Recently it was the 40th anniversary of Gremlins, which was directed by Joe Dante & written by Chris Columbus, now of Harry Potter fame as a director; this was presented to Steven Spielberg and he executive produced the film from his company Amblin. The premise is simple in that the small town of Kingston Falls in Pennsylvania is terrorised by small green monsters when a mild-mannered bank teller gains a new pet and breaks simple rules:- no water, no food after midnight and no bright light. Starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates and Hoyt Axton, with Scott Brady as the Sheriff, there were also intriguing supporting roles for Harry Carey Jnr, Corey Feldman and Judge Reinhold, even cameos from Jerry Goldsmith who wrote the music and Spielberg himself, though the last two were uncredited. Filmed on the same Universal backlot as Back to the Future, this could have been a straight horror film but one of the little monsters Gizmo was suggested by Spielberg to be of a kinder disposition to make the film more family friendly. This was also pre-CGI so all of the gremlins were animatronic. The gremlins were an inspiration for the Furby children’s toys – anyone with children in the late 90s will remember those ! Strangely the film was released on the same day as Ghostbusters, though still did well. The film won five Saturn Awards in 1985 – as Best Horror Film, Best Director Joe Dante, Best Music Jerry Goldsmith, Best Supporting Actress Polly Holliday and Best Special Effects.
Equaliser769
