How a Christmas horror comedy forced the creation of the PG-13 movie rating
In short: When Gremlins hit theaters in 1984, audiences were shocked by its blend of cuddly creatures and violent mayhem. The backlash was so intense that executive producer Steven Spielberg personally urged the Motion Picture Association of America to create a new rating, leading to the birth of the PG-13 category.
Conceived by Chris Columbus in 1981, Gremlins was originally a much darker spec script featuring scenes of decapitation and creatures eating customers at a McDonald's. Director Joe Dante, chosen by Spielberg for his experience with horror-comedy, kept the film's tone balanced between humor and horror, despite studio pressure to remove scenes like Kate’s traumatic story about her father’s death in a chimney. The film's titular monsters drew on World War II folklore, where mechanical failures in Royal Air Force aircraft were jokingly blamed on mischievous creatures.
The production relied heavily on practical effects, as director Dante insisted on keeping the mogwai small to maintain their cuteness. Chris Walas designed numerous rubber puppets, though they were notoriously fragile and difficult to operate. The crew even maintained a 'Horrible Things to do to Gizmo' list, which included a scene where the gremlins hang the creature on a wall and throw darts at him, to justify the technical challenges of the small-scale animatronics.
Released on June 8, 1984, the film became a massive commercial success, grossing over $212.9 million worldwide. While critics like Roger Ebert praised its sly parody of classic film tropes, others like Leonard Maltin famously called it 'gross' and 'icky.' This criticism was later immortalized in the 1990 sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, where Maltin appears on screen to repeat his complaints before being attacked by the creatures. Today, the film remains a landmark in the horror-comedy genre, remembered for its technical ambition and its significant impact on the American film rating system.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Gremlins
- Also: Wikidata — Gremlins · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — Gremlins · CC0
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