A TV Globo exhibits this Thursday (29), at 15 pm (GMT), the film 'Gremlins' at Afternoon session🇧🇷 Released in 1984, the Christmas classic directed by Joe Dante and produced by none other than Steven Spielberg shows several small and feared but beloved creatures terrorizing a town on Christmas Eve.
The plot of the film is simple: an inventor is looking for a special gift for his son and finds something interesting in a store in Chinatown. The shopkeeper is reluctant to sell the little creature, but ends up accepting, under unusual conditions: the being cannot be exposed to light, water or fed after midnight. Of course, all these rules are disobeyed, which results in a group of uncontrolled "little monsters" that start to destroy the city right on the eve of the most anticipated holiday of the year.
the cast by Hoyt Axton, Phoebe Cates, Frances McCain e Zach Galligan, the truth is that few Christmas horror films are as beloved as 'Gremlins'. The film was one of the top five at the box office the year it was released and is a classic very well remembered by many people to this day. Filled with easter eggs, check it out below all the production's hidden references to other works by Spielberg:
- Rockin Signboard Ricky Rialto
In the opening scene of the film, there is a billboard advertisement for 'Rockin Ricky Rialto', a radio personality inspired by one of the most iconic characters in Spielberg's film.
Aside from the costume, Ricky Rialto's panel colors and font are patterned after 'Indiana Jones', which Spielberg was ironically working through 'Temple of Doom' at the same time Dante was directing 'Gremlins'. However, rather than Harrison Ford, Rialto is modeled after actor Don Steele.
- John Louie/Ke Hyu Quan
The Gremlins will always be linked to the 'Indiana Jones' franchise. After their release in 1984, both films became responsible for creating the +12 rating, as they were considered too violent for a “Free to All Audiences” label.
Strangely, both productions also feature a young Chinese man who becomes an integral part of the plot. Plus, both John Louie in 'Gremlins' and Ke Hyu Quan in 'Temple of Doom' wear a New York Yankees baseball cap in their respective movies, which can't be a coincidence.
- Spielberg Films
Two more references to Spielberg's films can be found in the cinema marquis at the beginning of the film. In a certain scene, the venue features showtimes for features called 'A Boy's Life' and 'Watch The Skies'.
'A Boy's Life' was the working title of Spielberg's smash hit 'ET – The Extraterrestrial', which was released two years before 'Gremlins'. Also, 'Watch the Skies' was the pre-production name of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'. According to Dante, he added the reference so that Spielberg "would be happy to see the result of the daily work".
- Spielberg dog
While this reference is a little harder to spot unless you know Spielberg personally, the fact remains that the visual appearance of Gizmo, the lovable mogwai, was designed to look a lot like Spielberg's pet beagle.
According to production designer Chris Walas in an interview at the time of release, Dante called him one day and said, "Steven is wondering if you can match [the gremlin] to the color of his dog." So, the professional had to look at the photos of the animal and elaborate the character according to the hair of the filmmaker's dog.
- rolled up poster
'Gremlins' marked the second time Spielberg and Dante worked together. In 1983, the two collaborated on the tragic production of 'On the Edge of Reality', which Spielberg co-directed and produced. In the movie, when Billy shows Pete the little monsters for the first time in his room, a rolled up poster of the sci-fi/Horror movie can be seen leaning against the wall. Perfect reference for “eagle-eyed” watchers.
- 'Mad Max 2'
Speaking of posterized easter eggs, when Billy is watching 'Body Snatchers' in his bed at night, the camera pans to the bottom half of another movie poster associated with Spielberg: 'Mad Max 2: The Hunt Continues', directed by the Australian filmmaker George Miller.
- ET at the department store
One of the most hilarious "Spielbergian easter eggs" found in the film occurs when Stripe, the ruthless Gremlin leader, hides in a stuffed animal section inside a department store while Billy tries to capture him.
When the character passes the toy corridor Stripe is hiding in, the creature immediately sticks its head out to reveal its presence. In doing so, he runs over an ET doll arranged at the bottom. In addition to cross-marketing Spielberg's then-most recent stand-alone release at the time, the scene implies that the alien would never stand a chance against the menacing mogwai.
- "ET, phone, home"
Another hard-to-note reference to Spielberg's classic sci-fi movie is when a grumpy little monster almost imperceptibly utters the film's most iconic line: "ET, phone, home."
During one of the gremlins' very violent attacks, a creature can be heard saying "phone home" (in English, in the Spanish dub this does not occur in an adapted form) in reference to the filmmaker's classic film while Billy tries to call his mother. Since the beings' language is incomprehensible, the moment is easy to miss, especially with all the chaos going on in the scene in question.
- Spielberg appears in the movie
One of Spielberg's biggest easter eggs in 'Gremlins' comes through the producer's own appearance during an in-joke-laden scene that takes place amidst the science convention that Billy's father attends midway through the film.
When Randall (Hoyt Axton) calls to check on his family, the filmmaker appears as a man riding a tricycle around the phone booth. His face is seen in profile for just a second or two. Furthermore, the film's legendary poser Jerry Goldsmith also makes a cameo in the scene.
- 'Back to the future'
Spielberg's biggest easter egg in 'Gremlins' is hidden, well, in plain sight. The central location of Kingston Falls Square in the film is the exact same Universal Studios set used for Hill Valley Square in 'Back To The Future'.
Of course, that's because Spielberg produced the Marty Mcfly story just a year after 'Gremlins'. In addition, actress Frances Lee McCain, who plays Billy's mother in the Little Monsters movie, is also Lorraine's mother in 'Back to the Future'. And more: the movie theater that the little creatures destroy in the film is the same room in which the character of Michael J. Fox crashes on his return to 1985 at the end of his adventure.
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Source: Screenrant
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