I had this idea that it would be really cool to open a
cinema in Coventry. It would be called The Flux because of A: the Flux
Capacitor, B: it sounds fancy and C: X’s are cool. It would show old movies and
foreign movies and do events and singalongs
- like an art-house cinema but with Ghostbusters. It would basically be The Prince Charles cinema, a place that
encompasses everything I’ve been enjoying about London; looking at famous
people from afar, hanging around Leicester square, and being amongst likeminded
people while not having to talk to any of them.
I saw Gremlins there last Friday night. The movie’s star
Zach Galligan was there to do a Q&A and gave us a lot of juicy behind the
scenes details; it took 6 months for him and the puppeteers to practice their
scenes, he actually improvised some stuff with Gizmo, the guy who designed
Gizmo had a nervous breakdown basically inventing the technology as they were shooting
and subsequently made 11 million dollars. Zach seemed like a really happy guy who
was grateful and not bitter to be known as ‘the Gremlins man’; he posed for
pictures with fans and seemed to loved talking about the movie, which is something
he presumably does on a weekly basis (there’s not much on his I.M.D.B). Having
been to lots of conventions I’ve seen a lot of surly actors who are famous for
one part they’ve played sit there looking miserable and (presumably) lamenting
their life decisions– I’m looking at you Soup Nazi.
I haven’t seen the movie in probably ten years and it was
one I watched a lot as a kid. I could hardly remember any lines of dialogue or
how specific scenes played out or even that Corey Feldman is in it, but it all
came flooding back like a repressed memory. It’s amazing how little of Gizmo
there is, I guess because he’s so much more expressive than the other gremlins
and it took 14 puppeteers to work him, it’s just too much hard work. If they do
a Gremlins 3 – Zach said it’s on the cards – I hope it’s a puppet and
not a back-flipping cartoon.
The film is a lot funnier than I remember it, partly because
everything is funnier in the cinema (especially with an audience who so clearly
love the film – they paid £15 to see a movie they can probably watch on
YouTube) but also because the joke of
the film is its absurdity, which is lost on stupid, stupid children. Like how
you can watch a Simpsons episode now and laugh at jokes you missed when you
were a kid.
In fact The Simpsons is a good comparison - the absurd
humour of like Phoebe Cates remaining at her bar job and servings drinks to
evil gremlins instead of just running away, for example. This whole scene is
hilarious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6eLmOECcug It’s also kind of a play on ‘50s horror and sci-fi
movies, and the craft that goes into aping the style of those movies and the
resulting humour might be overlooked when you’re thinking about a kids’ monster
movie.
The movie was a 70mm print which would normally trigger some
kind of cynical anti-hipster radar in my head but instead just made the movie feel
warm and real and special, plus it works with the content. All those times I watched
Gremlins as a kid was probably on a crummy VHS so the lo-fi aesthetic fits.
As
far as a night out alone in London goes, The Prince Charles cinema is fantastic - it plays old movies that are impossible to see anywhere else on a big screen in a dark and cosy underground (literally) environment. Plus they serve beer and wine. Gremlins
isn’t playing there anymore but there’s a whole season of Christmas movies
playing at the moment including Elf, Die Hard, and a Frozen singalong. Get on
it.
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