Bonus Mogwai/Moopsy meet cute:
That sudden left turn in Gremlins scarred young me, but not as much as Billy’s total lack of interest in her story.
That movie has a couple hard quick turns.
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When Mrs Deagle barges into the bank early on and outright tells Billy she’s going to kill his dog, specifically saying she’ll throw Barney into the drier and some rando customer nonchalantly says “yup, that’ll do it” without batting an eye.
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When the mom is killing gremlins in the kitchen, there was a sequence cut where she stabs one in the stomach with a kitchen knife and the thing is trying to pull the knife out. Spielberg/Dante ultimately cut this particular sequence because even they said it was too dark…but if you pay attention during the kitchen scene you can still see that gremlin in the background on the counter writhing with a kitchen knife in its gut.
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Then the whole movie goes completely off the rails during the scene at the bar. This moment seems like the director/writers/producers just said fuck it.
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They’re playing cards and one shoots another in the face for cheating
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The Flashdance parody
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The blues gremlin
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One playing with a puppet
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The scene at the bar is where I realize I associate more with the gremlins.
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Maybe would be believable if chimneys weren’t just exhaust tubes. Humans can’t fit through that shit.
Old buildings had chimneys that small humans could actually crawl through. Think Victorian child slave labour. (Chimney sweep’s mate)
Yeah I was going to ask if chimneys in New England were enormous or something because in what world is this even possible.
I always thought it was supposed to be funny, in a dark way.
It is. The overdramatic delivery, the complete non sequiter, plus uh, it’s gremlins, the whole thing is dark comedy
It is. The comedy is that this is a dark comedic take on the USS Indianapolis speech from Jaws, adapted to the harsh traumatic reality of there is no Santa.
It’s one of the best moments of the film IMO.
That was dark!
And it was marketed as a holiday comedy. Bit of a misdirect.
I had not seen the movie in 20 years, and the last time was probably on TBS so edited for broadcast tv. I forgot about this entirely.
Been closer to 40 years for me, and I remembered the story a few sentences in. I just never would have guessed the movie it was from. I guess it has been long enough for a rewatch.
I imagine Miles tells this tale while he’s cleaning the jeffrey’s tubes of voles.
And Nog believed every word of it.
That’s rough. It would be perfect for a sort of Orwell O’Brien.
