Gremlins 2: The New Batch , 1990
Welcome back to another edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers’ 2019 Summer of Sequels! This week J. Blake and Dion Baia are heading all the way back to 1990 to revisit the insanity and wackiness that is Joe Dante‘s Gremlins 2: The New Batch!
Dion and Blake reflect on how insane and off the wall this sequel was to the 1984 classic, as they analyze the backstory and novelization. They reflect on the troupe of actors within this zanny follow-up, and their undying love for thespians like John Glover. They also revisit the recent auction of Rick Baker‘s SFX memorabilia, as Blake reminisce’s about what he was bidding on, and what special piece of movie memorabilia from Gremlins 2 Blake actually won and is now in his livingroom. So, remember not to feed your friendly neighborhood podcasters after midnight, in this all new hilarious installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!! #wacktown
Extras!
Right out of the SNMS Vault, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE of pictures of Blake‘s amazing piece of movie memorabilia from the Rick Baker creature shop!
Here is the original theatrical sequence during the “break” of film, starring none other than Hulk Hogan!
And here is the altered sequence inserted in the the VHS edition of the movie, starring none other than the Duke himself, John Wayne!
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This film has an interesting backstory as that John Carpenter originally declined to direct instead opting to write the screenplay and produce, but then actually took the project away from director Rick Rosenthal, adding and directing additional scenes to make the film gorier than the original, so to compete with the other ‘slasher’ films of the time. This may have ended up confusing audiences because the film had a notorious ‘TV‘ or ‘Producers‘ Cut, which not only changes the fate of some central characters, but also varied the degree of gore associated with each of Michael Myer’s victims. Was this really the first time a sequel picks up seconds after the original ended, since Bride of Frankenstein some 50 years earlier? Did Rosenthal actually get Orson Welles-ed by Carpenter? How does this compare to the original, a classic that practically jump started an entire subgenre? What was the controversy some years back with the omission of legendary Producer Moustapha Akkad‘s credit on the 2011 Blu-ray rerelease that so enraged the loyal fans of the franchise? How awesome was Donald Pleasance‘s performance? Did Lance Guest‘s character actually die or not? And what the heck happened to Ben Tramer?! Plus, hear Blake talk about the afternoon he spent with Joe Bob Briggs in all places- a hotel room? All these questions and more will be answered in this exciting, Halloween Edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!