``Gremlins'' should have been even crueler!? Spielberg's production technique that made his student's screenplay a hit

The original was darker and gorier than I expected! ?

However, Gremlins had one major problem. The original screenplay written by Columbus was a dark horror that could not be compared to the final version, and while there were some funny scenes, it was full of gory scenes that were not suitable for children. .

Meanwhile, Joe Dante, who was selected as the director, was initially surprised by the script's dark portrayal, saying, ``Wow!'' For example, the original version had a ridiculous scene where Gremlins attack a McDonald's and eat the customers instead of the hamburgers.

And in the now-legendary bizarre battle between Mom and Gremlins in the kitchen at home, in the original version, Mom is not defeated, but when the main character, Billy, returns home, Mom's head tumbles down the stairs. It seems that it included depictions of things like that. What's more, there was a scene in which the Gremlins didn't even decorate the dog with Christmas lights, but instead ended up eating it while making fun of it.

"Gremlins"

If you want to visualize these things, you have one of two choices. Should we respect this originality and pursue the path of horror for maniacs with a low budget, or should we drastically adapt it and take a more popular route? And if this work were to place emphasis on the special shape of the Gremlins, the only option left would have been to adapt it for families in order to secure a large production budget from the studio.

Now, this is where it gets tough. The creators, including Spielberg and Joe Dante, had to work hard to create new adaptations based on the original script.

The process by which dark horror transforms into horror fantasy

Joe Dante talks about making movies back then.

``In front of this unprecedented movie, I realized that careful planning in advance is meaningless.In fact, what is important is to capture the ``interesting things'' and ``fun things'' that I felt on set without missing them, and to put them into form properly. I will continue to do so.”

It goes without saying that such instant decisions on the scene had a large influence on the transformation of this film from its original ``dark horror'' to ``horror fantasy.''

The use of puppets to represent unknown creatures such as mogwai and Gremlins also contributed to the success. Even though the Gremlins is ferocious and cruel in the script, it has a cuteness to it when expressed through puppets. Thanks to this cushioning effect, the level of horror was made softer than in the original script, which is a huge benefit.

If this had happened a few years later, Spielberg would have immediately embarked on a major technological change for Jurassic Park (1993), and the puppets would have been replaced with CG. If that were the case, ``Gremlins'' would have come to the fore with a rawness similar to the original, and the cushioning effect would have diminished. In a sense, this work may be seen as having been saved by analog technology.

Was the cute gizmo scheduled to disappear after the middle game?