'Gremlins' Workprint & Extended Scenes

[WyldeMan45]

Holy crap, dog killing and mom beheading?!?!! That is a little extreme even for the gremlins. If I had seen that as a child no way would I have loved it, well the beheading I'd be cool with but the dog killing, no way!

One of the luxuries of living in Los Angeles are all of the revival theaters playing classics day in and day out. Last night we were on hand at the Aero theater in Santa Monica where they were showing a double-feature of both Gremlins films with a special appearance by director Joe Dante. To our surprise, we were told that what we were about to see was the test-screening workprint of Gremlins that featured six minutes of unseen footage! In addition, Dante updated fans on Bat Out of Hell. Read on for the skinny.

From a screenplay by Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan, BAT OUT OF HELL centers on a red-eye flight from L.A. to New York during which hijackers confront the monstrous cargo.

Announced last April, Joe Dante was attached to direct, but now it looks like the project is off.

"I'm not off it, just in general it's off," explaining that it just didn't happen, particularly in this climate. "All ducks need to line up."

But the BAT OUT OF HELL talk was just the beginning as Dante revealed some (what I believe to be) new information about the GREMLINS franchise. Apparently the original screenplay was a straight-up horror film loaded with violence. Billy's dog is killed and his mother beheaded before the Gremlins bounce her head down the stairs.

But the big surprise that had the audience shimmering in excitement was the announcement that Dante had brought along a workprint for the film used the test it before its theatrical release. We were informed that the print was six minutes longer and carried new footage never before seen. The lights dimmed and the pic opened with a warning along the lines of: "This is a workprint, it carries unfinished sound, effects, yadda, yadda..."

From what we could piece together (I'm not 100% sure which of this is new) there was an entire subplot removed where Ruby Deagle (Polly Holliday) was planning on foreclosing on a bunch of properties and evicting the families (Billy and Kate's) for some big project. There was scene where Kate Beringer (Phoebe Cates) discovers a map of the town with markers of what homes will be taken.

In addition, there was a segment that featured Gerald Hopkins (Judge Reinhold) locked up in the bank safe and when Billy and Kate try and help him, get annoyed and lock him back up.

Lastly, it appeared that the bar scene with Kate was a bit extended. Beyond that we weren't able to really piece together what was new and the audience, instead of asking, felt the need to ask retarded questions like, "This was my first time seeing GREMLINS! I'm from overseas, but it was great!" Good question.

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[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by WyldeMan45

Holy crap, dog killing and mom beheading?!?!! That is a little extreme even for the gremlins. If I had seen that as a child no way would I have loved it, well the beheading I'd be cool with but the dog killing, no way!

Gizmo was supposed to turn into Stripe in the end, as well. Steven Spielberg changed that, thought Gizmo was too cute to turn evil (have to agree with that).

[DetroitSportsFan]

Here's the original script for your reading pleasure. Click on "read the script".

http://www.horrorlair.com/movies/gremlins.html


This would have been an even better film that the one we got.

[Blu-Ron]

Cool stuff, thanks. This movie needs to be on Blu.

[WyldeMan45]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

Gizmo was supposed to turn into Stripe in the end, as well. Steven Spielberg changed that, thought Gizmo was too cute to turn evil (have to agree with that).

Good thing they scrapped so many of the original script ideas! Gizmo is probably one of the cutiest things to come out of the 80's and with that little humming song he does no way would evil Gizmo have worked. Not to mention we never would have had Rambo Gizmo in the sequel!!

UPDATE: Just by reading the first page they didn't stick to the script lol! Rand Peltzer: Thin, with distinguished good looks. Definitely not him. Finished reading the script..........wow.........that would have been a horrible movie! It was beyond anything I ever imagined, not only did they kill Barney AND Pete, but his mom was a Valium popping shell of a woman, who is brutally murdered. Gizmo isn't even in this script, it's just a Mogwai that later became Gizmo in the final film version. After they multiply they are all referred to as Mogwai without any names at all, so you never know who you are reading about. Lots of characters who weren't even in the movie, and many who where just severely changed. Very few remnants of this original draft remained. After seeing it was Chris Columbus of Harry Potter fame who wrote this, I see why he was so obsessed with having Billy a fantasy nerd who fights with a sword the entire movie........LAME!!!!!!