Gremlins
Trailer
Synopsis
A luckless inventor gives his son Billy a mogwai, a tiny, gentle creature he names Gizmo. The gift comes with three rules: keep it out of bright light, never get it wet and never feed it after midnight. Once the rules are broken, Gizmo spawns far less docile creatures that turn into gremlins and wreck a quiet small town on Christmas Eve.
Context & Trivia
The creatures were created by Chris Walas, whom Joe Dante knew from Piranha (1978). The gremlins were designed as hand puppets, with specialised versions that performed a single action (crawling, skateboarding, hanging from the lights), while Gizmo's small size meant he had to be largely animatronic. According to the AFI, twelve Gizmo puppets and fourteen of Stripe were built, with manual and mechanical controls. The smaller Gizmo puppets broke down more often; Dante refused to make him bigger so he would stay cute, and oversized mogwai faces and ears had to be made for close-ups. Walas said he could not give an exact puppet count because many were cannibalised to build new ones. Howie Mandel voiced Gizmo and Frank Welker voiced Stripe.
Voices
Howie Mandel, Frank Welker
Puppet design
Chris Walas
Puppet companies
Chris Walas, Inc.
Puppet building
Chris Walas · Ethan Wiley · Carol Walas · Eben Stromquist · James Isaac · Valerie Sofranko · Mark Walas · Kelly Lepkowsky · Randy Dutra · Jay Davis · Robert Cooper · Brent Baker · Blair Clark · Gary Platek · Anthony McVey · Tim Gillette · Ted Shell · David Sosalla · Robert Secrest · Marghe McMahon · Ralph Miller · Kirk Thatcher · Tom St. Amand · Randy Ottenberg · Joan Weinheimer · Peter Kleinow · Harold Weed · Christopher Rand · William Buttfield · Thaine Morris · Gregg Olsson
Direction
Joe Dante
Writing
Chris Columbus
Cast
Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, Frances Lee McCain, Corey Feldman, Keye Luke, Dick Miller
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Puppetry technique: Moving-mouth Puppets · Rod Puppets · Animatronics
