Stars:
Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, Frances Lee McCain, and
Corey Feldman
Writer:
Chris Columbus
Director:
Joe Dante
Feature
length: 106 minutes
Extras:
Over Ten Minutes Of Never Before Seen Footage, Behind-The Scenes Documentary,
Filmmaker Commentary, Cast Commentary, Photo/Storyboard Gallery, Cast/Crew Film
Highlights, and Theatrical Trailers
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and English, French, and Spanish Dolby
Surround Sound 2.0
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Snap Case
Chapter
Stops: 27
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1984/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“Gremlins”
was a breakthrough hit for genre filmmaker Joe Dante, whose previous credits
included “The Howling” and “Piranha.” The premise is more or less as
simple as a dark fable or very dark Warner Brothers Looney Tune. An inept
inventor brings home an exotic creature, which he should never have, as a gift
for his son. The cuddly and cute Mogwai dubbed “Gizmo” whose origins are
never explained in the film is an intelligent and benevolent creature, but when
he is exposed to water he multiplies into devious and mischievous gremlins that
cocoon if fed after midnight into hideous malevolent creatures that cause mad
havoc wherever they are.
Perhaps
the most successful Spielberg production outside of the “Back To The Future
Trilogy,” “Gremlins” is a fantastic mix of sadistic humor and over the top
thrills that had it’s very own merchandising boom was not at all unlike the
“E.T.” products that preceded it. Warner Brothers presents “Gremlins” to
DVD this time as a “Special Edition” with a matted anamorphic widescreen
presentation that has a soft yet consistent look with no artifacts and
compression grain. A brand English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack as well
as a brand new English Dolby Surround Soundtrack are included too and they are
both clear and very full sounding. French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround
Soundtracks and English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired as
well as French and Spanish Language Subtitles are also encoded as options.
There
are two feature length audio commentary tracks with Director Joe Dante
participating in both. The commentary with Dante, Producer Michael Finnell, and
Special Effects Artist Chris Walas is the more screen specific of the two with
great detail on the development of key scenes and as well as insight into the
anxiety as well as the effort that went into making the gremlins come to life
given the limitations of the technology used during the film’s production
because of the time in which it was made. The other commentary features Dante
with Actors Phoebe Cates, Zach Galligan, Dick Miller, and Howie Mandel is more
humorous and retrospective in nature than the filmmaker commentary.
There
are number of new extra features that include the original 1983
behind-the-scenes featurette being presented for the first time on DVD with
filmed on location cast and crew interviews that include Hoyt Axton, Joe Dante,
and Steven Spielberg. There is a still gallery of color and black and white
behind-the-scenes photographs and a reel of deleted scenes presented in a
surprisingly good quality (1.85:1) widescreen with English Stereo Sound and an
optional filmmaker commentary track with Director Joe Dante and Actors Zach
Galligan and Phoebe Cates.
Detailed
cast and filmmaker biographies and filmographies are included along with the
original theatrical trailer, a reissue trailer, and a trailer for “Gremlins
2: The New Batch” in an anamorphic (1.85:1) widescreen aspect ratio. There
are also onscreen production notes and the menus are standard interactive still
frames that are easy to navigate.
As
a whole this is a great if not definitive home video version of “Gremlins”
that is an enormous value especially if you are an admirer of Dante’s work.
“Gremlins: Special Edition” will debut on DVD-Video day and date with the
DVD debut of “Gremlins 2: The
New Batch” sold separately on Tuesday, August 20, 2002 from Warner Home
Video. Also available now on DVD-Video from Warner Brothers is Joe Dante’s “Innerspace.”
All are sold separately and worth checking out.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.