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X-E’s ’08 Summer Megaparty: Drunk Gremlins.

Gremlins is one of my favorite movies ever, and that's been a fact since the first time I saw it, on a cassette rental from a long-closed Mom & Pop video store. The dichotomy was to die for: Gremlins boasted the cutest thing I'd ever seen in a movie and the most terrifying things I'd ever seen in a movie. Hell, I was only five.

The film's world firmly seeped into mine. I was completely obsessed with Gizmo, and dreamt of owning my own mogwai on a nearly nightly basis. And the gremlins? I totally heeded Rand Peltzer's voiceover warning from the end of the movie, becoming unnaturally wary of washing machines in dark rooms, kitchen cabinets...the whole nine yards.

I clamored for anything and everything Gremlins. I had a Gizmo plush doll, plastic figure, the cereal, the books, the audio books, the sticker books, every other possible version of "the books," and even posters. Anything I could get my hands on. The film didn't pave way for an incredible heap of toys, but there was enough out there to bring Gremlins into my life in ways far more tangible than those frequent daydreams about covering my new pet mogwai with bandages.

It's likely my love all things Gremlins that's made me unable to forget what I'm about to show you, but make no mistake: Running horrific shots of marauding gremlins during children's television was going to leave a mark even if the particular kid wasn't a Gizmo nut.


Yes, after years of talking about it, a reader sent me the famous Gremlins drunk driving public service announcement. (Probably yanked from YouTube, but hey, there's plenty on YouTube yanked from here.) Like that skeleton-themed drunk driving PSA I wrote about some time back, this one was aired super often and burned permanent scars into every organ of my body capable of being affected by it.

While the aforementioned "skeleton spot" made me afraid to drink any liquids period while inside of an automobile, the Gremlins version was just flat out scary. In it, Mr. Wing and Gizmo (happily reunited despite my eternal protests that Billy should've kept the damn thing) are hanging out in Wing's dank antique shop, and Gizmo's in for a lecture about teen drinking and drunk driving. Man. I could think of plenty of decent target demos for a lecture like that, but I just cannot count mogwais among them. Still, Gizmo seems interested enough, offering cute yelps to let his mutant grandfather know that he totally gets what he's saying.

As Mr. Wing talks about teens drinking and driving, we cut to several scenes from Gremlins, which coincidentally featured a few sequences where the gremmies drink, drive, crash and die. It seems impossible that I was ever afraid of these guys, but I was. Especially when they popped onto the television from out of nowhere while I was watching weekday afternoon cartoons. When it came to Gremlins, I needed time to prepare myself.

The old man decides to up the ante with a declaration against teen drug use, and to footnote that, we get the scariest shot from the whole movie: Stripe, post-sunlight attack, flopping out of the fountain with his flesh melted and his eyes transformed into picked eggs. Whatever courage that old blanket of ours provided when I first watched Gremlins on video was completely eradicated by that shot. I hated that shot. And I really hated it having it thrown at me during commercial breaks for Bugs Bunny or whatever the fuck I was watching.

The PSA ran fairly frequently and, to a five-year-old, it was a complete mindfuck. Even by today's standards, it wouldn't be typical to see gremlin-related gooey carnage on afternoon children's television. I can only imagine how much scarier this must've been for kids who hadn't seen the movie, and thus had no way of knowing that the little monsters' destructive outbursts generally led to violence of a more off-screen kind.

As was the case with many of the PSAs I watched as a kid, the message got lost. Drunk driving and drugs were bad, sure, but all I really came away from this with was the reaffirmation that Stripe was scary and that Gizmo had to be mine.

Gremlins-era Gizmo was so much more adorable than Gremlins 2-era Gizmo.

Click here to watch it!

Posted by Matt on 07/18/2008. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 91 comments

Ho man, I remember this. Matt, you have a way of placing me back in my livingroom at 1412 Heritage Glen in 1986.
On a different note, Matt, have you heard any news on the movie MEG? I am getting impatient.

Chestnuts roasted by Bill @ 07/19/2008 1:17 AM

Was anybody else having trouble downloading the commercial? Anyway, I can’t recall I ever seen this PSA, and as far as Gremlins go, I didn’t see it until it came out on videocassette and I think that was about 1986 or so. I guess my mom never took me because she thought I would be scared of the Gremlins. Well, that could be possible considering at this age (5 in 1984), I was afraid of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. Anyway, I do rememebr owning a couple plastic figurines of Gizmo, Stripe as a mogwai, and Stripe as a Gremlin. Of course, having these characters before seeing the movie got me confused as thinking that Stripe the mogwai and Stripe the Gremlin were two different characters. Another early merchandise product I remember early on were these Gremlins storybook and records. It was a series of five records and books telling the story of Gremlins. My cousins in Minnesota owned them and we used to make trips up north to visit them and we’d ALWAYS play those records. In fact, it became a traditon that every trip to northwest MN, we would play them for years.

I never read the Gremlins 2 novel, but I read the first one. Actually, I didn’t know there was a sequel book until now but always thought there were. Question: Is Futterman alive in the sequel book since he supposedly dies in the first novel? It seems that sequels to novels never have to follow exactly its predecessor. I guess that’s mainly because the sequel books follow the concept of the movie and the first novels are either from working scripts or they were the original ideas that the movies are based. I know that in Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park”, the Ian Malcolm character dies and yet in “Lost World” he’s alive again. I’m not sure if Crichton wrote “Lost World” after Jurassic Park the movie came out, but if he did, I bet that’s why the Ian Malcolm character is alive again. Also, in the E.T. novel sequel “The Book of the Green Planet” ( a supposed idea for a sequel that I don’t think was official since Spielberg had something else in mind, much like what became “War of the Worlds” years later), it was mentioned that E.T. ate Reese’s Pieces and missed playing dress-up as a girl with Gertie which were both from the movie. The original E.T. novel (which was also written by William Kotzwinkle who wrote the sequel) says that he ate M&Ms (which was to be original candy of choice until Mars Candy backed out claiming that E.T. was too scary for children and sales wouldn’t help the candy) and when he’s trying to communicate to the children, he puts a raincoat on. There is one nerdy character named LAnce that does make a cameo in the sequel book that is not in the movie. I guess that was the one person Kotzwinkle couldn’t do away with from his first novel. He probably was under protest since Spielberg did not have him (the character Lance) in the movie.

Anyway, enough babbling since I got off-topic again, time to move on. Once again, I’m sorry I haven’t been around to comment. The last couple weekends I was busy. Well, two weekends ago I was home in Chicago for the 4th of July weekend and I went to three ballgames: two White Sox games at the Cell and a Milwaukee Brewers game. Last weekend, the White Sox were in Arlington, TX playing the Rangers and I went to all three of those games. This will feel weird being the first weekend in two weeks I will not be going to a ballgame. All I have planned this weekend is to see “The Dark Knight.” I probably will not be at another game until next month sometime.

Anyway, there’s not much else for me to report for now. I’m a little behind on the Megaparty. Read the first couple of posts and the last few so I can some in the middle to catch up to. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Looking forward to SNT!!!!

Chestnuts roasted by BJ @ 07/19/2008 1:18 AM

For some reason I kept seeing “dwinking and dwiving.”

How the hell is everybody?!

Chestnuts roasted by Special K @ 07/19/2008 1:24 AM

Broomstick, have you been drinking? ;)

Chestnuts roasted by Neg @ 07/19/2008 1:25 AM

Ah, Gremlins II: The New Batch=Best Film Ever!
I remember seeing the Gremlins at the WB store, and just thinking that it seemed to be a tie in for Gremlins II: The New Batch, the store wasn’t made for people.

Also, am I the only NY’er who walks into the time Warner Center, and thinks of the Clamp Building?

And um, terror at the office anyone?”

Chestnuts roasted by Tresjolie9 @ 07/19/2008 1:26 AM

Neg: As a matter of fact, no, I haven’t been drinking. I kind of wish I had been though, because this is turning out to be a pretty sucky Friday night. X-E was my saving grace. :)

Chestnuts roasted by Special K @ 07/19/2008 1:28 AM

Special K yay! :) So good to hear from you.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 07/19/2008 1:34 AM

Weird…I’m watching Ghoulies II tonight after watching Ghoulies last night. First time for both.

Chestnuts roasted by Thorzul @ 07/19/2008 1:38 AM

Ghoulies II is a lot more entertaining than the first one. Well, not really true, but it’s more fun. Not sure if that’s true, either.

Much of it takes place at the carnival, and there’s a bigger-than-usual Ghoulie. That’s definitely true.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 07/19/2008 1:48 AM

Matt: Good to hear from you, too! haha Don’t worry, I’ve been lurking on the blog this whole time, just haven’t had the brain power to comment until now. We moved three weeks ago and school is eating me alive. On a more confusing note, I am officially an adult. The 25th birthday was particularly difficult.

Still enjoying your Gizmo pillow?? :P

Chestnuts roasted by Special K @ 07/19/2008 1:54 AM

Back in the 80′s, we had HBO, and it was through the good ‘ol Home Box Office that I got to see Gremlins for the first time. My family sat down to watch it, and I made it almost all the way through. I don’t remember the rest of the violence bugging me, but Holy Hannah when that melted-down bugger popped out of the fountain I screamed and freaked out like I never would again. I don’t really know why, but then, I was like three.

Seeing that shot folded into the commercials for my Saturday morning cartoons would have probably turned me off of television for good! :P

-Adam-

Chestnuts roasted by Adam @ 07/19/2008 1:59 AM

Alright. Me and Broomstick are accounted for. Who else is due for a return.

How’s about some Kingklash, some Majorwitz, dare I say a little Colonel?

I’m probably on Colonel duty, now that I think about it. Haven’t seen him online since he got his new place. Might have to call his mother and track him down.

Chestnuts roasted by Neg @ 07/19/2008 2:10 AM

It’s all downhill from 25. Next year I’ll be…thirty. :(

Gizmo The Pillow is doing okay, a little worse for wear, but this is to be expected considering the nightly pressure bestowed upon him by my head.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 07/19/2008 2:10 AM

I never saw Gremlins or Ghoulies. Never thought they were “cute” and they didn’t seem to be “cool” enough at the time (I was more into fantasy than horror).

Although I can COMPLETELY feel a kinship with those that were terrified of E.T. E.T. freakin’ SCARED me more than any fictional character I can think of. Most of this was because of the title screen for the E.T. Atari game, that music and that image of the alien and the boy done in Atari pixels is just… burned into my memory and still makes me a little quakey all these years later.

It’s just weird.

Chestnuts roasted by kittycatgirl @ 07/19/2008 2:13 AM

But that game gave rise to the Mooninites. And for that we can all be grateful.

Chestnuts roasted by Neg @ 07/19/2008 2:21 AM

Ages ago Warner Brothers used to let you request catalogs for the crappy movie related merchandise they would sell. I got on their mailing list after calling the 800 number at the end of one of their movies. It was filled with a lot of random junk you didn’t really need, but was really fun to look at. You could buy director’s chairs, denim jackets, stuffed animals, and all sorts of other stuff with the embroidered logo of whatever movie Warner Bros. was pimping at the time.

I bring it up because I distinctly remember one of them having a big spread on Gremlins 2 merchandise. Matt… if I still had those catalogs, I would send them to you. You could have done a great article on them.

Given my “collector’s” personality I still don’t understand how I managed to lose them over the years. *slaps self in face*

Chestnuts roasted by Magic Toy @ 07/19/2008 2:28 AM

Strangely, I never saw Gremlins (1 or 2) when I was young. I think I finally, finally saw the first one when I was about 22. However, I saw Gremlins STUFF all over when I was a kid, and the sight of anything Gremlins or E.T.-related brings up very strong memories of the 1980s. That PSA probably would have scared the crap out of me if I’d seen it back then, and still seems vaguely disturbing now.

I did see E.T. back then, and hated it solely because of that one scary scene Bob K. mentioned, with E.T. squealing in the tall grass. Oddly though, the face-melting scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark that Talia mentioned didn’t scare me at all back then, and Raiders remains my favorite movie to this day.

Chestnuts roasted by Hanglyman @ 07/19/2008 2:42 AM

Adam: Ah, Home Box Office! That network brought to my viewing pleasure such great classic 80s films like Goonies, Back to the Future, Short Circuit, and Stand By Me for the very first time! Those were also the days of Disney Channel being a pay channel which I think was MUCH better than it is now. Of course, when it came to movies, their edits were worse than showing a movie on network TV. The plus side is you sometimes got to see deleted scenes that were not in the original picture. I remember watching Goonies on Disney several years ago and they had the scene where the kids go to the store and get bullied by Troy, the son of the father who was forclosing all the houses in the area. They also showed a cut scene from Gremlins that I saw when the movie was on NBC and that was when they were in the bank and they open up the vault to find the Judge Reinhold character Gerald locked in. Of course these scenes can be easily accessed now with the DVDs, but back then, seeing different scenes not in the theatrical version was obselete! Oh yeah, and who can forget the Pig Face sequence from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” that CBS showed in the network premiere of the movie back in 1991? Classic days those were!

Chestnuts roasted by BJ @ 07/19/2008 3:14 AM

Matt, with all the hype surrounding the Dark Knight, and knowing that you’ve covered the first two Batman movies on X-E, maybe you could review the Joel Schumacher Batman films in the future? Just an idea.

Chestnuts roasted by Hoverbored @ 07/19/2008 3:20 AM

I don’t remember the first time I watched Gremlins. I think it would of been on network tv because I have watched it several times on network tv. You all are talking about being terrified of the wet exploding gremlin pssfffttt. I mean no disrespect to you all it’s just I remember my best friend from kindergarten until 5th grade would bring over tapes her dad recorded three movies per tape onto from HBO and other deluxe cable channels and he had a big collection of them. A lot of them were scary like Child’s play, Hellraiser, Friday the 13th, rarely a kids movie or something tame. My Grandma would let us watch it if she wasn’t in the room. She would say it’s alright as long as I don’t have to watch it with you. When I was 10 I started watching lots of zombie movies with my older cousin that moved in during that time but that’s another story. Point is, I probably thought the exploding gremlin was cool.

The spider gremlin still creeps me out though. Spiders in general and bees, bugs etc. freak me out. I just don’t want to get stung by a bee or bit by a spider. I have a general fear of things that can hurt me. Like heights. I used to be slightly afraid of automatic sliding doors, just about 5 years ago.

Chestnuts roasted by Goob @ 07/19/2008 3:28 AM

–>> .. still so much ♥ for STRIPE ..

and later Daffy.
>v

Chestnuts roasted by tOkKa @ 07/19/2008 5:34 AM

Matt, your mega-party was so “teh wesome” untill that first line typo: “Gremlins is one of my favorite movies ever, and that’s been a fact since the first time saw it, on a cassette rental from a long-closed Mom & Pop video store.” I am sure you meant “… first time I saw it…” anyhow, I am ttally rrolling. Man, grammar. I know I’m knew and all, but really. I was so horrified by your gramar, I hope you redeem yourself tomorrow, um I didn’t read the rest of it? Fruit Islands Cereal?

No really, I love it.

Ah-yumah-yumah!

Chestnuts roasted by SkinnyPate @ 07/19/2008 6:21 AM

Ha ha. I like that the clip was from Maryland. I probably saw that exact one at some point on Captain Chesapeake. “Four bells, time for He-maaaaaaaan.”

Chestnuts roasted by Bromide @ 07/19/2008 8:14 AM

Well, good news on the gremlins front in the UK, apparently despite our children being freakin’ wusses about seeing the little bleeders running amok, they won’t be taking the new BT ad down! Yay.

To be honest, I’d be more scared to work in an office with Peter Jones than be surrounded by gremlins.

Chestnuts roasted by Guise @ 07/19/2008 8:54 AM

Good going, SkinnyPate. Now we’re going to finally get that Karen Ross Congo figure update that I’ve been secretly wishing for.

Are there any TV executives here? I want to pitch a Gremlins animated series to you. Ok, here I go: “it’s a Gremlins animated series. Think Gremlins meets [some crappy cartoon that's popular these days]“. Kids will love it. Any takers?

Chestnuts roasted by Casual Jeff @ 07/19/2008 8:59 AM

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