Holiday movies are always a big deal, especially when it comes to comedy and romance. But horror also has its place during the Christmas season, especially when you think about those older films that became classics. Gremlins is definitely one of those, being one of Steven Spielberg’s most memorable productions as executive producer. The 1984 film, which even got a sequel and an animated series with a second season already – Gremlins: The Wild Batch, tells the story of Billy (Zach Galligan), who gets a pet named Gizmo from his dad for Christmas. With a look that could be described as a “mogwai,” Gizmo has a few rules: no exposure to sunlight, no water, and definitely no feeding after midnight.
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Eventually, an accident happens and the little creature multiplies into five. From there, chaos breaks loose, and some pretty terrifying situations unfold. However, there’s one scene in particular that seems to stand out for many people, even more than the rest of the story. When Kate (Phoebe Cates) decides to share why she hates Christmas, the entire macabre tone of the movie seems to come together in this one moment. It turns out, though, that this scene almost didn’t make it into the film.
How One of the Most Iconic Scenes in Gremlins Almost Didn’t Make It Into the Movie
At one point in the film, Kate and Billy are with Gizmo when she decides to open up about a story from her past. The scene fits perfectly into that classic horror movie moment, where a light from below adds to the suspense as someone shares a truly chilling tale. In this moment, Kate tells the story of how her father, dressed as Santa Claus on Christmas, slipped down the chimney and broke his neck. His body wasn’t discovered until days later.
The most striking moment comes at the end of her story, when she says, “and that’s how I found out there was no Santa Claus.” While the film as a whole isn’t particularly scary, especially by today’s standards, this dialogue is quite macabre and unsettling. That’s exactly why Warner Bros. wanted to cut the scene, as they felt it might feel out of place in the overall context of the movie.
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Joe Dante, the director, made sure the scene stayed, insisting that Gremlins was meant to be a mix of horror and comedy. The very effect that the studio executives found worrying was actually the point. However, despite Dante’s push to keep it, it was ultimately the influence of Steven Spielberg that helped secure the scene’s place in the final cut.
The fact is, as executive producer of the film, Spielberg also had a say in the matter and, like Warner Bros., felt that the timing of Kate’s story was a bit inappropriate. Still, he believed in Dante’s vision and chose not to override him. Spielberg has always been a strong advocate for the director having creative control, and he trusted his colleague’s judgment. In the end, it proved to be the right decision.
Gremlins Has Always Aimed to Blend Dark and Bright Aspects at the Same Time
It’s ironic to think that the script had a clear goal regarding the tone of the story, and yet the studio behind the film wanted to cut a scene that perfectly captured that tone. The contrast between the festive joy of Christmas and the chilling moment of a horror movie was something that screenwriter Christopher Columbus even commented on in an interview with Yahoo.
“I’m fascinated by Christmas as the time of year when people are at their most emotional and happiest, yet there’s a whole other side of the population that’s incredibly depressed, potentially out of work, particularly this year. So you take that, and you set it against the backdrop of back in the day something like Gremlins. And that’s an interesting stew to me. When people should be celebrating with their families, these ridiculously evil monsters are terrorizing the town and killing everyone. That is fascinating,” he said. He also revealed that the inspiration for the scene came from a cartoon by Gahan Wilson, published in Playboy in 1964, where a man dressed as Santa Claus is depicted as a skeleton in a chimney.
Gremlins became one of the great films of the 1980s because of its innovation in blending very different genres. It struck a perfect balance between humor and horror. It also shows that even the most adorable things – whether it’s a little monster or the Christmas atmosphere – can have dualities. This originality in the story is what made Kate’s scene brilliantly timeless, along with inspiring some Gremlins ripoffs.
Gremlins is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
