Welcome to Flashback, a new weekly newsletter from CREATORVC where I will take you on a journey to another place, another time, one where the past is more than just a distant memory, and where nostalgia, when harnessed with care, can be our great unifier for today. Each week we’ll take a trip down memory lane to highlight the greatest genre films and hidden gems of the '70s, '80s, and '90s!
As this is our first edition, it’s really important to us that we hear what you think about the newsletter. We want to create the best genre movie newsletter around, and your thoughts are really important to us. At the end of this edition there is a link to a short survey where you can tell us what you like, what you don’t like, and help shape the future of Flashback!
For this inaugural Flashback release, I come bearing a gift. It is the holidays after all. And I thought, what better way to celebrate than to revisit Joe Dante’s 1984 classic, Gremlins, written by Christopher Columbus? It’s the perfect mix of merriment, moral considerations, and mischief! So grab a snack, as long as it’s not after midnight, and settle in…
“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.”
When I was ten, I really wanted a Furby for Christmas. I’m not even sure why, but they were popular and I had to have one even though it didn’t appear to do much of anything. But you know how these things go. My mom said they reminded her of “those things” from Gremlins, the 1984 film directed by Joe Dante, which meant I really wanted to see Gremlins, especially when she told me it was a monster movie.
So, I collected my allowance, had my mom take me to the mall, walked into Suncoast Video and used my money to buy Gremlins on VHS, in one of those white clamshell cases. Never once did I consider going to KB Toys and using my allowance on a Furby. Gremlins took priority. I watched it as soon as I got home, sitting on the floor in front of the little TV and the VCR I kept in my room to watch black and white monster movies (not unlike Billy Peltzer). I saw Gremlins at the perfect age, a time when magical thinking could still exist, especially around the holidays, and puppets could scare me a little, but not so much that I’d look away.
Watching Billy’s mom go Sarah Connor mode when the Gremlins attack her kitchen was violent and horrifying, and so very cool. The Gremlin exploding in green, goopy guts in the microwave left an indelible mark on my brain, and so did Kate’s story about her Santa-costumed dad rotting away in her chimney. There was this feeling that I was watching something I shouldn’t be, even though my mom recommended it, and even though the back of VHS case said PG.
It was the most violence I’d ever seen on screen before, but there was a coziness to Gremlins, that Spielbergian quality, where you’re watching people you can trust, seeing parents doing their best to provide and encouraging creativity, in a world where good triumphs over evil and Mrs. Deagle being sent rocketing out of her upstairs window may not be in the spirit of Christmas but certainly feels merry.
And yes, I did get a Furby for Christmas. And yes, eventually, I did put water on it, just a little, to see what might happen. There weren’t any mogwai spawned in the aftermath, but I did end up with a pretty weird sounding Furby.
DID YOU KNOW?
If the town of Kingston Falls looks familiar, that’s because it’s the same set used for Hill Valley in Back to the Future (1985).
Before the decision was made to use puppets and marionettes for the Gremlins, there was an attempt to use monkeys. This plan was quickly scrapped when the monkeys went into a panic when the Gremlin masks were put over their heads.
Despite the film’s Christmas setting, Warner Bros. released Gremlins on June 8th, 1984, the same day Columbia Pictures released another ‘80s genre classic: Ghostbusters.
80s child-star Corey Feldman had originally been cast in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) as Elliott’s best friend and the human co-lead. When the script changed, the role was cut, and Spielberg, impressed with Feldman’s audition, promised him he’d find another role in one of his next projects. That promise paid off, and Feldman was cast as Pete in Gremlins and subsequently starred in another Spielberg production a year later: The Goonies (1985)
QUESTION TIME
So, my friends, were there any childhood toys that led you to a movie discovery? Reply directly to this email with your answers and we’ll feature some of them in our next issue!
RECOMMENDATIONS
If you liked Gremlins, you might also like…
The Howling (1981) Dir. Joe Dante
The ‘Burbs (1989) - Dir. Joe Dante
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) Dir. Joe Dante
Matinee (1993) Dir. Joe Dante
Small Soldiers (1998) Dir. Joe Dante
Krampus (2015) Dir. Michael Dougherty
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
On December 17th, 1964, the third James Bond film, Goldfinger, premiered in London.
On December 17th, 1989, The Simpsons premiered on Fox.
On December 18th, 1964, filming was completed on the pilot episode of Star Trek, “The Cage,” which never aired.
On December 18th, 2002, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released.
On December 18th, 2009, James Cameron’s Avatar was released and became the highest-grossing film of all time.
On December 19th, 1971, Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange was released.
On December 20th, 1996, Wes Craven’s Scream was released and changed horror films forever.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT FLASHBACK?
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We’ll be back in the new year with more movie nostalgia - Happy Holidays!
