things later on. And I will speak a little bit to that warmth because there, I, I agree with what you're saying. Yeah. Even though the twisted part is definitely there. There's a warmth there. Yeah. And I think it was, it was intended that way. based on spielberg and what he was trying to for it to come across unfortunately though mike yes this was released june 8th yeah i know so dante was really really scared of putting this movie out and then

Christmas passes and people go, done with that. Let's meet the next thing. And I understand that. I completely understand that. But like put it out in November. Exactly. Right. So then pre Thanksgiving. first, second week in November, throw it out. People are going to discover it and go, oh my God, you have to see this. It's going to last all the way through the...

the Thanksgiving season into the holiday season. You're going to put this movie out in June. But you get the summer crowds. Spielberg. We're talking about Spielberg. We're going to talk about him a lot tonight. Establish the whole blockbuster with Jaws, right? Yeah. The potential for the money.

That you can earn in summer. I guess. Right? And that's what they're going after. But. Joe Dante needed a hit. He can't just do this and go, oh, this is my little art film that I want to make with cute little creatures that are breaking down every five seconds. He needed to make money with this. I get it. But do you, like, if, like a.

movie came out now and it looked great like but it was takes place at christmas and it was in the summer would you be like pushing to get it where you say i'll wait and i'm gonna i'll rent this in christmas it's a little i mean i understand the business part of it but Film habit-wise, it bothers me. The same way I know we did Last Summer being released on October 17th or whenever it came out. What's the reasoning for that? I have no idea. Was the slate that busy?

Yeah, I don't know. In the summer that they couldn't release it in July? Right, right. It doesn't make a lot of sense. I don't know. Anyway, release... That would blow people's minds here.

released the same day as Ghostbusters. So you got Gremlins and Ghostbusters at the same time. Double G, man. Are you kidding me? These are two of the most classic 80s movies ever. And two of the most family... classic yes like yeah no on the verge gateway wars absolutely without a doubt like to bat it's not like one's a straight up horror film and the other one's family gateway or they're two gateway horror films june 8th 1984 mike two days

Before your birthday. Yes, that's right. Yeah. That's right around your birthday. And I saw this movie opening weekend. Did you go? By the way, did you go? Because I didn't know you then, obviously. You didn't know when you were 10.

Did you go to a birthday party to the movies to see this? I went with my parents. My parents took me. My mom and dad took me to see it because I was dying to see it. We're going to get the nostalgia section, but you saw that with your parents. I love that. Yeah, it was great. Budget of 11 mil or so? Right. What did it make? I don't know. More than 100, north of 150 million. It has to be, yeah. It has to be. Just crazy. But 11 million seems low, doesn't it?

But I guess this is for 83. You know what I mean? And they filmed in 83. They filmed, yeah. Production, yeah. But still, that number seems low to me. It does. You're right. Because they rented, fuck, they were filming at the Universal Studios lot, Warner Brothers lot. Absolutely. it's that's like just that alone to have that to monopolize that space and to to make los angeles look like a freaking by the way snowstorm it's crazy april to august they were filming this yeah in pieces

That's a long time. That's like five months. Right. So that alone too, the amount of time it took to film it. A dollar went a different way in 1983. I guess so. I guess so. Yeah. So. Saturn Awards are these sci-fi kind of horror awards that they give out. And this won, like, best horror film in 85. It won Joe Dante one. Jerry Goldsmith won for his music. Yeah, I mean, a lot of stuff, right? That's great.

Mike, you know I do this, and I'm going to jump in now with this to get myself back into the world of 1984. I listen back to albums, songs from the era, right? And songs from the era, and preparing to talk about this. All of these will be played at the jukebox at Dory's Tavern. Okay? So I have Let's Go Crazy by Prince and the Revolution.

dedicated to Stripe and all his minions, Mike, are just reveling in the debauchery. That's true. At Dory Savern. Tearing this place apart. Or at the movie theater, yep. Corey Hart's sunglasses at night to that gremlin. With the trench coat who flashes Kate? Yes. Absolutely praying Corey Hart for that dude. That's going to be every time he does. Yeah. Round and round, Mike, from Rat. Yeah, from Rat. That one gremlin who got tangled in the ceiling fan and launched into the beer sign.

Round and round to him. I love it. So that's some of the stuff I was listening to. That's beautiful. Inspired. So Dory's Tavern is going to have a great jukebox night. I love it, Matt. That's perfect. That's excellent. So when did you see this? So. As many, at least twice, but as many as four times. In the theaters? In the theater, absolutely. Wow. Yeah, definitely. Awesome. I went with, this is June, so this is a Mikey D movie. He and I must have seen this together. Yeah? Yeah.

For sure. Nine. Were you nine or 10? 10. 10. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's 84. So yeah, I was 10. Dude, just watching this in the theater for the first time.

As a 10-year-old? Dude. Life-changing. It was huge. Life-changing. Huge. But the way people reacted, they screamed, they laughed. I mean, it pressed all the buttons. I would have loved to have been Spielberg or Joe Dante or... just to be in the back of the theater just to watch jack allegan any of the people that were right like this is total this is working it's an experience man incredible stuff so good but um

Do you have anything about when you told me you saw it with your parents? Do you remember if you saw it more than once? I just remember being blown away. I'm pretty sure I did see it more than once. I don't want to say that for sure, but I remember seeing it.

I just remember wanting to live in Kingston Falls. The town looked amazing. Yeah. I didn't know that this was filmed in Los Angeles. I had no clue. I mean, it looks really good. It looks amazing. Mike, so Spielberg, we talk about him. We're going to talk about him a lot tonight. I love the irony that he's this producer filmmaker who these bougie, pretentious film nerds go. They label him, right? He's this guy who makes comfortable movies for the audience, right? He's not a true artist. Right.

Doesn't take bold risks. And yet, he's the single-handedly responsible for creating a new rating system. Think about this. So between Temple of Doom, which came out in 84, Gremlins, right? And I'll even argue Poltergeist, when that guy tears his face off two years before this. Now, granted, that's a Tobey Hooper movie, and I think that's more Tobey Hooper to do with that. But Spielberg was a producer, so he's obviously heavily involved in the making of it. He knew what was going on.

he is literally showing how much of an artistic deviant he is. Like you put, you just, he's going to go here. He's going to go here. You put him in this box. Oh, ET, right? Ah, comfortable, safe. And then here he is. Serpent in the Garden of Eden, Mike. He's snaking around. They had to put a new rating system, change the whole movie, flip the whole movie's culture on its head. And he was responsible, pretty much single-handedly for that, along with Toby Hooper.

Sure. And Joe Dante. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And Kathleen Kennedy and whoever produced Temple of Doom at Molarom ripped that guy's heart out. Yeah. I mean, just unbelievable, right? Unbelievable. Unreal. Did this movie make you sad at all? Yes. Well.

We're going to talk a lot about that. Well, I'm going to tell a story real quick. Yeah, please do. I feel like I've told it on the podcast before. Are you going to turn to Kate for a minute here? What are you doing? Oh, okay. All right. I'm here for you, buddy. I'm shoulders right here.

I can touch you, so we're... No, this does not paint me in a good picture, this story. But when I was... When the movie, after it was out, I'll never forget that Christmas, because it was, like, super popular Christmas time. You know what I mean? That Christmas, my cousin Andy, who was a couple years younger than me. Yeah, I remember Andy. Loved this movie as much as I did, but he was younger. And he had a little gizmo doll. Remember the gizmo doll they sold?

I do. I almost put the commercial on here, but they had the commercial for it was just great. But he had that gizmo doll and I'll never forget that Christmas. I was at my aunt and uncle's house. And I just kept taking Gizmo and like holding it up to a light and turning the light on.

And my cousin Andy would start crying. And then I'd bring over a glass of water and I'd like drip some water on him. You're making this up. No, I did all this. I was such a jerk, dude. Such a jerk. Have you since apologized to Andy? I apologize to so many.

many times, like several times. I apologize. Wow. And he's obviously an adult now, but I'll never forget that. I really just tortured him that Christmas and I thought I was being cool, but I was being really, really mean, you know, dude, that's amazing. Let's look at a couple of reviews for this movie before we move on to the settings here. So, this person Slokes says, Dante and Spielberg never do anything with it. They're making a gimmick movie.

and striving for audience impact in the cheapest way possible. Right? A good idea suffers from Apache script and a lot of revisions. Gremlins reflects the time when it was made. The 80s were a decade of goofy gimmick movies and Gremlins offers exactly that. What do you think about that? Yeah, that's pretty decent. Not bad. Yeah. Not bad. When this movie is another one from Nothing Beast.

When this movie first came out, a lot of parents made the fatal mistake of thinking it was a cute children's movie. I was horrified by this movie, and I was only four years old. Four? Imagine being four and watching this. This movie caused me to be severely afraid of the dark for many years. Almost 20 years later, those old scars still haven't healed completely. And sometimes just seeing stripe on the cover will send chills down my spine.

prompt me to move to a room with better lighting. That's damn good filmmaking. Freddy Krueger didn't even do that to me. So I thought he was going to be negative, but he actually turned it into something positive. So there you go. Absolutely. So, Mike, you started talking about wanting to live in Kingston Falls.

Right? So let's talk about the settings and the locations. Yeah. What did you think of Kingston Falls, of this little town in the middle of America, I'm assuming, you know? Right. What we didn't know at the time is that... Hill Valley would emerge the very next year. Yes, from the same location. It is the same exact location. I'm wondering, matter of fact, on the corner, if the bank is in fact Cafe 80s.

Or whatever in part two, like that area there. I don't know. The Burger King's the same. Or the diner where Crispin Glover goes in to tell her, you know, you're my density. The diner? I think the diner's further down. Is it? I think it's further down. The bank is like a block away from the diner. Because it seems like when they look out the window of the diner, you could see the whole area there. Have you been to that location? No.

Because I've been there several times as a kid. Universal Studios in California, you can tour that area. I've never been there. And it's so cool. I think they just call it Main Street or something like that. But everything's just wrapped around, and it's way smaller than you see it on film. That's fair, yeah. But it's so cool to see the Burger King, which you see a year later in Back to the Future. You know what I mean? You see the clock tower.

It's there. It doesn't have the clock tower, but it has the... You see the movie, the movie marquee is the thing that really... I'm going to talk about that later. When he turns the corner, you see the same... That's exactly where the DeLorean crashes into. It's really cool. But to think they filmed this movie in Los Angeles...

And did such an amazing job with the set design to make it look like wintertime. So this is supposed to be New England, right? I don't know. I think it is. Is it? I believe so. I thought it was like middle of the country. Hold on a second. Yeah. Have you heard Dick Miller's Mr. Futterman?

He sounds like he belongs in Thanksgiving. That's true. He sounds like an extra from Thanksgiving. That's true. He's America. He's mentioning America's price. He goes, hasn't given me a day's trouble in 15 years. You know why? Kentucky harvester, Kentucky harvester. To me, that was like, all right, there it is.

It has to be mass has to be somewhere up in New England. That's where I, I mean, at least I think so. That's true. You never know. There's some other cool locations. I love the downtown streets, which I believe may have been. I don't know if that was universal or the Warner lot. I'm not sure, but that downtown location where, you know, like where Billy lives and that kind of stuff.

Oh, yeah, the streets. Yeah, the streets. But it looks almost like the Burbs. It does. It could be the same street kind of feel to it. It felt a little different than the Burbs to me. Speaking of which, another Joe Dante connection for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. I think all the locations are amazing. It's really cool. Like Dory's Tavern is awesome. You know what I mean? It's great. Every location, the school, like the little town square.

It's all great, dude. The movie theater, we go inside the movie theater, the department store at the end. Everything is so cool. It just feels so real. Yeah, it's really, especially for a 10-year. Think about it. We were 10. Yeah.

I mean, how real this felt. We didn't know, but I love how Dante wanted to make this. Dante was a huge fan of Frank Capra. Yes. It's a wonderful life type. It's a wonderful life type. Echoes of that for sure. It feels. That's why he wanted it. It does. They talked about doing this in like a real town somewhere. but he wanted it to have that studio feel, so that's why they opted to shoot Universal. What would that have done to the budget?

Oh, in a real town? They'd have to shut a town down. They'd have to shut it down. Yeah, probably more expensive, right? But imagine how beautiful. I mean, listen, they did a great job the way it is. Imagine if they shot in, like, Maine or something like that. Seriously. Oh, my God. Yeah. It's like a Hallmark movie, you know? Bahaba? Bahaba.

Camden. Anything else about settings here, Matt? No, I think this is a winner. Yeah. We always talk about settings, how important it is. I think this is a win. All right, great. So we're going to talk about some scenes. So let's start in Chinatown. Yeah.

Beginning of the movie, right? Beginning of the movie. It sets the whole entire movie up. I love the way that Rand is even trying to wheel and deal in the basement shop. Yeah. He's in the shop. He's looking around. And, of course, the bathroom buddy comes out. Yes. And, of course... Is he essentially, I want to think this, is he essentially, did they take data from the Goonies and...

fashion him after Rand, the way there's always something wrong with his invention, squirting something in his face. That's so funny. I never even thought of that. Dude, but think about it now though, right? That's a very Spielberg thing. Again, Spielberg. Yes. Produced both of those movies. Yeah. Right?

But it just seems like the way Rand has his inventions and they don't work the same way Data has his inventions, but they always go wrong. Right. I don't know. I just, I just made that connection. That's a cool parallel. The inept inventor type of thing to make the audience laugh. Again, leading with humor, as we talked about before, that comedy before the.

Cause there's no horror. Yeah. But then he's in there and you hear the, don't you hear before you see him? Oh yeah. You hear him in the background. That's why he keeps turning. He's like. telling the story of the bathroom but i don't even know that you see gizmo in this scene at all no because he's in the box right he's you don't see him until he gets home and billy sees him right right okay i thought so yeah all right so i'm not misremembering no no no you don't see him um

I love the rules. The rules are great. We're introduced to the rules. The little kid tells the rules. But I love the use of slow motion in this whole sequence because they use it at the very beginning. when they show him walking down the street, you know, um, and they use it when he's doing the rules and he's walking out. Yes. Because it's, it's a voiceover over. Yeah. It's so fantastic. But I love how the kid is so street savvy. He's like,

He's a kid, but he's like, no, we need this money. I'm going to do this back alley deal behind grandfathers. Against his wishes. But we need the money. He's a kid, but he's so sweet. I was like, that's pretty cool. That's really cool. Yeah, that's awesome. So Billy, we're talking about Billy opening his present. Yes. Okay. Gremlins presents something that I don't think we see anymore.

in movies at all. What's that? It feels to me, it's a healthy nuclear family, right? When Ran comes home, he's greeted warmly. Think about the warmth. This is where his wife greets him at the door. She affectionately hugs him, right? But right after, sorry to interrupt, right after they have a conversation in the kitchen about how, you know, they're kind of like they're low on money. Something about, you know what I mean? It's like, hey, you know, I met with the bank today.

And dad's inventions aren't working and they always, you know, they always work right away. But a great family that they're all there for each other. So sorry. No, it just, it just seems like, and I don't, I'm not trying to be cynical, but it seems like today. you always show these single disillusioned parents, right? There's always one. Or there's kids from broken homes. It just seems like there's so few foreign between regular family units. By regular, I don't mean...

the same sex parent. I'm not talking about it. I'm not referencing any of that. I just mean a full unit of a family where people are sitting down having dinner. Totally. They have conversations with each other. They genuinely are interested in what your day is. Not just the kid who comes in the house, throws his backpack down and runs to his room, right? And shuts the door. Yeah. It's not that at all. No, it's not.

And I really give props to gremlins for this, for showing this loving family. It certainly is nostalgic for me to see something like this. Yeah, it's kind of cool. Even though my parents ultimately got divorced and everything, but it still was always, you know. I had that for many years. I think...

I think growing up, that was our families that we saw on TV and film. That's what we saw. We saw the typical perfect family. You know what I mean? And I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, but for me, it was comforting. You know what I mean? It was a nice thing to see.

Um, I think now families are portrayed a little more real. You know what I mean? Obviously they've kind of like modern family, like shows like that. When you say real, I meant like realistic in the sense of divorced parents and broken. Well, that's what I'm saying, right?

you almost just don't see a regular two parents and two kids or whatever. I get it. And it's like you said, dynamics have changed. Yeah. A lot of things have changed, but it's just, you watch something like this, like, wow, it's stepping into it. pie machine or something like wow this is just not like this anymore but it's kind of comforting to put on it's like a warm blanket to put on i agree so again this is the scene where you see gizmo

First time. Billy unwraps the present. When he jumps up like that, I love that. You get a hint of what the stakes are going to be because when Mrs. Peltzer rips her camera out and takes a picture, that's rule broken. Right, exactly. You get that already, right? Yep. but mike then there's that beautiful follow-up scene where gizmo is singing oh when he's sitting at the castle yes dude and billy's trying to replicate gizmo's melody on his keyboard yes okay

This scene to me, I love, my mind works like this in crazy ways. I don't know why, but to me, it's like Martin and Sean Brody at the table in Jaws. Like the scene where he's copying him. In this way, it's different.

But here you have Gizmo and Billy. He's trying to literally copy his melody, but it's this bonding, beautiful, like, warm moment. And that just makes me so happy to watch this scene. It's like... scenes like this we talk about all the time it's like those are the moments that as an audience especially as a 10 year old we were like i want a i want a yes a gizmo i want that keyboard i want

That attic bedroom? Yes. Come on. Oh, yeah. Did you have any friends with an attic bedroom? When I was older and we were in between houses, we rented this house and it had my bedrooms up. No way. Dude, that's so cool. Just most ridiculous. Upstairs. Oh my God, that's so cool. Went out to a deck like outside. Oh my God, dude. That's awesome. By the way, a little behind the scenes fact. Do you know what Billy was playing on the keyboard during that scene when they filmed it? No.

Absolutely nothing. Really? Nothing. He wasn't playing anything. Gizmo wasn't singing. So it's all done post. All post. Okay. They didn't even know. They sold it to me. They didn't even know Gizmo's theme at that moment. Goldsmith didn't even write it yet. Okay. He just said, pretend he's singing. How does Gizmo's theme go, Mike?

That was pretty good. I love it, dude. I love it. So, Mike, when our friend Pete, our friend Pete comes over. Dude, Corey Feldman. Now, I wanted to ask you this question before we talk about Pete. Yeah. Performance-wise. Let's just rank Corey Feldman, kid Corey Feldman. So we have the Goonies. Yes. Gremlins. Yeah. Friday 4. Friday 4. And is there something else we can throw in there? I mean, he's older. He's in the burbs, but that's like...

four or five years later. Yeah. Right. The lost boys. He's kind of a teenager. So let's just do those three. You want to just rank those three? Wait, the three gremlins, Goonies and Friday. Yes. Yeah. Honestly, this is goes last for me. Really? And I'll explain why Mike. Pete gets abandoned in this movie. He does. I'm sorry. He gets abandoned. But I'm not basing it on that. I'm basing it on his performance. Yeah, he's excellent. Yeah. He's gone.

disappears for the whole entire second hour of the movie. Why wouldn't he show up to the end, man? I have no clue. Wouldn't that make it so cool if he just showed up and he's helping them in the department store? Yes. Why not? Yeah, I didn't even think of that. That would have been the best. Yeah, he just disappeared.

So I'm not saying he's not good. He's excellent. He's fighting up in his room. Okay, that's the last time you see him. They have this just insert of him with a slingshot in his bedroom window. I mean, fine, right? You see him there. But then they're just like, oh, yeah, we forgot about Pete.

Show a quick scene. Right. Slingshot. Oh, well, there you go. Bye, Pete. Everybody wave bye to Pete. Maybe he died and they didn't want to call. Well, we'll talk about that, too, dude, because there's some interesting stuff. All right. So you'd put it last. So what would be? I would have to. I think I would probably put Goonies first.

Yeah. It's so good. But Friday 4 is right on his heels because he's really good. No, he's great in all three. And he's got a big part in that movie. Yes, he does. And that's the reason this is last. Yeah. So I'm going Goonies Friday 4. Okay.

um gremlins i would go gremlins goonies and then friday four you're going gremlins first i just you're not forgiving the you're forgiving the fact that they abandoned his character dude i will tell you the one scene that sold me in and would make me put him number one when he first meets gizmo

Yes. And he's talking to Gizmo. Well, that's what we're talking about here. Yes. Yeah. He is talking to him like he's a real animal. Yeah. His performance. I'm like, dude, that's fucking real. That, that gremlin, that Gizmo is real. He's real. He's right here. He's real. It reminded me when Gertie first meets E.T. Yes! Right? He's Gertie in this scene. Yes! But they put a little spin on it because it's definitely not Drew Barrymore, right? It's... You have a... Essentially...

Corey Feldman's a better actor than Drew was at eight years old. Yeah. She was excellent. She's amazing. Yeah. But him in this movie, he's just more seasoned. Like he's just, he's got it going on. Right. Right. And the way, like you said, the way he talks to him, the way he interacts with him. But I don't know, man. He's klutzy. Klutzy Tommy Jarvis spilling water. He creates Stripe pretty much in this moment.

the Mogwai version of Jason Voorhees is created in this movie. He's the catalyst moment, basically, for that. But I love the fact that his dad makes him wear that Christmas tree to deliver trees. How cool is that? I want to live in a town where that happens. That is awesome, by the way. I love that. And he just comes in the house.

He just walks right now. That's what I mean. That's missing from today. You can't just walk in someone's house. Well, he knew. He knows Billy, too. It's just that small town, though, that wonderful little. Yeah. I think in the screenplay, Billy was supposed to be a lot younger. I think he was supposed to be like 13 years old or something like that.

I'm glad they didn't go that direction. No, I'm glad too. Cause it kind of, it's kind of nice. I like, I like when like a teenager and a kid are like friends, you know what I mean? It shows that Billy is like, doesn't have a ton of friends. He's just kind of like at that verge of growing up and you know, he's like about to be an adult and.

He's sort of like stuck in between kind of, you know? Well, we get this. I mean, it's just too fleeting for me because Corey here, he, Corey basically has to kill Jason Voorhees.

In Friday 4, here he creates Jason Voorhees. The gremlin version of Jason Voorhees. And then he disappears. Not to fight anything. Well, to fight some of the... people well he's fighting yeah he's fighting so like a snack before midnight yes and before is in all caps here yeah because billy thinks he's feeding the mogwai before midnight yeah but what has actually happened stripe is

cut the wire of the alarm clock. He has very clever, smart. It's telling him it's only 1135. But meanwhile, because the genius of the scene and Joe Dante and the editor. is they cross-cut this scene with Mr. Hanson at school. Yes. And you see his clock, which clearly reads like 20 to 2. Yeah. It's in the middle of the night. And he's like, I'm out. And it's the same time. Yeah. Right? Yeah. So you're wondering, wait a minute. Wait. Is that a mistake or is...

Like something's wrong. Yeah. That's why the payoff is so great when he pulls the wire. Yeah. Cause you see it and you're like, Oh, that's so genius how they plant it. I know. And I love when he says to his mom, he's like, mom, what's going on? Yeah. When he, and he grabs the wire and he's like, Holy shit. You know?

Dude, and the fact that they're watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers. So cool. I mean, just little touches like that. I know. I love stuff like that. And I love, like, we talked about the attic room, but Billy's got, like, a TV mounted up on the ceiling. And, like, it's, like, right by his bed. Like, I just want to sit.

Billy's is watching TV. I know. I want to sit in bed with Gizmo and watch facial expressions. Oh, he's all. I know. He's scared. He's got the pod people. Yeah. Here come the pods though, man. This is foreshadowing, right? This is a big time foreshadowing. Yeah. Really cool scene.

But dude, when the science teacher, Mr. Hanson, basically gets dragged under the desk, right? Right. Is this the moment where it becomes a slasher movie? It does, yeah. Basically. Yeah, because this scared the fuck out of me as a kid. I don't know about you. I don't think I saw the scene in theaters the first time. I think I covered my eyes. So they made his death really comical because he just has the one needle hanging in his ass, basically, right? But the original script, dude...

They had dozens of hypodermic needles sticking out of his face. Yeah, Columbus went. Out of his face. Yeah, Columbus went way, way more horrific. Can you imagine that? Yeah, that would have been imagine a 10 year old seeing that you would have been like, I want to go home. But again, the marketing could have been like, oh, here's a fun, fun, family friendly film. Right. And then boom, you know, and that leads us, Mike, to the the.

Penultimate. The ultimate. The ultimate scene. Mrs. Peltzer kitchen massacre. So Indiana Jones had come out at the end of May. Here we are just a couple of weeks later. Right? The entire movie industry has changed in basically three weeks. Yeah. Molaram rips somebody's heart out. Mrs. Peltzer is literally killing gremlins in the most gruesome ways in front of your eyes. Do you hear what I hear, Matty? In the microwave.

By the way, did you read any magazine? I'm curious because did you read Starlog or Fangori or anything before this movie came out? Did you see anything or know anything that was coming? I don't think I was reading those magazines when I was 10. Okay. Did you? I don't recall that I saw this beforehand because if I had, there's just had to have been in one of those. Oh, it had to be covered. Thank you. I would have covered this. Oh, hell yeah. Yeah.

Now that you say that, I want to search it down. I do too. I'm obsessed. You should find it on eBay. That would be awesome. We'll split it. That's the thing with me and Mike now. We're going to start splitting stuff. We can't afford to stop. So we're going to pool our money and just waste it together. I'll read it. I'll give it to Matt and I'll get it two years later.

Yeah, but it gets good use. I'm using the shit out of that. You have to know. I know. But Mike, so you didn't know the operatic levels of disgusting that were going to be reached. No. Yeah, so I didn't. And my parents didn't either. But here's the promise of the premise. When we talk about. screenplay. This is the scene, fun and games. Here it goes. Here we go. Christmas music coming on.

When she goes upstairs, but the record player starts playing. Yes. It's awesome. She's got the huge knife. It's like, oh my. I could just see little kids cowering. I'm sure at that point they were freaking out. It's scary stuff. So then you get your first close-up at the Bad Gremlin. This is the first time you see the Bad Gremlin. Right, because they just hatched. Right, it's just hatched, but she's making those gingerbread cookies. Yeah, she made those gingerbread cookies.

They look like family gingerbread cookies. But they didn't look very good. They look like horrible gingerbread cookies. She doesn't know how to ice, Mrs. Peltzer. She doesn't know how to ice at all. By the way, how is yellow a Christmas cookie? she's doing? I'm glad you agree with me. Looks like she fucking pissed on it or something. Am I the only one who thinks these gingerbread cookies look like ass? They were awful.

What is she doing? It's like making Easter on Christmas. Yeah, I don't know. Baby blue on there? I don't know. I don't even know. They might be a little shade of red, but I saw yellow. I just remember the yellow. Yellow, yellow, yeah. So he's eating the cookie. Yeah, and then she... Gets the blender. Yeah. Right? Yes. And then after deflecting the flying dinner plates, she...

Gets that one on the counter. And there's more than one stab, right? Yeah, it's not just one. It's like at least two, if not three times she's stabbing. Yeah, it's like a Myers, Michael Myers stab for sure. She's a warrior, man. She is, dude. And she's like, and at this point, not only is she not afraid. She starts hunting them. Like when she leaves the kitchen, it's like...

Yes. There she is, Mrs. Pelson. Look out. Yeah, yeah. And then the Christmas tree gremlin. Oh, that was the best. Wow. That scared the crap out of me. That was an incredible scene. So cool, because it just starts to shake a little bit. Yes. And then Billy. comes in i know i know decapitates so they kept a little bit of this in yes because then they take the burning head like flies into the fire yeah right uh-huh dude

Did we forget? There's the microwave, though, too. Oh, there's the microwave. No, no, because that happens right after the blender. So the blender, microwave, and then she stabs the one. The microwave's great. Yeah, it's so good. Oh, it's insane. Yeah, yeah, it's great, yeah. You think Urban Legend ripped off the microwave? You know what? Now that you bring it up...

Why not? Yeah, they might have, right? This is 15 years earlier. Yeah, it could have been. Sure. But I can still see, man, uncomfortable parents in the theater just like, what did I sign up for? In their seats like, oh, God. Hands maybe halfway around their kids' eyes or ears. That was probably my parents, to be honest with you. This is not what we signed up for. My son wanted to see this.

He's going to be sick someday. So that leads us, Mike, to the Kingston Falls YMCA. Which is so cool, man. And Stripe slashes Billy. That one scene where he slashes him, it's nasty. Oh, my God. Before he jumps in. Yes. Evil, man. And then he turns it into this horrible green smoking cocktail of imminent danger. Yeah, it's crazy. And now, Mike, those parents whose kids are traumatized by the knifing scene in the kitchen, in the microwave.

They're now leaving the theater at this point with this green cesspool and more gremlins. They're like, no, she just did this with two or three gremlins in the kitchen. Now there's hundreds of them. Matt, it went from standard community pool to Chernobyl smoothie in about six seconds.

Yes, I love that so much. That's really good. That's on point, dude. And Matt, honestly, the lifeguard should have stepped in. I don't know if he was off duty. Someone's got to enforce the no monster replication in the deep. I don't know. I think that sign was missing. I think it was. I like the Chernobyl. Mike, that is good. That's classic, dude.

So, Mike, the Futtermans. I love the Futtermans. The Futtermans get plowed. Do you love the Futtermans? Because I love the Futtermans. I mean, you don't get enough time with the Futtermans. You don't. Not both of them. You get a little bit more time with Mr. Futterman. Yeah. Not nearly enough time with the both of them. It's like...

watching a 50s version of something it's definitely a commentary on like like leave it to beaver's parents or something yeah totally so you have several hints of these mus of the gremlins musical theme right yep which is what what's the gremlin the gremlin theme The gremlin thing. Yeah. Right. So you get little just bits in different iterations to make real soft. But when that snowplow comes bursting, you get it the full Jerry Goldsmith. I'm going to freaking.

Plow you with my strings and everything else and everything. It's just bam. And it's glorious. It's awesome. It's so good. My question is this, Mike. Do the Futtermans get killed? I think so. Do they? Yeah. Okay. I think they're gone, don't you think? I mean, it seems that they are. They're about to get run over by his own tractor. They don't show it, but it certainly appears to be. Yeah, the last shot you see, they're like, they're like, ah!

You know, with the lights coming at him. I thought so, too. But we're going to talk about that. Now, the witch, Mrs. Deagle, finally takes flight. That's what I call this scene, Mike. Because she's a witch. We've seen her in her bitchery.

And the audience is, if you are older, not a little kid, cowering at the screen, you're just waiting for this lady to die. Right. This is the one. I want to see the gremlins just take this lady apart. Yeah. Or do something really memorable. Let me ask you a question. When I first saw this movie. I thought this woman was different.

than Mrs. Deagle. You didn't think it was Mrs. Deagle? No, I thought it was just some random old lady because I don't know why I think she looked different or something in this. It's just like a weird thing, but I always remember that. The only way you knew is when the cops drive by and they go, wait, that's Mrs. Deagle. Yeah. But it was funny. When I first saw this, I'm like, that's somebody else. Like, it always stuck with me. But why would it have been?

I don't know. When I was 10, dude, I didn't know. That's true. You weren't like, oh, this lady needs her comeuppance for treating Billy and Kate like crap in the bank. But I always remember that. You know, I always remember that as like a thing. Like, oh, you know. But was this worth the wait?

uh, for the kill. Yeah. Oh yeah, totally. Oh, I think it was great. What a great, I love how she's like playing with her cats and she's, you know, walking around and there was actually, this is cool. There was actually a scene they filmed. Where Mrs. Deagle walks by a picture of her husband or her late husband. Yes. And says like, oh, I forget what his name was. Oh, Harry or something like that. I want to be with you or something. Something like that. Sentimental. And they're like.

It makes her too human. We got to cut it out. They cut it out because like they wanted her to stay kind of like evil. You know what I mean? But correct me if I'm wrong. The genius of the scene, don't they show the stair, the stair lift working normally before they show it? in turbo mode? Well, yeah, I think because they mess with it, right? They show the one gremlin messing with it. Correct. But do they show it working regularly before that?

I can't remember. Or if they just go from zero to bam, she gets on it. Was it a previous scene? No, it couldn't have been because that's the only time we see her house is in this scene. So they must have. They must have shown her on it. You know what I mean? I mean, they launch her straight across the street. Oh, totally, Matt.

People go peacefully. Mrs. Deagle went like a Looney Tunes character who made too many enemies. Definitely. Because they even use a Looney Tunes sound effect. It's a Wile E. Coyote death. Yes, it really is. Oh, God. Yeah, that's awesome. So, Mike, we go to one of the best locations, Dory's Tavern. Love this spot.

Gremlin's swaying at the bar like drunken sailors. Yes. One with three cigarettes in his mouth. She's lighting all three. Kate's trying to lean over and light all the different cigarettes. Dude, she's working the bar like it's a two-for-one Gremlin happy hour. She totally is, man. Shit's flying everywhere.

She is just meeting all this demand. She is. She's all by herself. Where's Dory? Is Dory dead? I don't know. Because he was there before. You know what I mean? The other night. He was, right? Yeah, because he's the one that serves Gerald, I guess.

Right, he was there in the earlier scene when he hits on Gerald. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he's like, give these guys at the pool table three rounds. You know what I mean? Yes, correct. Yeah, maybe it's just his night off. Is Dory related to Kate? Is it her father?

Or is it just she just works there to kind of... Because why would she be working for free? Remember in that scene? He's like... He says something... Do they ever really get to the bottom of it? Gerald says something about she doesn't make money there. She's doing it as charity. Yeah. So I don't know if she's... That's why it made me think it's the family business. Because remember, she makes them... He's like, she's...

Passing around like a thing to sign to save Dory's Tavern. Yes, yes. Because Ms. Deagle wants to shut it down. No, of course, yeah. So either it's a family thing or she's just like loves the place. But it's not her father's place. We know that, right? Or is it? No, it can't be because her father's dead. Of course he is. But I'm saying, did she take it over as, and with a...

I don't know I think she's just like very sentimental about the town small town her town yeah I agree with that that's probably what it is but um You get the gremlin that flashes her. You get the gangster gremlin, Stripe, who shoots another card-playing gremlin. But establishing his dominance. Even in the little moments like that, they're still establishing this is the guy.

Yeah. This is the one. Yeah, he's the kid. So even though we're doing this kitschy, weird, funny stuff, it's still like, no, no, no. He's the bad man. Right. The Jane Fonda workout gremlins. Oh, my God. The breakdancing gremlins. Yes, dude.

Is this the birth of Gremlins 2? Yes. Yes. Yes, it is. They said, this scene was really funny. We're going to make a movie based around this. Based around this whole thing. Yeah. And I don't think you're a very big fan of that movie. I'm not. And I think it's great. I'm not. I think it's great. I got to rewatch it again. You do. I'm telling you, you so have to rewatch it because the clever, it's so clever. There's so many in jokes, but they're allowed to do it because it's still Joe Dante. Yeah.

Yeah, I know. It's this universe that he was part of. I know. And then he skewers it, which I think is great. He's the guy that deserves to do it. If it was somebody else just making it, it'd be like, eh, it's all right. Right, right. But it's really well made. It's like probably...

as good or better made as far as a movie. Right. But you're never going to like it as much as this. No, I will never. But you're going to like it better than you do now, which is you don't like it. All right. Well, I'll see. We'll see. I'm going to give it a watch and I'll let you know. Mm-hmm. So...

Kate discovers they don't like bright light in the scene. Yes. With the lighter, right? Yeah, because she becomes like Mrs. Peltzer 2.0. But instead of wielding a knife, she's got her Polaroid. And she's like... So she's running around. Mrs. Peltzer's running around like a warrior, killing people with a knife.

and blenders and all you know all the kitchenware yes she's going around with polaroid just giving them bright light yep right knocking them all the scenes of them just like tipping over they're half drunk anyway yeah and then she speeds up the fan and the one smashes it into the

the beer sign which i love that yeah so cool yep so mike this is the scene where there's a shot of them i think they go into the bank that's been looted or something in that one scene it's a real quiet scene right that's where she does their whole monologue monologue which is awful Which is awful. But then when they emerge from that scene, there's this slow, like, camera craning up to show...

I guess they're trying to show the damage and the destruction by showing the whole downtown street. And there's a car fire here. And you can see that they hit whatever on the side over here. Yep. And it's... incredible but but you see the marquee and it's like wow it's like if you if you freeze frame a shot from back to the future and hill valley oh yeah the scene where marty goes when doc sends marty back yeah from 1955 yep and he's running in the street yeah

And you could see everything. Yeah. It's like the same scene. It's the same shot. It's incredible. Yeah. It's absolutely incredible. I think you can even see the moon. Oh, really? I don't know. I think he can. By the way, Mike, those winter moons, they get pretty full.

yeah you know the teens everywhere it seemed to you know kind of go a little bit wild totally yeah but um that's a great scene it is a great but it's nothing it's so quiet there's no music yeah you get kate's horrific speech god and then into this

I know. Beautiful, slow, them emerging and discovering, wow, there's a lot going on here. By the way, I don't know, when I used to watch this with my kids when they were younger, I'd always have to skip this scene when they still believed in Santa Claus because Kate says... You had to.

Kate, at the end, she says, and that's how I found out there's no Santa Claus. Exactly right. My kids watch this early on when they still believe in Santa. And I would have to, my kids were like, what are you doing, daddy? And I'd be like, oh, nothing. The tape's broken. So yeah, parents out there, before you go jump to show this to your kids, make sure you skip the scene if your kids still believe it. Yeah, well, those parents I was talking about before.

If they're still in this movie theater at this point, they're gone. Yeah, that's true. And they want their money back. So, Mike, the gremlins go to the movies. Hi-ho, hi-ho. Oh, wow. It's off to work we go. Yes. So what do you think the...

the significance of the Snow White thing is. I mean, I was trying to figure, I was trying to work that out. I almost thought of Kate in Dory's Tavern with all the people around her and stuff. But I don't know. It's kind of cool that they use Snow White. Is it just because they had access to it? Maybe.

Yeah. Is it a little poke at Disney, maybe? I think if you're talking about Joe Dante and you're talking about this movie, I absolutely think that it's a poke. I think it's a little poke at Disney. I do, too. Like, hey, you know, we're going to...

They had to pay for it, obviously. You know what I mean? They would have had. They had to. Right. No, you can't just play this in a movie and not give credit to it. The reason it's a poke at Disney is because Billy and Kate go down and turn all the burners and the gas on. Yes. And then proceed to explode. Yeah.

Snow White. Yes, exactly. They blow up Snow White. They burn her to death, yeah. So, I mean, if that's not a statement of something, it has to be. It has to be, dude. Yeah. But there's something so cute about... the innocence of the gremlins at that moment because we've seen them and we're scared of them at that up leading up to this it just kind of lulls them into a like they're passive at this point but they're almost like they almost like

they almost become more innocent and they're like, they're cheering and they're like little kids. You know what I mean? And that's what makes the scene also traumatic as a kid because they're kind of acting like children and then they're on fire. You know what I mean?

It's pretty damn scary, you know? But of course, Stripe is not there because he's escaped to the furniture store. What's he looking for? He looks for candy or something. He's looking for candy. Yeah, he sees the candy sign. He's like, ugh, duds. By the way, is Frank Welker...

The guy who does Fred Jones and Scooby, isn't he the guy who does Stripe's voice? I think so. I think he is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I believe he is. Because we know Howie Mandel does Gizmo's voice. Howie Mandel does Gizmo. I think... believe Frank Welker does really I think he does that's cool I mean that guy's everywhere yeah yeah that guy's just a voice man yeah and by the way you know who else is in this movie doing something is Michael Winslow who's the guy from all the

Oh, yes. Police Academy movies. That's right. Who does all those different weird sounds. I think he did some of the gremlins, and I think he did some stuff for Gizmo, too. I think he may have. How he couldn't have done. You know what I mean? Yeah, he couldn't do or something like that. So just amazing talent. I mean, they found everyone. Oh, my God. It's so cool.

Yeah, that's so fun. This is just all hands on deck, this movie. It is, totally. Yep. So, Mike, the ending. Yeah, the department store. Yeah, we end up at the department store. Do you love this scene? I do. I think it's so fun. I think it's like... It's darker, though. It's darker, but it's like such a heroic, perfect thing. And by the way, two weeks before they started shooting, do you know that this ending was different?

Yeah, because Billy was supposed to help Gizmo open one of the slots or whatever. But they wanted Gizmo to be the hero. I think that's Spielberg again stepping in. Yeah, which is really smart. He wanted him to be the hero. Yeah. And the puppeteers are like, fuck you, Spielberg. We got to do what?

Just put him in the Barbie car. Let the human do it, for God's sakes. Well, that's when the Barbie car comes into play, right? It's so good, though, dude. Yeah, but dude, those puppeteers were so pissed.

Oh, my God. But, Mike, if any of these little kids and these parents are actually still left in the theater after the massacre in the kitchen, after Kate's speech... after dory's tavern if they're still here now we have stripes yes putrid oh putrid yes death and honestly to me the death of stripe is like billy cole's death in fright night oh yeah on the stairs yeah the leaking oh right

The disintegration and the leakage and the green. It's so cool. It's amazing. Such a crazy cool special effect. But I wonder if Fright Night guys, I wonder if Tom Holland was like, I really like that. Like we got to find some place to put something like that. Yeah, I agree. Yeah.

That's cool. But you're a fan of Gizmo saving the day and doing his thing with the Barbie car? I think you have a lot more longevity of the movie itself when you have that. I mean, I don't see a huge issue if they're both doing it. At the end of the day, it's Billy and Gizmo. Yeah, of course. And Kate. And Kate. But I just wonder why Spielberg had such a problem with Billy even doing anything.

Yeah, I don't know. I kind of agree. It's kind of interesting, right? Because Billy fights with Stripe, you know what I mean? And gets injured and stuff like that. That's true. And then Gizmo comes and kind of saves the day. He's like, he's trying to save Billy and fight to save Billy and Kate, which I think is really...

And I think ultimately, honestly, like I said, I think the staying power of the movie is having that happen. Yeah, totally. And people, you know, all the merchandising. Oh, yeah. People were...

instantly went out and bought 900 gizmos. Yeah, that's true. Yep. What do you think of, do you like the film ending on Rand's ending monologue? Do you like his monologue at the end? Oh, I love it. Do you? Because it's a bookmark. They start the film with a monologue. Absolutely. Which, by the way, they originally...

didn't start the film with a monologue. They started with Rand shopping, talking to some lady, and that's when the kid comes over and says, hey, you don't want to buy that. Come with me. I'll show you something cool. So isn't that interesting? Yes. Yeah, they started that way. But the fact that they bookended with the monologue, the little voiceover monologue, I thought was really cool. It is cool. Yeah. So characters, Mike. Yeah. Did you know, before we start here...

Nicky Cat. You know Clint from Dazed and Confused? Yeah. Who punches Adam Goldberg in the face in that outdoor party. He's in this movie as one of the kids somewhere. He is? I looked at the cast list. Nicky Cat is one of the kids.

It's his school children. Oh, is it probably the snowball scene where they're having a snowball fight? I think so, maybe. But he's one of those kids. Dude, that's funny. And then who would know, dude? Like 10 years later, he'd be punching that guy. I'm the one smoking marijuana, motherfucker! Can you imagine from this to that? I love his arc, man. Oh, it's awesome. Holy crap. So Mike Gerald is Judge Reinhold, man. Yes. So this is a Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates reunion. Do you know what the...

First movie they did. Fast Times. Fast Times, right. So I think Gremlins can be looked at as a sequel to Fast Times. Because Judge Reinhold still has a raging heart on for Phoebe Cates. He does. He does. So Phoebe Cates is the character Linda from Fast Times. was so creeped out by finding Judge Reinhold whacking off in her bathroom in fast times, she left Southern California for New England. There you go. She went into hiding.

in a little-known town named Kingston Falls, not thinking that Brad, now changing his name to Gerald, would find her and continue to sexually harass her in horrible ways. You haven't seen my new apartment, Kate. I haven't seen your old apartment. I haven't seen your old apartment. I love that line. Again, here is the thing about this movie that throws me into complete chaos. The same way they abandoned Pete.

Where does Gerald go in this movie? That's true. Where does he go? He asks her on a date. Yeah. When do you see him again? Do we see him in the mayhem scene at all? Do we? I don't know. I'm trying to remember. I just watched this movie like three times this week. I don't think we see him in the main. You see the cops, right? The cops crash the car. He disappears the same way Pete disappears. Yeah, all right. He's just abandoned. Yeah.

I know. Why not bring him back? Columbus dropped the ball a little bit. A little bit. Just a little bit. Or maybe there was a scene and they just cut it out. You know what I mean? It could have been, but... Maybe it's in the script. It doesn't stand a reason.

Why can't he be somewhere? Why can't he show up somewhere in Dory's Tavern and be like, I'm done with this crap. Or at least say that until he's done. I see that you're Billy now or whatever. You band with these stupid little gremlins. I'm out of here. Whatever. Right, but don't blame...

columbus i guarantee he he in the script i bet you there is sort of like an ending for two of them i gotta blame somebody mike because these characters are just i think it's dante dante's like we're gonna cut him cut him out let's do something else

So him and Pete, what are they doing? Are they just hanging out somewhere? Maybe Pete shot him in the head with his slingshot. Do you think they need this tomorrow? Should we report to set? Yeah. So Pete, again, here he is. We talked about him, yeah. We did talk about him. About to go on a dream run for a child actor. Friday 4, Gremlins, Goonies, Stand By Me. I forgot Stand By Me. The Lost Boys, License to Drive, The Burbs. I mean, what a run.

that's a run yeah look what he's turned into so if you had to if you had to put the um Stand By Me in here, where would you put him? He's not the lead in Stand By Me as much as he is. He's not, but don't you think Stand By Me is at the next level of his career? It's really close. It's right on the cusp there. It is. I would group... Stand by me with Lost Boys and that group. You know what I mean? Yeah.

I don't know. I just thought this movie needed one more time when Pete could have been in it. I agree. I wanted to see him because I love him. You know what I mean? I think he's great. Even if he just showed up to, like, cower in the corner with Kate while Gizmo was exposing Spike. Right. Not Spike, Strike. Excuse me.

Just in the court, like there he is. All right, good. Oh, there's Pete. We see some continuity. Sure. Some closure. So anything like instead of where the fuck is Pete? Right. Exactly. Which is what I'm getting. Like I said, the last time you see him, he's fending off the gremlins with a slingshot. And then who knows? We're going to move on to Mr. Futterman, right? Yes. So what do you think of Mr. Futterman? I think he's like the town drunk, basically, right? Yep.

And he's a conspiracy theorist. I think you could classify him. He's talking about real gremlins in his tractor and stuff like that. He is. And he's also speaking the truth. Yeah, he is. In his drunken way. Mike, I love when you have these... drunk guys as soothsayers. They're telling you exactly what's going to happen, but he's a drunken madman and you'd never listen to him in this moment, but he's telling you exactly what you need to know. Right.

But you're disregarding him. Yeah, he's speaking the truth, basically. He knows what's going to happen and the bad things that are about to go down, for sure. I mean, he's horribly out of touch. He's living in the past. He's like the 50s version, the macho, true-blooded American guy, right? Supporting all American products. This foreign crap, like he's always going off about that.

He thinks Smiling Jack and Lil Abner are still funnies that are published in the Sunday paper. It's a little out of touch. He is a little bit, but like I said, he's telling you the truth, man. Gremlins are what took down our planes in WW2, Mike. I don't know about that. But also, Mike, if you think about this tie-in, a gremlin is what they called the thing on the wing of the plane.

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet in the Twilight Zone. That's right. That's right. It's a gremlin. Yeah, yeah. So it's kind of cool how that ties into all that stuff. And that's what he's talking about here, right? Yeah. Kind of in that same era. Do you know when the gremlins were kind of like first introduced into pop culture? When? It was a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Which is funny. It's like a Warner Brothers. It makes sense. Mike, here's where I want to dispel something.

If you rewatch the end of this movie, there's a news report going on the TV. And I think, don't quote me on this, but I think they talk about how Mr. Futterman is in the hospital. Really?

They're going to go to see or talk to Mr. Futterman. How did I miss that? I don't know, but rewatch it. And everybody do me a favor, rewatch it. I don't know if Mr. Futterman's dead, which is why I was asking about this before, because I'm not sure if I'm imagining this or if this is actual something that's true.

That's crazy, dude. That's so funny. They don't say anything about Mrs. Futterman. So she may have gotten plowed. Yeah, she got run over and he... Oh my God, that's nuts. All right, Mrs. Deagle, Matty. So... I love the introduction of her character. She's literally walking downtown with a snowman head decoration. And she is like, every person is just diving out of her way. Yeah. Yeah. Basically. Yeah, totally. The way they say, I mean, we always talk about character.

and development and everything. But how do you set it up? How do you introduce a character? This is the way to introduce a character. Everyone's obviously like, oh, here comes the eagle. Get out of the way. Well, she's Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life, right? She's that, and she, to me, because she seems to have her own theme song, reminds me of the Mrs. Gulch in Wizard of Oz riding her bike toward Dorothy's house.

Comes with it, you know, that whole theme music, right? It does, yeah. And this is kind of her theme. If you listen to even what Jerry Goldsmith's playing in the score, it is very much mimicking... Probably it's a wonderful life character-wise, but I think thematically and music-wise, it gives me an echo of Miss Gulch, right? She has to be some way. And even the way she, because remember...

What does Miss Gultz want? And she wants, I'm going to, give me your dog. I want your dog. Oh, that's true. What does Miss Deagle want? Oh, my God. She wants, not only, she wants to put it in her dryer on high heat. Yes. She wants to kill the dog. I love, by the way, when the guy goes, that'll do it. But think about that. That connective tissue there is crazy.

Crazy, crazy. Good stuff. And she is the Wicked Witch of the story. She is. So in many ways, I think you're right about it. No, it is. But I love how it can tribute these things and just bury it, but not be so overbearingly in your face. Yeah. Right. Speaking of, real quick, this is just, I'm jumping randomly, but Frank Capra, huge influence of this movie, right? Do you know that the...

In the scene where they're watching the educational film in the classroom and the teacher's showing that. Yes, yes, yes. Hanson. Yes, Mr. Hanson. The educational film was directed by...

No. Frank Capra. No, it wasn't. It was. Are you kidding? It's something about like a hair. It's like all about the heart or something. So it's an old Frank Capra directed thing that they reused. You mean you didn't just do it for this film? No, no, no, no. No, it was an old one, but they put it in there. Isn't that cool?

That's amazing. I think that's so cool. Little things like that. Again, that's just those little patchwork describing everything and it all works. It does. It should be a disaster, but somehow it's perfect. Yeah. I love that you point that out because I think that's awesome. No, it's cool. So Mrs. Peltzer, Mike. Yeah. Do you know who she was? She was in another movie playing a mom from the same year. Oh, God. She was going to this...

far away Kansas town in the middle of nowhere with her son. He just wanted to dance, Mike. He just wanted to dance. Yes, that's it. She was Kevin Bacon's mom in Footloose. Footloose. That's right. probably the most legendary scene in this movie, at least to me, is her battle scene. And I don't want to be misogynistic or demeaning to women at all, Mike, but this woman knows her way around the kitchen. She does.

The way she so deftly activates the buttons on that blender. A man wouldn't even know where the button was to start that thing. There's no way. No. He would be swinging. He'd be doing, like, she just, the way she makes, you could just. Yeah. I don't know if that's actually thinking about it now. Joe Dante could have been ahead of the curve here. He could be like making fun of like anti-feminism. Like he could be like.

For the women, like standing up going, this is how men see women. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But almost making fun of it. Yeah, sure. With a sophisticated wit. And I think he could be, right? If a dude was in the kitchen, this... If Mr. Peltzer or Rand was in, it would have gone a whole different way. It was probably Peltzer's, his own blender though, so he might have known.

She's doing more than her part for wiping out the population of gremlins in Kingston Falls. She's good. She's like the John Wick of the movie. By the way, the original script had the gremlins eating Barney the dog. Yep. And decapitating. Yeah. Decapitating.

Lynn Peltzer. I think Billy comes inside and her head rolls. They throw her head down the steps. Yeah. Are you kidding me? Oh, that would have been awful. Could you imagine 10 year old seeing that? Terrifier way before Terrifier. Oh my God. Crazy. That's terrible. Yeah.

Well, I can see why they changed that and Spielberg said, nah, we're not going to. Yeah, maybe not. Chris, why don't you tone that down a little bit? Gizmo, our buddy Gizmo. The first Furby, Mike. Yes, that's right. Speaking of. They definitely based Furbies off. That's right. Yeah, maybe. Probably.

Who's cuter than Gizmo, Mike? Nobody. Well, maybe Phoebe Cates. Well, yeah. Gizmo's awesome. I fell in love with Gizmo. I love that. I know, man. He's so cute. He's your in to this movie. Oh, yeah. When you're a kid? Totally. Yeah, absolutely. Again, insisting, Spielberg insisting that there has to be a good one of these things that the audience can grab onto, right? Because originally, Gizmo turned into Stripe.

Yes, that's right. In the original screenplay. In the original screenplay, Gizmo basically transformed into Stripe. And there goes your good guy, right? Because he becomes a bad guy. But there goes your in. There goes your thread throughout the story of having this hero. There goes your heroic character. So I love, I think that's the genius of having a team behind a movie. Right, right. Yeah, totally.

You know, knowing when to say no, knowing when to say, yeah, that's really good. Go with that. And I don't know. I just think it's... But hats off to the animatronic team to make Gizmo who he was because all of his little movements and his little, you know, like in the sound team, you know, like to make Gizmo sound that way.

Look that way and move. You know what I mean? It really, really was awesome. You know, it's sad to think today they would just be like, hey, we'll just create like a CGI version of this character. Right. But why? So sad. Yeah. Real fur. You know what I mean? Real movements. That goes such a long way. Real movements, Mike. Yeah, there he is. You want to turn them on now? Yeah, man. Turn them on.

Played by character, Rand now, right? He's played by this actor and composer, Hoyt Axton is his name. It's like, you looked at this guy and you're like, where do I know this guy? Right, right. Because I used to watch Bionic Woman, like, religiously. Me too.

He popped up there. He was in a couple episodes there. Trapper John, MD. Different Strokes, Growing Pain. These are all shows we watched. And this guy would show up and be like, I know this dude. Right, I know that face. Right. Yeah, that's so cool. And he got a big role here, which is pretty awesome, you know? I don't know, man. Rand being an inventor, it's just a cool job, I think.

they thought he should have it's just like it's just a really cool job to have him have i think it's cool it's like a it's a job showing somebody who's passionate about something yes yes and but not perfect at it right yeah but he's failing but like he won't give it up and i wanted to ask you that question

Do you think after this movie, does he give it up or does he keep going? I don't think he gives it up. I think he's too far gone along the path. When you're down this deep and you're this passionate about something... You kind of die a little if you don't do what you love. But that's the thing, too, about this movie and family. Think about this. He invents these things that don't work. And Lynn Peltzer tries to use the coffee thing.

she leaves the blend she uses she tried that's the wonderful part she's like i'm gonna support me even though this stuff sucks yeah and i could just and any other woman would just or anybody would just throw it away and get things that actually function properly She's giving it a go all the time, every morning waking up, knowing that she's not going to have great coffee. Knowing that the blender might squirt juice all over whatever.

But that's love. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's awesome about this. No, it's great. It's pretty awesome. But Mike, Rand is always looking for the get-rich-quick scheme. He is. He's always looking for the next thing. Right. You played this in the trailer at the beginning of this, right? I think...

When he says, I bet every kid in America would like to have one of these, it might even replace the dog as the family. I know. When he looks at Gizmo, right? The pelts are pet. Yeah. I mean, this could be the big one, he says. Yeah. I don't think they're judging Rand.

Columbus and Dante and stuff for being a heartless guy for thinking this? Because he's not. He's not a heartless guy. He's already proven that he's a lovely guy, right? But I think he's delivering what essentially is the social commentary in this movie. And it's... Not enough for things to be special and beautiful on their own, right? We're consumers. Contextually, right? Think of 1980s. Gordon Gekko said greed is good. Yes. Right? So everything can be commodified.

That was the era of the 80s. And I think that's where they get in the social comedy. But they're not hitting you over the head with it. Because it's coming from the mouth of a guy that's a lovely guy, that loves his family, that's only trying to do it to support his family, with honorable intentions. But the social commentary still comes through as, no, we're going to take a thing at Gizmo and we're going to try to make him, every kid's going to want one of these. Right. But he's a one of one.

Right. It can't be more than that. No. Yeah, yeah. I know. And he stumbled upon it. So it wasn't like he was like, I'm going to mass produce these right from the start. It was a stumble thing. So I think you're right. The commentary comes out. Yeah. It's just kind of in the moment sort of thing.

yeah i agree and i think it's i think it's a lovely that's just such a genius way of getting it through yeah so kate mike kate after flaunting her boobs by the pool and fast times she's now burying her bosoms behind thick sweaters and scarves in this film. I think that's awesome. Yeah, she's super cute. Not only does it not diminish, I think it even just makes it greater how cute she is.

She's so wholesome and loving, and she wants to save the bar, and she's helping Billy out. She's got all that characteristics. She's not just this weak victim. No, because she's turning away Gerald. You know what I mean? Yes, she knows. She sees right through Gerald. Yeah, she's working. I didn't even see her old apartment.

That's right. Like, F you, buddy. Yeah, yeah, exactly. With your cheesy crap. It doesn't work with me. Go whack off in the bathroom with your pirate hat. I love that. She says that line, and then she... Pulls off a little lint off of Billy's jacket, which is so cute. It's amazing. I love that little detail that you found. That's awesome. Yeah, I see all those little things. But when she stands on the porch...

And he drops her off that one. Yeah. And the snow is falling on her and stuff. Yeah. They're kind of a fight when, you know, cause she's talking about how not everyone should be happy on Christmas and people commit suicide and stuff. I mean, we're all, plus we're all jealous of.

Billy the Putz Peltzer who gets to ask her out. Right, right. Why him? Why not me? Yeah, yeah. But Billy's a good guy. No, he is. So let's talk about Billy Mike, the responsible boy next door. He's got this, it's interesting because they never really over talk about this, but he's got this solid job.

at the bank and he seems to be earning for his family what because his father can't well doesn't gerald say something like that you're basically you know like yeah the breadwinner in your family yes yeah but there's something really cool about that yeah

without doing all this exposition about it, just showing it. And the audience goes, wow, this guy's got, he's young, but he's, look how responsible he is. He's providing for his family because his dad's like dreaming up to be this inventor and can't quite cut the mustard. So he's got to bring home this. You know, there's a paycheck every week. But being the responsible kid next door, Mike, isn't a little, I'm asking you this.

There's a little character when, I get you got to show people and prove them something, but when he brings Gizmo to school to Mr. Hanson, he gets the dropper and purposely drops water on Gizmo. I know. Wait a minute. Did you think that was a little out of character? Or do you like, wait, what? Right. I get it. You want to show people, no, I'm not lying about this. Watch.

But still, you know the rules, dude. I know. I know. And you love your gizmo. Yeah. What are you doing? Well, it wasn't gizmo. Well, it was giz. No, that wasn't gizmo. Wasn't it? No. He didn't bring gizmo to him in the science class? No. No, that was a random one. Oh, he just brought a random one with him? Yeah, that was one of the random ones. Oh, I misunderstood. For a minute, I'm like, what are you...

No, no, that makes it, it's still bad. It's still bad, though. It's not Gizmo. No, that wasn't Gizmo. Okay. That was just random guy. But it's still bad. Yeah, it's bad. Yeah, totally. You're multiplying. You know what happens. Yeah, yeah. Why would you do that? Yeah, that's pretty stupid. Yeah, a little, you're right. That's pretty.

So my question is this, ultimately. Should Billy immediately at the end of this movie. Die. Be arrested for the death of Mr. Hanlon. Mr. Hanson. Yeah. Yeah, he's kind of responsible. Should he? Yeah. Because he created these things. Now, Mr. Hanson is after school. He's staying up late at night, staying at school, working, testing these things. He dies because Billy has multiplied them. Right. And now he has more to take care of. It's his fault. Yeah, yeah.

Speaking of, talking about Mr. Hanson, do you know, I think we've talked about this before, J.J. Abrams made a little film called Super 8. Of course. Produced by Steven Spielberg. Of course. Do you know that he's... come out and said that he hired the same actor from gremlins it was him is the the guy that runs the the train off the track really i was just gonna ask you and you know he like worked for the government right but you know what he what his job is now

In Super 8, he's the science teacher at the school. Oh, my God. Isn't that awesome? How good is that? I've got to re-watch Super 8. Oh, Super 8's fun. Yeah, it is fun. It's fun. Those kids are great. But anyway, I just thought that was funny. That's phenomenal. J.J. Abrams was like, I'm going to take this actor, I'm going to hire him in for this, and I'm going to make him the same character as Gremlins, just for the hell of it.

J.J. Abrams has taken up Spielberg's mantle. He kind of has. Yeah, he's kind of scooped it up. 21st century. Yeah, totally. All right, Mike, Joe Dante. Oh, my God. We mentioned Spielberg a hundred times, right? Yeah. We know about that guy. It's time to talk about Dante. Yeah. I believe the world owes Joe Dante apology, Mike. I agree. I mean, he should be a household name. He should. Like the Peltzer juicer. Peltzer pet. Peltzer director. But the same way, like...

You know, the Tarantinos and the Spielbergs. Like this guy, by the way, speaking of Tarantino, I was listening to a podcast recently, Pure Cinema, which is a great, great podcast. He visited the set when he was 20 years old, before he was anybody. Visited gremlins? Yeah, he was writing a book at the time about famous directors. And he happened to be visiting the set of gremlins.

the day like a gremlin's head fell off and it was taking like all this time, Joe Dante literally, since he had nothing else to do and nothing to shoot, he gave Tarantino like hours of his time. Really? Just how accessible he was of a guy. What a cool guy, then. Sat down with Tarantino. By the way, Tarantino was an enormous, enormous fan of Gremlins 2. Oh, okay, gotcha. He thinks it's...

So much better than this one. Better than the first? No, no, no. Oh, no, no. He thinks it's like one of the best movies ever. What? He thinks it's like one of the more perfect. I'm telling you, there's a lot of deep dives you can go here. Right.

It's a kind of a cool little, because he met him on this set and he respected him immensely. Yeah. But then to like really like laud his film, the next one, he just, he just appreciated the humor of it and how, how much it, but, but how cool is that that Dante took time? That's amazing. And then when the thing was ready, they were ready to shoot. He was awkwardly trying to find a way to like...

Terrell Tarangino, we've got to get back to filming. Right, right. I've got to get back to work. But he was still giving him time. Yeah, that's nice. Time was money. That's amazing. By the way, if you ever hear this guy talk... Joe Dante is a, is a cinephile. He's a movie dictionary. Yeah. He knows everything about every like Scorsese does. These guys talk about movies. They're, they're just, it's so ingrained. It's like, that's the only thing they know. Yeah. They don't know anything else.

But we need to appreciate the genius of Joe Dante, Mike. He's amazing. He's done so many great movies. Gremlins, Innerspace. Yeah, Innerspace. I love Innerspace. I mean, that's Piranha, the howling, the burbs. Yeah. I mean, Matt... Matinee. Matinee is great. I mean, there's so many. Great. I apologize, Joe Dante. I'm sorry. We see you now, though, buddy. We see you. We see you. Let's quickly get to the quotes here, Mike. Yes. What do you got? Kate.

You say you hate Washington's birthday or Thanksgiving and nobody cares, but you say you hate Christmas and people treat you like you're a leper. That was a good line. Is that when they're walking home? Yeah, that's when they're having that big conversation. Rand Peltzer, fantastic ideas for a fantastic world. I make the illogical logical. He says that more than once. Yeah, he says it twice or three times. Yeah, you're right. Let's go with Rand again. Well, that's the story.

So if your air conditioner goes on the fritz or your washing machine blows up or your video recorder conks out before you call the repairman, turn on all the lights. Check all the closets and cupboards. Look under all the beds because you never can tell. There might just be a gremlin in your house. I love that. That line is so good. The Chinese boy's rules.

Yes. Keep him out of the light. He hates bright light, especially sunlight. It'll kill him. And keep him away from water. Don't get him wet. But the most important rule, the rule you can never forget, no matter how much he cries, no matter how much he begs, never, never. He came after midnight. Yeah, yeah. How about the, I love kind of the cops, like the sheriff and the cop, the guy from Breaking Bad or whatever in this movie. Oh, yeah, yeah, yes. He's awesome. Beverly Hills Cop, too.

Oh, that's right. Any Better Call? No, not Better Call Saul. He's in Better Call Saul. That's him. So this is the scene where they're driving. Let me drive. No, you're drunk. You always get to drive. That's because I'm the sheriff, asshole. Did these guys become the cops in Halloween 5? They pretty much did. Kate, will you sign this petition? They're trying to close Dory's Tavern. Billy, sure. That's where my dad proposed to my mom.

Okay, that's where everyone's dad proposed to their mom. That's right. But I love that. It's like sentimental. It's great. Futterman, ready? Goddamn foreign TV. I tell you, we should have got a Zenith. Pete, would you say this was called a putrid stage? Hanson goes, pupil, pupil stage. Pete goes, like a butterfly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. This is a cocoon inside. He's going through these changes, lots of changes. Pete goes, like my mother.

That's awesome. Lynn Peltzer, get out of my kitchen! That's before she like... Right? She stabs him? Yeah, yeah. When she's kind of like... Mike, should we do... I mean, because Kate's... Kate's speech is like the ultimate thing. Oh, you're going to read it? No, go ahead. No, I got a funny one. Go, go, go. This one, as a kid, I used to say all the time with my friends. Gizmo caca. I was obsessed with that one.

No, I don't need to do Kate's whole speech, but it's amazing, right? It's long, and I don't want to read the whole thing. Oh, it's so good, though. So good. But just the story that she sets up. Oh, my God. It's fucked up. And this is the scene that Dante fought to keep in the end. Spielberg backed him up. Did not want this in. And he still backed him up.

He goes, guys, guess what? It's Joe Dante's movie. If he wants Kate's speech to stay, then it stays. Yeah. That's awesome. That's great. Because he didn't want it. He could easily say, Joe. He did not want it. No, out. But that's awesome. Yeah, that's pretty cool. I mean, Dante must be like, respect. He must respect Spielberg to some measure because it's like, I hired him because he's the best man for the job. Not because I'm going to sit here and say all that.

If he feels it should be in the movie, it should be in the movie. Totally. That's amazing, dude. That's so amazing. He went to bat for him in that instance. Mike, is this speech the reason you stopped believing in Santa Claus? Could it be?

Could it possibly be? It could. This could have been the moment. Could this be? Honestly, it might have been 10, right? Dude, we're right in that sweet spot. It might have been. And my parents might have been sitting there going, oh, fuck. You know what I mean? Right? Because I probably looked at them and was like.

Well, if I saw this with Mikey D the first time, I mean, this was PG, so we could go by ourselves. Yeah, yeah. And we might have been like, our parents, we got something to talk about. Hey, Mom, I got something I want to talk to you about. Oh, so good. Oh, that's great. But that speech is so well written. It is. It's amazing. And I'm so glad because I know how much Chris Columbus wanted it in, too. Yeah. And supposedly, she rehearsed the scene like...

Oh, Phoebe Cates. A hundred times. Like she kept going over and asking like everyone, should I do it this way? Do it that way? And like. they said it was so great because when she went to do the scene, she just fucking nailed it. You know what I mean? Like did it in like a couple of takes and everyone was like applauding her. You know what I mean? Yeah. It must've been really cool. Yep.

Score. Soundtrack. Dude, Goldsmith is a god. Goldsmith. Frequent Dante collaboration. Why wouldn't you use him? He does the Burbs, too. It's a great score as well. Oh, my God. Love it. So good. But I mean, this theme. The Gremlins theme. Yeah. Is it inspired by John Williams' Cantina Star Wars? Maybe. It's bouncy, though, the same way.

I don't know. It seems to be a little bit of a, not ripping it at all. I'm just saying it just seems to be inspired by that. Yeah. Like that creature, because there's creatures in the cantina, obviously, in Star Wars. Yeah, I know. Dude, his score is honestly like, it's like one of the secret weapons. It is. It's like, it's playful. It's spooky. It's kind of like weirdly heartwarming. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Yeah.

it's like he somehow wrote like Christmas music for creatures, you know, like, it's just like, it's just, it's so good, dude. Well, it's alongside. Do you hear what I hear on the soundtrack? I know. Right. And Christmas baby, please come home. Yeah. The song you played earlier.

Yep. With some great pop songs, by the way. This Peter Gabriel's collaboration with Nile Rodgers, Out Out, that's a great, it's like seven minute like dancey, funky. It's amazing. I don't know what scene it's in. I can't remember what scene it's in.

You listen to that song, dude. It is so amazing. Oh, that's awesome. And then, of course, Gremlins Mega Madness, Michael Cimbello. Oh, my God. Yeah. So good. Just between those two pop songs alone, it's just it's perfect. Yeah, it's pretty great. Mike, if you had to get a tattoo of this film, what would it be?

I'm going to get the box that Gizmo came in with Gizmo's hands. So good. And his head just popping up a little bit. What are you going to get? I'm getting Gizmo on one peck and Stripe on the other. Jin and Yang, baby. There you go. Why not? All right. That's cool. Nice. That's good stuff. I mean, it's the two sides of everyone, right? Yeah, that's true. Jekyll and Hyde type of thing. That's true. All right, Matt. You ready to play a little game? Oh, yeah. All right.

So we're going to play this game where, you know, in the past I've had Matt sort of only be the contestant here, and I felt bad. So I was like, Matt, you know what? Let me join you here on this thing. So we came up with a group of questions. We're going to quiz each other and see how well we do. You're going to do really well because I can tell how well you know. Just from having this conversation we had, I know.

How well you know this movie. All right. You're going to keep score of mine. By the way, you already answered one of mine, so I'm still going to ask. Yeah, I think you answered one of mine as well. All right. So... We're going to do this game here, and I am going to ask a question first, Matt. Okay. A view of Gremlins, okay? Yep. Round one here. Here we go.

This is more of an opinion-based thing, but I just wanted to see. It kind of goes with the lore of the film, all right? So in the movie, water hitting a mogwai causes instant... replication right yeah it makes them produce so why doesn't the snow during the entire third act trigger non-stop multiplication that's a great great question because snow as we all know is a form of precipitation water

i.e. water so what do you think what do you think that's a little illogical it is right it doesn't make sense i agree yeah i agree it should be endless multiplication okay Endless reproduction. I'm going to give it to you. It's not really an answer you could get right. No, but I love that question. I love that you posed that. That's really smart. Okay. I did not think of that, but wow. There's science, folks. That's why I got to study science in school. Stay in school.

It's cool, kids. So you're going to get a couple of these. I'm going to ask it anyway. But what animal is going to play gremlins until one freaked out when they put a gremlin head on it? Well, that was the monkey. That is indeed. All right. Good for you, Michael. All right, Matt. What toy company was sued for stealing the likeness of Gizmo? I'll say Hasbro. Yeah, who created Furby, right? Oh, the Furbies, right? Yeah, the Furbies. Yep. Mm-hmm.

Yep, they sued them and actually came out with a Gizmo Furby. That's crazy. That's crazy. You can't just do that, though. No. They literally based their whole product on Gizmo. Oh, they did. So then they went and go, oh, by the way, here's a Gizmo. No, no, no. That was part of the deal. Oh, it was? Yeah. Oh, okay. Warner Brothers said, you have to make. Oh, you have to make. And we get part of the profits. That's more than fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Cool.

You got that one. What super famous Warner Brothers cartoon property inspired most of the gags in Gremlins? You've said it many times. Oh, it was Bugs Bunny? Yeah, Looney Tunes. Yeah, Looney Tunes. Yep. Okay. All right. Who is Billy talking to when you first see him sitting at the bar at Dory's when he's drawing cartoons? God. There's a man sitting next to him, a famous guy. And he compliments him and says, you're going to do a good job on that. I'm going to say it's Chuck Jones.

It is. I don't know. I just pulled it out of my ass. Chuck Jones, famous Looney Tunes cartoonist. Look at you, dude. All right. I just pulled that out. I'm sorry. Isn't that cool, though? That's amazing. I love that. But again, you thought enough. to put him in here and say, you know what? We're kind of really influenced in everything we're doing by what you did. Yeah. So please come be in on the joke with us. Could you sit? That's the best. Yeah. How cool is that? That's so awesome.

What's the approximate cost for each Gremlin puppet? Oh, was it $30,000? $30,000 to $40,000. By the way, the production security would literally check people's cars on the way home. Damn it! That's one of my... They would check the cars on the way home to make sure people weren't stealing. Yes, pop the trunk. I love that. So I got to check on that one, Mikey. Yeah, you did. And you did too, by the way. Very well. Very cool. Well done. Okay.

You know this one. The first cut of the movie had Gizmo. Is this true or false? First cut of the movie turning into Striped, but the studio changed it after test audiences reacted strongly to Gizmo's cuteness. Yeah, it was true. You got that one.

Mike, real or unreal? Tim Burton was considered by Spielberg to direct. Real. Yes. But Spielberg thought he was a little too immature. Yeah, he had not made a... This is before Pee-Wee's. Yes. So he hadn't made a movie. Yeah, I think he proved himself with Pee-Wee's. Oh, for sure. Yep. But that was later. So the next one I had was the one you already said about the gremlins being so expensive. So I have one more.

i have i have one more and a bonus all right actually maybe you give me one i'll give you mine and you give me your bonus actually i have two more okay in early drafts of the script what happens to pete uh pete oh We know we don't see him anymore in the movie. We've complained about it a lot during this pod. I'm going to say he dies. Yeah. I don't know how. Yes. He is eaten alive by the Gremans while Christmas carolers drown out his screams. Oh, my God.

Dude, that's dark. Think about that. Between that scene and eating Barney and decapitating Mrs. Peltzer and throwing her head down the steps, that would have been the dark. That would have been NC-17. Oh, my God. That's terrible. All right, I got a wild card question for you, Matt. You ready? Go for it. In the Gremlins novelization, there's one specific food item Maguire said to be especially sensitive to. Oh, darn. Something, and it's never mentioned in the film.

They're sensitive to a food item? I have no idea. You can guess. A lot of people are allergic to this. A lot of people are allergic to it? Mm-hmm. God, I'm so bad at this. Like, definitely allergic? Definitely peanut butter? Yes, peanut butter. Mm-hmm.

All right. You got one more for me? I got one more and a bonus. Okay. Corey Feldman was cast in this movie because a similar character he was set to play in another film was dropped. What movie was that? Oh, shit. It was a Spielberg movie. I'll give you a giant hint. That was made? Yes. Oh.

E.T.? Yes, he was supposed to play Elliot's friend. Really? Who discovers it. Same way he kind of finds... It's almost the same scene where he walks in and discovers... We were talking about that scene earlier. Yeah, yeah. Where Pete walks in and sees... So there's a scene where... Because he's right at the same age as Elliot would have been. Right, right. Henry Thomas would have been at the time. That's cool.

So my last question, Mike. Uh-oh. No, this is a good one. Okay. And this is another. So there are two films advertised on the marquee, A Boy's Life and Watch the Skies. Yes. These are alternate titles to two other Spielberg movies. Watch the Skies would be Close Encounters. Yes, sir. And A Boy's Life would be E.T. Yes, it would. Yeah, there you go. Ding, ding, ding. How great is that? That is cool. That is so cool.

They were like production titles or secret titles. That's insane. That's so neat. But see, all these in-jokes, this is why Gremlins 2 had to be made. Yes. Because there's so much good here. I know, I know. To dig into. I know. It's so deep. It's awesome. Excellent, Matt. That was fun. I like playing together. That's kind of cool. Dude, that was a lot of fun. I think playing together might be something that we do more often then. I agree. I agree, too. So, Matt.

What are we ranking this movie? I went first last time. You're going to go first. All right. I am going to give this movie a solid four out of five. Okay. I'm going to give it a four out of five. Mm-hmm. Saw it many, many times in the theater. Seen it many, many times since. Mm-hmm. I downgraded it slightly, and four out of five is an exceptional movie. Yeah. Let's just make that very clear. Three, three and a half is really, really good. Four is exceptional. Yeah.

but I'm downgrading it slightly based on the fact that they just discard certain characters and I just... that i wanted to see a little bit more of there could have been more sexual tension there could have been more of a triangle between billy and a little bit not that the movie's not about that and i understand right but there could have been another scene or two with gerald and where did pico um

But again, that's just slight. I love this movie so much. It's a cautionary tale. I think it's about the flawed nature of human beings, even though it's about puppets that aren't human beings. Right. Very much so, because when Mr. Ming or Mr. whatever comes back in at the end.

You could see it's all about, like, you had to take something beautiful. You had to, like, commodify. Like, again, the one I talked about before, the whole theme of the movie. Can't appreciate beautiful, rare things without trying to control it or commodify it somehow for yourself. I was floored, Mike.

I know I mentioned this at the beginning a little bit, but now I'm going to talk about it. How sad Gremlins was to me on this watch. As a kid, this film was, it's all about triumphant joy. Like you said, mirth, just fun. And it still is. It still is. But as a middle-aged guy, Mike, the cynicism, the melancholy of this movie hit me like a freight train. Yeah. Like, Kate and Billy trapped in this small town, working at the bank. Major earners for their family. Like, where are their dreams?

No, honestly, I'm asking you. It's rhetorical, but I'm also asking you. You're just going so dark. No, but I'm not trying to go dark at all. I never thought of it that way. But I'm looking at it that way now because I'm sitting in a way different position than the 10-year-old kid that went to see this movie four times. I know.

Like, where are their dreams? I know, but I never thought about that. But now I'm like, wait a minute. Yeah. The earning for their family. Do they get to get out? Do they get to go and explore the big city for themselves? Well, they do. And they do eventually. Right. But we don't know at the time. Sure. No, this.

but are they living their best lives right i mean now they found each other hopefully yeah i'm hopeful of course i'm not being cynical about this i'm just saying that hit me this time sure and the melancholy hit me and i was like I actually got like goose flesh a couple of times on goosebumps on my arms. Like, wow, this is, that's, but to me that speaks of how this is beyond a popcorn movie. Yeah. Yeah. The fact that it grows with you, that's stunning to me. Yeah, it is.

And that's what Gremlins is. It's a dynamic, transient slice of pop art cinema, and it's a juggernaut popcorn in popcorn movies clothing because it just has all of those things that makes me feel... differently years later. And I think that's incredible. Yeah. And by the way, it's still so much fun. Oh, it is. Without a doubt. So what did you give this movie? Oh my God. You ready for this? I don't know. Am I? Wait, did you give this movie? Is this your first five? No. Oh, but, but.

Remember the other day I asked you, do you have a note with all of our scores on it? I do. Because I was like, this is going to be my highest score. It is. I've given something. You've given four and a half before. This is a 4.75 for me, man. Four points. So why not a five? You know what? I don't know. I'm like, I'm waiting for that five, like on the podcast. I'm like, what would I give a five? And I don't know what that is yet, but I don't think this is it. By the way, I've only given one.

What? I've only given one five. Oh, it was The Shining? Yeah, it was The Shining. So I haven't gotten there yet, but this is my highest. So I love this movie. This is what you would call the most Mikey movie there is, right? Would you agree? Oh, yeah, definitely. It's got everything for me. A location that screams small-town America, like New England also. A holiday theme. A story of awe and wonder. Very Spielberg-esque, right?

It's sentimental, heartwarming, amazing practical effects. A music, I'm sorry, a movie that I was so excited to show my kids when they were old enough. The fact that this has become a yearly tradition since they were probably like six or seven, eight. I forget the first time when I showed them. Don't say six, seven, Mike, please. Yeah, I don't know. Six, seven, six, seven.

But they're actually going to be 21 tomorrow. Wow. We still watch this movie every year as a tradition. So the fact that all those things group together, it's just like for me. That's awesome. I love this movie so much. You know what I mean? I really do. And I look forward to watching it every year and it just captures something. And when you were talking about them sort of like not living their dreams, like to me.

That's comforting. That's comforting. I want to be in a town like that where I can just crawl into their characters and just live their day-to-day lives. I don't want to come across in that way. But to me, now where I'm standing now, this movie is a dirge.

dressed in this popcorn movie I get it it definitely is and it definitely has that piece to it now that melancholy is it's not just something that's not it's there for me yeah but just because wherever I am and I think that's really but I think that's amazing

That's awesome. I agree. So what are you going to pair this with, Matt? I'm going to pair this with Ghostbusters. They came out the same day. Totally, yeah. You can't have two... two more fun movies to watch back to back then i mean is there a better double feature than this i don't know yeah you know i think both gate the gateway yes aspect yeah i agree so if you're looking at anybody with younger kids out there and you're like huh what do i show my kids don't show them terrifier

Put that away. Don't ever do that to them, first of all. But show them much later. Or just ask them to find it on their own. But right now, put on Ghostbusters and Gremlins in a double feature, and they will be hooked. And they will be horror fans. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Matt, I'm going to go Joe Dante, and I'm going to pair this with Matt Nay.

Oh, beautiful. From 93. Beautiful. Because I love this movie. Well, that is the whole William Castle angle. Well, that's what I was going to say. You got Gremlins, a little tribute to, what's his name, from Frank Capra. Yep. And then you got Matt Ney, a tribute to William Capra.

And Frank Capra, too, because it's all about movies, too. Yes, exactly. But there's the William Castle angle. But the castle with the experience and stuff. Absolutely. And I love Matinee. I discovered that late in life, but I was like, wow, this is a fun movie. I have that on Blu-ray as well. I love it. Joe Dante made it so great. You know what I mean? And it's really like, I think it's one of his last great movies. Yeah, I agree. I totally agree. Well, Matt wrapping things up.

Christmas time. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you too, man. Yeah, to you and happy holidays to our listeners. Hopefully this episode was a small little gift to someone. Hopefully it warmed you up for the holiday season here. But we can't thank you guys enough for supporting us and always, you know, being listeners and stuff. Hopefully you caught the clue in the episode. Hopefully it's in there somewhere. Email us at...

Alone in the dark podcast at yahoo.com. First person who sends the email to us will win a free t-shirt. We'll be in contact and get that to you right away. You know, probably not before the holidays, but hopefully soon thereafter, you know.

But that's about it, Matt, as we're wrapping it up. Happy holidays to you guys. We can't wait to see you guys in January and have a happy new year. Yeah, Mike, let's head on down to Dory. I have a couple before we go. Yeah, let's go to Dory. Let's do it. All right. See you guys.