Latest / The K.B. Radio Network / CHRISTMAS EDITION: Gremlins (1984) 40th Anniversary Retro Review

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CHRISTMAS EDITION: Gremlins (1984) 40th Anniversary Retro Review · The K.B. Radio Network

• 0:11
  Welcome to Movie Goodness where we examine life through cinema here on the KB Radio Network.
• 0:18
  I am your host Kevin Reed and Merry Christmas to everyone out there.
• 0:23
  I hope that this will be a joyous time of the year for everybody.
• 0:29
  I hope that everybody finds what they were hoping,
• 0:33
  wishing,
• 0:34
  and praying for under that Christmas tree this season.
• 0:37
  I am...
• 0:40
  eerily excited this year for Christmas.
• 0:44
  Normally over the past few years I've been kind of meh when it comes to Christmas.
• 0:50
  You know I'll start maybe two days before the holiday officially comes.
• 0:57
  I'll get a little excited but as far as the excitement you know we used to have when we were kids.
• 1:04
  You know as soon as the tree went up the decorations were set and you were
• 1:10
  Every day either you're coming home from school or waking up and going looking under the tree
• 1:15
  To see if there was an extra gift under there or on Christmas Eve
• 1:21
  Going to bed when you couldn't sleep being excited because of
• 1:25
  Christmas morning opening up the gifts You know as you get older at least for me
• 1:31
  I start to realize that
• 1:33
  I don't think it was the presents that word it was the exciting thing.
• 1:38
  It was the
• 1:39
  anticipation it was the opening of the gifts in ripping that wrapping paper that your parents spent hours on trying to perfect to get all the corners perfectly aligned with the box or whatever it you just go tearing into it like a wild animal having
• 2:02
  it all over your living room and it was that excitement you know looking at that box to see that
• 2:09
  It was a new
• 2:10
  Nintendo 64 or a pair of roller skates or whatever the case may be,
• 2:16
  whatever you were wishing for that when you was that age.
• 2:22
  It just brought a level of joy,
• 2:24
  you know,
• 2:24
  and when you get older,
• 2:27
  the only thing you want out of the Christmas tree is a is a paid in full invoice from you from your bills.
• 2:38
  You know.
• 2:39
  a deed or a title to the car that you paid off or something stupid like that you know grown folk prop and you know getting something for christmas just doesn't have that have that same feeling and you know now it
• 2:55
  used to be when my kids were little it was the excitement of their excitement you know watching them open up gifts and uh hoping and praying that what you spent
• 3:09
  hundreds of dollars on will please their sensibilities and just the joy that comes off of them brings you excitement now that they're older my kids don't care you know kids
• 3:25
  especially nowadays you know you can't get away with getting kids toys you know getting them gi joes and barbie dolls and you know things of that nature now everything is electronic now is
• 3:38
  It has to be iPads or a new phone or a new computer or,
• 3:43
  you know,
• 3:44
  a new desktop or whatever the case may be.
• 3:47
  It has to be something
• 3:50
  $300 and above that that will make your children happy.
• 3:56
  My kids are in their 20s now.
• 3:58
  So now
• 4:00
  I guess,
• 4:01
  well,
• 4:01
  I don't want to spoil nothing for them in case they're listening.
• 4:04
  So it's not that it's not.
• 4:07
  that elaborate of uh uh gift shopping uh for the kids now and for me i don't want anything you know and and that's normally the case for the past few years i just don't want it i just want everybody to be happy i just want to have a happy jolly
• 4:25
  christmas that's it i just want to be happy and gifts that only comes once a year but uh happiness that can go 365 if you
• 4:37
  uh allow yourself to be happy but today is our christmas episode on movie goodness this is our annual christmas episode so i i wanted to do a
• 4:54
  movie i wanted to review a film that screams christmas
• 5:00
  and to also keep my promise of reviewing a film from 1984,
• 5:08
  something that I got away from throughout the year,
• 5:11
  you know,
• 5:12
  with the retro reviews.
• 5:14
  But,
• 5:15
  you know,
• 5:16
  life got in the way.
• 5:17
  But this is the end of the year,
• 5:19
  basically.
• 5:20
  And I wanted to end the end of the year with a film from 1984 and a Christmas film at the same time.
• 5:28
  Well,
• 5:29
  what?
• 5:30
  came out in 1984 that just screams christmas that screams love and and and the coming of jesus well gremlins the 1984 film gremlins uh the classic i should say uh comedy horror film that that
• 5:53
  is still a part of car uh pop culture if i could get it out pop culture
• 6:00
  40 years later and
• 6:03
  I mean,
• 6:04
  you know when I revisited this film for this show
• 6:08
  Rewatched gremlins for the first time in a long time now
• 6:13
  I've watched it of course within the last 40 years
• 6:17
  But it you know in pieces like if it's on television and I catch it in the middle I oh,
• 6:21
  yeah,
• 6:22
  I like this part and I'll start watching it and some will come along
• 6:26
  Get me distracted again,
• 6:28
  and I move on to something else
• 6:29
  but as far as sitting down uninterrupted for what an hour and a half beginning to end this was the first time i sat down and watched gremlins i want to say maybe in 20 years and
• 6:45
  i'm being kind with the 20 because i can't remember the last time i actually sat down and watched it from beginning to end you know and it's not because i didn't like the movie
• 6:58
  you're gonna find that out when when we start to review it's just something that i guess took for granted i don't know but i never really sat down and dove into it again after all these years seeing bits and pieces know it backwards and forwards when i watched it i
• 7:15
  can recite every little thing i mean it surprised me what i remembered it surprised me that i knew beat throughout the film
• 7:25
  you know songs that was playing in the in the film and it cuts off a joke that was coming that i still tell to this day and i don't know where that joke came from and it came from this movie and it blew my mind i'm like oh that's why i tell that joke it's
• 7:43
  been here in my head living rent free for 40 years and it took me re-watching this classic to realize that's that
• 7:54
  these are the films that raised me movies raised me uh with the help of uh theodore and ali of course but this this was this was my error here man
• 8:04
  80s films and this film is truly
• 8:06
  80s but it holds up in a lot of ways in a lot of ways now before we jump into the review of this film let's give a little background and how this film came to be a such a cultural landmark
• 8:24
  in our history.
• 8:26
  The story of Gremlins was conceived by Chris Columbus.
• 8:30
  If you don't know who Chris Columbus is,
• 8:32
  Chris Columbus went on to be a prominent filmmaker in Hollywood for years after this.
• 8:40
  He directed Home Alone,
• 8:43
  another Christmas classic.
• 8:45
  He directed the first two Harry Potter films.
• 8:48
  He directed
• 8:50
  Mrs. Doubtfire and
• 8:52
  nine months with Hugh Grant.
• 8:54
  He has made some very good films throughout his career,
• 8:58
  but he started out as a screenwriter working for Steven Spielberg at Amblin.
• 9:04
  He also wrote another
• 9:06
  80s classic with the Goonies.
• 9:09
  And so he knows these type of films.
• 9:12
  You know,
• 9:14
  this was an era that was rich with Amblin's influence throughout cinema.
• 9:21
  for years in the
• 9:23
  80s but he conceived this um he explained in an interview that his inspiration came from his loft or his apartment um at night he would hear what sounded like a platoon of rats or mice uh
• 9:40
  scratching around and coming out in in the darkness and it sound creepy and it does i remember uh we we had a uh mice problem
• 9:51
  A couple of years ago,
• 9:52
  there was mice running around in my attic,
• 9:55
  and I didn't know what it was.
• 9:57
  it freaked me out you know but uh thank god we got rid of them but it yeah it will creep you out like what is that um just running around that's all you hear and at night you know little footsteps sound like big ones so you
• 10:15
  can take that with what you will but he then wrote the original screenplay and uh it showed potential and in his writing ability at the time
• 10:25
  So the story was not actually intended to be filmed until Steven Spielberg took an interest in turning it into a film.
• 10:34
  So
• 10:35
  Steven Spielberg,
• 10:37
  he went on to say in an interview that it was one of the most original things he's come across in years at that point,
• 10:45
  which he then bought it from Chris Columbus.
• 10:49
  And he had considered at that time a young filmmaker who had just made a short film called.
• 10:55
  frankenweiner with who is tim burton tim he wanted tim burton to direct gremlins and my god man all respect to joe dante but man tim burton's gremlins would
• 11:10
  have been epic and this is an epic movie but just just the thought of tim burton directing it uh but uh one thing led to another and it didn't happen tim burton went on to direct uh you
• 11:23
  Pee-Wee's Big Adventure,
• 11:25
  and of course,
• 11:26
  Batman and Beetlejuice,
• 11:29
  so on and so forth,
• 11:30
  had a marvelous career.
• 11:32
  So it didn't kill him that he didn't get to direct
• 11:36
  Gremlins. But after deciding to executive produce the film himself,
• 11:40
  Steven Spielberg then chose Joe Dante to direct the film because of his experience with horror comedy.
• 11:49
  Joe Dante had previously directed the...
• 11:52
  horror comedy film the howling and for years you know it took me years to watch the howling and it wasn't because i didn't want to see it because i love werewolf movies but i just never got around to watching that movie ever until
• 12:08
  a couple years ago and i always thought it was a just a hardcore horror film but it wasn't when i when i watched it i realized it was a horror comedy i'm like man this is funnier than i thought it was one
• 12:22
  gonna be but i enjoyed it i love the holly but uh that was the reason he got this job that was the uh uh tone that steven spielberg saw for gremlins but in any event around that same time another film came out in 1983 a little film that you may have heard of called twilight zone the movie and
• 12:46
  twilight zone the movie was an anthology film which i absolutely loved
• 12:51
  back in the day uh loved it uh you had some prominent directors on that film you had steven spielberg himself john landis joe dante directed one of the uh segments and uh oh my god who was that i think it was george miller george
• 13:08
  miller who directed uh mad max and uh mad max fury road and so forth yeah those were the directors of that film and uh you
• 13:19
  One of the segments and I believe it was the one directed by George Miller which was based on a
• 13:26
  Twilight Zone episode from the show was the at least the section of the film where
• 13:34
  John Landau was on an airplane and there was this monster on the wing of the plane which is a gremlin and
• 13:46
  That was my favorite
• 13:50
  section of that movie i absolutely loved it i saw that first before i saw the episode from the tv show which um in that episode it starred uh uh oh my god william shatner william shatner yes captain kurt himself he
• 14:07
  played that role in the film i mean in the show and coincidentally um that episode was directed by richard donner who also worked with steven spielberg you
• 14:19
  on the goonies yes just a little six degrees of separation type situation there but in any event i loved that section of the movie and that gremlin was just freaky man freaky as all get out and
• 14:34
  so when this movie you know are we gonna get that style of gremlin or are we gonna go in a different direction well they end up going in a slightly different direction with the style of the gremlin
• 14:48
  but the gremlins are still scary and creepy in this film.
• 14:55
  This movie has the distinguished honor of being the second.
• 15:00
  some say the first depending on what news outlet you read but uh a couple of them that i read said this was the second film in movie history to have the rating of
• 15:15
  pg-13 some sites say it was the first movie to have the rating of pg-13 but i think it was the second either way it this was one one of we can agree on that one of
• 15:29
  the first films to have the brand new rating of pg-13 which lands right between pg and r it was close to i think it was closer to r than pg the only thing missing out of this movie was blood uh
• 15:47
  aside from that um it could have been an r it didn't have any sex or or language but the violence
• 15:55
  And the level of violence that took place in here,
• 15:58
  yeah,
• 15:58
  it is very,
• 16:00
  very deep.
• 16:01
  It's a lot of it.
• 16:03
  But that didn't stop five,
• 16:06
  six-year-old Kevin Reed from watching it.
• 16:08
  No,
• 16:08
  sir,
• 16:09
  it didn't.
• 16:12
  I enjoyed every minute of it back in 1984.
• 16:16
  As far as the casting is concerned,
• 16:18
  we go with virtually unknown at the time in the lead role of Billy.
• 16:25
  with Zach Gallagher,
• 16:27
  who
• 16:28
  I don't think he did.
• 16:29
  He was in anything before that and not too much after it.
• 16:32
  I always thought that he was going to be a big thing,
• 16:35
  but he never was a big thing.
• 16:38
  Now he worked.
• 16:38
  I actually,
• 16:39
  he still works to this day.
• 16:40
  I've seen him in things,
• 16:42
  you know,
• 16:42
  pop up in things before,
• 16:44
  uh,
• 16:44
  recently I should say,
• 16:46
  and you know,
• 16:47
  the guy's still working.
• 16:48
  So God bless him.
• 16:49
  Uh,
• 16:49
  but he,
• 16:50
  he didn't get to that superstardom,
• 16:53
  you know,
• 16:54
  or
• 16:54
  lead another film aside from gremlins 2 but he never led another film after this that i know of um but he was a virtual unknown and they had some other i guess you can count as unknowns in 1984 that auditioned for this role and didn't get it just
• 17:14
  just to throw some names out there you may might have heard of him i don't know uh auditioning for the role of billy and was tom hanks
• 17:24
  Didn't get it.
• 17:25
  Kevin Bacon didn't get it.
• 17:26
  Ralph Macchio didn't get it.
• 17:30
  Emilio Estevez and Rob Lowe,
• 17:33
  as well as Judd Nelson,
• 17:35
  did not get the role.
• 17:37
  They were beat out by Zach Gallagher.
• 17:40
  That is crazy.
• 17:42
  It's crazy now in hindsight because all these guys went on to have these big careers.
• 17:49
  You know,
• 17:49
  but it's just funny how.
• 17:53
  things play out then you know you don't see that far into the future especially when it comes to a tom hanks tom hanks would have been awesome as billy in this film uh as far as billy's girlfriend or love enters in this film uh kate she was played by phoebe
• 18:12
  cates and 1984 was like the biggest uh heart thrive not a heartthrob what you call
• 18:21
  everybody's crush back then i was too young so it wasn't that for me but uh before this in 1982 she starred in or co-starred in fat time fast times in richmond high where she it was kind of a quote-unquote risky role
• 18:40
  that she had in that and that got a lot of teenage boys in their early 80s drooling over phoebe kate and
• 18:50
  I get it now that I'm older.
• 18:52
  I understand wholeheartedly why everybody was after Phoebe Cates.
• 18:58
  But actor Kevin Kline,
• 19:01
  he won the pony on that.
• 19:02
  They got married.
• 19:04
  I think they're still married to this day.
• 19:07
  Good on him.
• 19:08
  But,
• 19:08
  yeah,
• 19:09
  she took this role because it was a different role.
• 19:12
  You know,
• 19:13
  she was more reserved,
• 19:14
  more of just the girl next door in this film.
• 19:19
  as opposed to Fast Time and Richmount High.
• 19:22
  But those were your two leads,
• 19:25
  these young leads here,
• 19:27
  and the film was off and running.
• 19:29
  Now,
• 19:30
  Joe Dante,
• 19:31
  in a sense,
• 19:33
  did not too much care for the script.
• 19:37
  He did not really care for the screenplay to Gremlins.
• 19:40
  He wanted to make more of a comedy,
• 19:42
  more comedy than horror.
• 19:44
  You know,
• 19:45
  he really wanted to lean into it,
• 19:47
  and you saw what...
• 19:48
  style of film he wanted to make with gremlins with gremlins 2 the new batch you know that was part of his condition to come back and direct the sequel
• 19:58
  he wanted to make the film that he wanted to make and you could tell that gremlins 2 although a decent film you know it doesn't hold up to part one but it is way more comedy in that movie way
• 20:14
  more uh i would say it was more of a parody than anything but regardless he didn't he wanted to make that type of it but uh push back with the studio and with steven spielberg as well
• 20:28
  really wanted to make this a quasi horror film and
• 20:34
  That's the version that we got and I think we're better for it
• 20:38
  This film came out the same weekend as Ghostbusters.
• 20:43
  They were in the theaters,
• 20:44
  but not the same weekend I think they were two weeks apart
• 20:47
  But they they were in the theater at the same time with another film that that I'm blanking on right now But it was jam-packed
• 20:57
  in the movie theaters in 1984 you had choices back then it wasn't one and done it wasn't one film uh that you go take a look at or whatever whatever no it you had choices you know you could spend all day in the theater on a saturday you know growing up around that time and going to see two or three different movies and in good
• 21:22
  movies good i mean borderline great movies
• 21:26
  that you would consider classics today and that's why i love this era of film it was so free it felt like all those movies back then even though i'm more than certain that there was studio influence and all this here uh
• 21:42
  back then but you didn't hear about it because there was no social media and all that back then so you don't know all of the horror stories that it went into making movies but you
• 21:53
  it just felt like filmmakers were allowed to be filmmakers you know make movies that they wanted to make you know and it was a freer time and it just you felt it through those films now more
• 22:09
  or less it just feels form formulaic it feels like the studios have their hands feet and everything else in the production guiding the director the director is just there to shoot the film
• 22:23
  you know they're not making the movies that they want to make you know that they envisioned and it's sad in a sense that's why a lot of independent films are are a little better than what you would get in a studio film because they're independents they don't have those uh hang-ups with
• 22:43
  the studios breathing down their back with four or five different producers breathing behind their back and so on and so forth you know uh filmmakers were allowed
• 22:52
  to take chances you know if it worked it worked if it didn't it didn't you know on to the next one it wasn't the end of the world now if you make a bad film you don't see that director you probably won't even see the lead actor or actress in the film in a long time they'll
• 23:09
  end up being on tubi or something like that because they failed oh they they can't draw it's all about drawing before it just felt like it was more about the craft but
• 23:22
  What I know.
• 23:23
  I'm sitting behind a microphone talking about.
• 23:27
  I wish I could make them.
• 23:28
  That's been my dream.
• 23:30
  But who knows?
• 23:31
  Maybe that's under the Christmas tree for me this year.
• 23:33
  But without further ado,
• 23:36
  for the
• 23:37
  40th year anniversary of this absolute classic horror comedy film that just
• 23:47
  I would consider one of the greatest.
• 23:51
  Christmas movies of all time because it is set on Christmas Eve all this havoc that was happened was on Christmas Eve and so in the spirit of the season here
• 24:06
  is the review of the 1984 horror comedy directed by Joe Dante
• 24:13
  Gremlins this film follows young Billy Pulser who receives a strange creature as a pet
• 24:20
  which then spawns other creatures that transform into aggressive imp-like monsters that wreck habit on billy's hometown during christmas eve i also wanted to note when we was talking about the pre-production that
• 24:35
  the set for this film i just love practical practical sets and practical effects that's that's my love language there and of course you know we didn't have industrial light magic
• 24:50
  and all this other good stuff in
• 24:52
  1984, but this set...
• 24:56
  at least the setting for this home uh town of uh oh lord the name's escaping me but anyway the hometown here is the same exact set as back to the future this uh it was used first here with
• 25:13
  gremlins yes they use the same set if you watch the watch the film and go back and watch back to the future you're like wait that's the same town you know this the shots and
• 25:25
  Like the theater at the end of the film that blows up and all this here,
• 25:29
  that's the same theater where the
• 25:34
  DeLorean went back in time and left those fire tracks leading up to it.
• 25:40
  It's the same street.
• 25:42
  You know,
• 25:42
  when they have the wide shot of the town,
• 25:44
  it's the same wide shot as you have in Back to the Future.
• 25:49
  The only difference is it's snowing.
• 25:52
  and there's Christmas decorations,
• 25:54
  and there's no clock tower.
• 25:55
  The only thing added for Back to the Future is the clock tower.
• 26:00
  And if we look closely in Gremlins,
• 26:03
  you probably can't see the clock tower.
• 26:05
  I really wasn't looking for it,
• 26:07
  and so
• 26:08
  I could be corrected on that.
• 26:10
  But yes,
• 26:10
  it's still the same set in any regard.
• 26:13
  But yeah,
• 26:15
  I absolutely love this movie.
• 26:17
  Absolutely love this movie.
• 26:20
  This movie has...
• 26:21
  everything you would want in this type of movie you know it has comedy it has heart it's christmassy you know you ever watch some movies that are set during christmas it don't feel christmas the
• 26:39
  only thing you know that would lead on to you knowing that is christmas movie you see a christmas tree in the background or you see random lights you know it's something just just to
• 26:51
  indicate that oh this is around christmas time here this feels christmasy you know just like die hard die hard feels christmasy it feels like a christmas movie just with terrorists blowing up people in a building and stuff but but
• 27:08
  this feels christmasy and it just brings joy you know it's weird some people like to sit down and watch it's a wonderful life
• 27:18
  Christmas or Miracle on 34th
• 27:20
  Street. God bless you.
• 27:22
  But
• 27:23
  Gremlins has that same appeal to me,
• 27:28
  if not more.
• 27:30
  I love the feel of this movie,
• 27:32
  you know,
• 27:33
  and it ramps up to 11.
• 27:35
  We don't just start off with Gremlins tearing things apart.
• 27:40
  It all comes in an earned fashion.
• 27:44
  You know,
• 27:45
  we start the film off with,
• 27:47
  uh,
• 27:47
  uh,
• 27:48
  the dad to billy uh oh my god what's his name ran uh he's an inventor a bad one at that and that's another thing you know this being retro review you can look back on things and be like that was so stupid you know like right now all
• 28:05
  of that stuff that he was inventing inventing i should say is is around you know the little shower buddy that he invented it's around you have that stuff
• 28:17
  now you know the courtless phone that was so innovative in 1984 that was in this film well nobody has landlines no more anyway so that that that's obsolete that's a ancient history really um
• 28:33
  the the juicer that was innovative you know the orange juice maker we have those things now we have ninja thing the old juicers and stuff so all those things that he was inventing
• 28:46
  I guess you could say he was a prophet.
• 28:48
  I guess you could say the band was before his time because all of that stuff that he invented around his house is around our house now.
• 28:57
  And it is so funny to go back and watch it now.
• 29:02
  But he's this failed inventor.
• 29:04
  He's on these conventions,
• 29:06
  and he's trying to sell these inventions to others and stuff like that.
• 29:11
  And he happens upon this antique shop,
• 29:14
  and he goes in,
• 29:15
  and there's this...
• 29:16
  old uh asian man with his grandson and he's looking around the shop for a little stuff little trinkets that he can bring back home to his son billy and all of a sudden he hears this little thing singing or humming in the background and it's a magua and
• 29:34
  we're like what's a magua you know he acts as the uh kid and all that and they open up the box and we get our first look at gizmo and
• 29:43
  it is the cutest thing still the cutest thing on earth right now and you're like oh man i gotta buy it and he he flashes a hundred dollars then he goes up to two hundred dollars like right now
• 29:55
  Well,
• 29:55
  actually,
• 29:56
  it's still a lot of money,
• 29:57
  but just think back in 1984,
• 30:00
  man,
• 30:00
  throwing $200 down on a table.
• 30:03
  Man,
• 30:03
  you can have my grandson for $200.
• 30:07
  But he turned down the money or whatever,
• 30:10
  and the grandson ended up sneaking
• 30:12
  Gizmo out,
• 30:13
  and he brings it home to Billy,
• 30:15
  and he explains the rules.
• 30:18
  And we get the establishment of the rules to keep a mogwai.
• 30:24
  no bright light,
• 30:27
  no water.
• 30:28
  Do not get them wet.
• 30:29
  And for the love of God,
• 30:31
  do not feed him after midnight.
• 30:35
  Now,
• 30:35
  this was the only thing and this bothered me in 1984 and it bothers me in 2024.
• 30:45
  Is that Eastern,
• 30:47
  Central or Pacific?
• 30:49
  And what?
• 30:51
  How do you know is midnight?
• 30:53
  or after midnight or how do they know it's after midnight it was it bothered me when i was a kid i never understood that rule because there are multiple midnights you
• 31:10
  know like i live in new orleans in the new orleans area i should say and so if i feed a mogwai at 11 o'clock what if it's on or at 11 15
• 31:22
  at night but what if it's on new york time it's 12 15 so i i didn't i didn't spawn these demons now you know unknowingly only because i'm a i'm an hour behind it
• 31:40
  is it it always bugged me to death and that's one of my flaws in the movie there is not many is it is this and something else and i'm gonna get to but that always ran me
• 31:53
  crazy and i didn't think it was going to drive me crazy yesterday when i was watching this but it did it still drives me crazy because it's a main plot of the movie you know that's that's how we get the villains of the movie is because of that rule break and
• 32:12
  it's the dumbest rule of all time in my humble opinion but regardless of that uh we you
• 32:21
  we do get that rule break we get our first ever look at cory fellman who went on to be uh a huge star in the 80s i mean a giant ginormous star in the 80s you know with lost boys and teaming up with cory hayne the two corys and being in multiple films together you know and it's
• 32:44
  uh it's crazy how his career really didn't shoot off to the atmosphere but
• 32:51
  uh he was very prominent in the 80s you know but this was our first exposure to him on the big screen um going back to gizmo gizmo is voiced in this film by howie mandel yes the same howie mandel that you can see now on the voice i think it is not the voice uh uh america
• 33:13
  america's got talent yes that howie mandel from from the
• 33:19
  the other game show with the briefcases he yes that that harry mandel he voiced gizmo and loved it loved his voice here loved his voice acting we also got voice acting from peter cullen and uh frank waller who are
• 33:37
  prominent voice over actors you know uh those two you may know as optimus prime and uh megatron and transformer not only films but
• 33:47
  in the animated shows as well,
• 33:49
  but it did just multiple voiceover work during that time,
• 33:54
  and still to this day,
• 33:56
  still to this day,
• 33:59
  isn't,
• 33:59
  is that not amazing,
• 34:01
  and still do a great job
• 34:04
  40 years later,
• 34:05
  but what makes Gremlins so unique and so fun to watch is for the reason Steven Spielberg.
• 34:16
  enjoyed the screenplay and that was the the great mix of horror and comedy and that's not easy to do um you can tell it's not easy to do because you don't see a lot of horror comedies that are good you probably do see a lot of horror comedies but as far as being good you don't see many of you know because it's hard to pull that off it
• 34:40
  is very hard and for it not to come off as cheesy because this film
• 34:45
  Came very close to being super cheesy,
• 34:50
  but is not.
• 34:52
  it's really not it's so horrible some of the things that these gremlins are doing are horrible and then there are some things they do that is downright stupid you know downright cheesy throughout the film we establish a villain early with
• 35:09
  the town uh what's the woman name uh uh dingle or yeah i think dingle miss dingle just a despicable woman purely despicable
• 35:22
  and when she gets her come on but come up in in the end of this film it is the most gratifying piece of filmmaking you will ever see and this was in 1984 you know that chair the chair for disabled people that you know that
• 35:40
  need to go up the stairs but they can't walk up the stairs and so and it just is on this rail system that goes up the stairs for the people um it's a thing that actually exists i've seen
• 35:52
  But anyways,
• 35:54
  she's on this thing.
• 35:55
  The gremlins have gotten in the house and malfunctioned the chair.
• 35:59
  And this is what gremlins do in lore.
• 36:03
  They disable your mechanical stuff.
• 36:06
  It all started in World War II.
• 36:08
  Just a little history lesson.
• 36:11
  World War II pilots were talking about gremlins disabling their planes and engines and stuff like that.
• 36:20
  And so...
• 36:21
  That's the lore of a gremlin.
• 36:22
  And they do it throughout this film with mechanical stuff,
• 36:26
  electronical stuff.
• 36:28
  And they did it to this chair.
• 36:29
  And so she's freaking out.
• 36:31
  She's like,
• 36:31
  oh,
• 36:31
  I'm not ready.
• 36:32
  I'm not ready.
• 36:34
  You felt so much sympathy for her,
• 36:36
  even though leading up to this point,
• 36:39
  you were hoping and wishing she got hit by a bus because she was just that despicable of a human being.
• 36:46
  But she is basically.
• 36:48
  begging and pleading for her life at this morning in moment and you feel it you know uh the actress who played her was uh polly holiday and she did a phenomenal job and you felt the despair in her voice in her acting as she gets she's just kind of like just uh whimpering
• 37:11
  into this chair and so she presses the button
• 37:17
  she presses the button to go upstairs in the chair and the chair just flies in and she's screaming as this thing going 100 miles per hour up the stairs and
• 37:33
  all of a sudden you see a shot outside of the house in the or in the chair fly out of the top window out of the top bed window it was it is so horrifying yet
• 37:47
  the funniest thing you ever will in movies it was so gratifying it was so earned i don't know why that brought me so much joy in this movie that was the money shot that
• 38:02
  was just the the establishment of that character who we we are introduced very early in the film we see her terrorize not only billy but all the people in this town throughout
• 38:16
  the film and for her to get her meet her in in that fashion was so satisfying even though you you couldn't help but feel just a tad bit sympathetic to her because you you you're
• 38:32
  not cheering on the gremlins you know you still hate the gremlins at this point you know and i don't know they just did an excellent job with that to to uh tap into not only the deal
• 38:47
  horrific aspect of that death but the comedy to find the comedy in that is like genius um to find the comedy and all the deaths really um because there are some brutal deaths throughout this throughout
• 39:03
  this film but that that uh goes down as top 10 kevin reed's favorite on-screen deaths in movie history uh hands down it it is still
• 39:17
  leaves a lasting impression on me.
• 39:20
  When I saw that as a kid,
• 39:22
  and I think the reason why is because when I watched that,
• 39:27
  I watched it,
• 39:27
  I did my mom,
• 39:29
  I know I watched it with my dad,
• 39:31
  but I think my mom watched it too when we were watching the movie,
• 39:36
  and they both died laughing watching that scene,
• 39:41
  and I'm like,
• 39:42
  you know,
• 39:42
  because I'm a little kid at that point,
• 39:44
  I'm like,
• 39:45
  are we supposed to be laughing?
• 39:47
  And you know,
• 39:48
  I'm finding it funny,
• 39:49
  but I'm like,
• 39:50
  are we supposed to be laughing right now?
• 39:54
  It was just one of those moments that I'll never forget.
• 39:57
  But yeah,
• 39:58
  I loved it.
• 39:59
  All the performances in this film,
• 40:01
  with the exception of our lead,
• 40:04
  were great.
• 40:05
  And you could tell that this was a young actor,
• 40:08
  you know,
• 40:09
  first time in front of a camera.
• 40:11
  I don't know if this was his first time,
• 40:12
  but definitely his first time leading a role.
• 40:15
  He wasn't horrible.
• 40:17
  he wasn't you know unwatchably bad he was good for that era he was good for 1984 because if you go back and watch a lot of films around that time you know 83 84 85 this was the style of acting that you got a lot of you know just kind of not
• 40:38
  robotic but you know just 80s and it just nothing extra to the role
• 40:47
  he just played this little geeky kid and you know zero emotion on his face he showed no emotion on his face zero poor fella but you know he tried he did an all right job but everybody else did an excellent job we uh judge reinhold is in this movie i think this was his first film and
• 41:08
  after this he went on to be in billy hill's cop with eddie murphy and uh multiple other films still to this day working and
• 41:17
  to keep the tradition alive in every horror film the first cadres t is a black man oh black man is the first one to die this movie glenn thurman is the uh uh actor who plays this school teacher who uh
• 41:36
  billy brains one of the gremlins two well actually one of the magwars but it turns into a gremlin and that gremlin end up killing him
• 41:46
  in this in the classroom and uh the only thing came to my mind because i at that point when i watched it yesterday i was like does he die first i know i remembered him dying but i was trying to remember did he die first and then as the movie went on i'm like yep yep yep he does he does but
• 42:09
  uh the dude the dude asked for it i mean when he drew blood from the thing he remembered
• 42:16
  And when
• 42:17
  Billy found him,
• 42:18
  he had the syringe stuck in him.
• 42:20
  The gremlin got his revenge.
• 42:23
  But moving on to my other bugaboo with this movie,
• 42:28
  this movie was moving at such a it's a rapid pace.
• 42:34
  But the storytelling,
• 42:35
  the screenplay was so well done.
• 42:37
  The direction was so well done.
• 42:40
  We got a lot in the short time that this movie this movie is not long.
• 42:44
  this movie is an hour and a half long and you got all your actors and characters established early we got into the story i would say midway through the first act and it was pretty much rolling from there and
• 43:02
  then we got one scene one scene that just came out of nowhere and i can tell that this was a joe dante scene i think i don't know if this was you
• 43:13
  in the original screenplay but it just felt like it was out of place it just felt like it was kind of shoehorned in for some strange reason and it was the scene in the bar with all of the gremlins and phoebe cates is in there and she's you
• 43:31
  know these gremlins have been terrorizing the town up to this point killing each and everybody but for some strange reason they get to the bar and they leave the bartender alive
• 43:42
  who is pb kate's character and leaves her alive as she's feeling you know refilling their drinks and mind you they're drinking getting wet and nothing's happening to them there's that and lighting their cigarettes and they're in there they're playing poker they're
• 44:00
  playing a pool you know you see one in there dressed in drag it one's on the ceiling fan you know they're just balling
• 44:10
  Over there in this ballroom and all of a sudden there's this crazy little transition in music wise they're listening to the radio and is rock music playing and Then it turns to jazz music and it's just awkward little scene with with a puppet one of the
• 44:33
  Muppets what it is Muppet really but one of the gremlins have a puppet and
• 44:39
  playing around with it and and then it switches over
• 44:47
  to this pop song you know pop music and you see one of the gremlins with the high socks from the 80s you know the sweat socks and doing the little flash dance sequence mate it just came out of no it it was pointless it
• 45:04
  was a pointless scene i mean there was some i i guess there was some elements in there that you might can giggle at a little bit but it did nothing for me
• 45:15
  But it was just pointless.
• 45:17
  I'm sitting there like,
• 45:18
  let's get to it.
• 45:19
  You know,
• 45:21
  let's get to the rest of the story.
• 45:22
  Because none of this stuff that's happening in this bar is making logical sense in the rules of this universe that you have set up.
• 45:32
  Nothing is making sense right now.
• 45:34
  And so we move on.
• 45:36
  We move on.
• 45:38
  We move into the third act where we get to the climax.
• 45:41
  We get this showdown.
• 45:43
  Uh...
• 45:44
  the gremlins have now congregated into a movie theater which another thing made no sense they basically killed everybody in the town they killed everybody they're in this movie theater because the sun coming up once
• 46:01
  again can't deal with light bright light definitely not sunlight and so they they go to the movie theater uh billy and kate and gizmo they find them in there
• 46:12
  they managed to get to the ballroom to blow up the theater but there's one that got away and that is spike the leader of the uh wasmadi of the gremlins and uh they chase him down in the department store and that's where we have our
• 46:29
  classic showdown and they vankris spike and it it would not spike uh stripe and it was it was cool i loved it i loved
• 46:41
  gizmo in the little remote remote control car i always i always enjoyed that i enjoyed uh the way um gizmo became the hero it wasn't billy that defeated stripe it was gizmo that defeated stripe and i thought that was a excellent touch excellent idea idea
• 47:04
  and excellent execution how they pulled that off now that we're at the end of the film
• 47:11
  I gotta ask the question,
• 47:12
  did everybody in the town die?
• 47:15
  I mean,
• 47:16
  other than Billy,
• 47:17
  his mom,
• 47:18
  his dad,
• 47:19
  and Kate.
• 47:20
  Because everybody else was gone when they went to go look for the Grimm.
• 47:25
  The whole town was just vanquished,
• 47:28
  you know?
• 47:30
  So what's the ramifications for that?
• 47:32
  Now,
• 47:33
  I'm thinking in 2024 logic.
• 47:36
  Back in 1984,
• 47:39
  who cares?
• 47:39
  It's a movie,
• 47:40
  to keep in the scheme of things i really don't care i just enjoyed what was in front of me but when you think beyond that you know after the happy ever after what happened to the town after that but whatever it holds no bearing on how i feel about this film this is an absolute classic and is it is an absolute christmas classic because this is a christmas film through and through from beginning to end
• 48:10
  this is a christmas film i give gremlins from 1984 a letter grade of an a minus yes i have my problems with it i do and yes you can find parts in here that are are
• 48:27
  deeply cheesy and dare i say dated but it's a classic man if if you watch it for the first time you know the younger generation
• 48:39
  you probably won't like this you know you probably think it's cornball
• 48:44
  80s slock but if you grew up in the era i did around this era man you can't help but enjoy gremlins gremlins is still a prominent piece of pop culture today this movie was made for 11 million dollars it went on to gross 212 million dollars worldwide certified blockbuster hit um
• 49:08
  it spawned a sequel you
• 49:10
  gremlins 2 a new batch as i said before not as good as the first one nowhere near as good as the first one to be honest with you but it's still watchable it is what it is it's a parody um mentioning
• 49:26
  that it's still a prominent piece of pop pop culture it there's currently a animated series on max right now uh gremlins i think the secret of the magua
• 49:40
  And so that is still going on.
• 49:42
  There's still part of it.
• 49:43
  And wouldn't you believe that Zach.
• 49:46
  Galligan has a voice role in that show.
• 49:52
  Not as Billy.
• 49:53
  I think he had a cameo as one of the henchmen or something in it.
• 49:58
  I only watched a couple of episodes.
• 50:00
  I need to go back and watch it.
• 50:02
  But yeah,
• 50:03
  it's funny how his career came full circle reprising the role on that show.
• 50:10
  But there were talks a while back of.
• 50:15
  possibly doing a remake and when they first announced it announced it i was kind of excited but as time kind of got away from it you know after getting over the high of the excitement of a possible gremlins remake i'm like no if
• 50:32
  you're gonna make a gremlins film make one separate from this you know don't don't remake this don't touch this this is a masterpiece you know that yeah i know like i said before it isn't perfect
• 50:44
  but it's a class leave it alone you know you just have a continuing story about in another place or something like that involving the gremlins also another piece of history magua is kandani for devil just
• 51:00
  wanted to throw that out there to you but i want to know number one did you enjoy gremlins growing up is this a christmas film in your view uh speaking of christmas
• 51:14
  What are you looking forward to this Christmas?
• 51:17
  Are you looking forward to relaxation?
• 51:21
  Are you looking forward to the gifts?
• 51:22
  Are you looking forward to family?
• 51:23
  Or are you looking forward for some time off of work?
• 51:27
  I'm looking for all of that,
• 51:29
  to be honest.
• 51:30
  I want all of that.
• 51:32
  But I would love to know what you think.
• 51:34
  Email the show,
• 51:35
  kbradiopodcast at gmail.com.
• 51:38
  You can also search for the show on all social media platforms.
• 51:41
  Just search.
• 51:42
  for the kb radio network also subscribe to the kb radio network channel on youtube and like this video if you don't mind don't forget about the five stars the reviews and sharing this show if you're listening on apple podcast spotify iheart radio wherever you are currently listening to movie goodness here on the kb radio network
• 52:05
  everybody thank you for joining me for this look back at a
• 52:10
  Christmas classic from 1984,
• 52:14
  Gremlins.
• 52:15
  Everybody have a Merry Christmas.
• 52:17
  I hope that you enjoy your
• 52:20
  Christmas and your family and the food and the football and whatever else comes with the holiday.
• 52:27
  Please,
• 52:28
  everybody,
• 52:28
  be safe,
• 52:29
  have fun,
• 52:30
  and spread the love.
• 52:32
  Want you all to know that I love you.
• 52:33
  Continue to love everybody until we speak again.
• 52:38
  Merry Christmas.
• 52:40
  And you be blessed.