GREMLINS: A Special Effects Oral History | Ringer Movies

The menacing green puppets in Joe Dante's 1984 classic, 'Gremlins,' have long been regarded as some of cinema's most beloved practical effects. But creating them took a lot of unruly animatronics, a massive crew of dedicated puppeteers, and plenty of guidance from Steven Spielberg himself. In this video essay, The Ringer's Alan Siegel interviews director Joe Dante, Gremlins creator Chris Walas, and even the star of the film, Zach Galligan, to tell the story of all the madness that went into the making of 'Gremlins.'

Written by: Alan Seigel
Produced and Edited by: Cory McConnell
Animation: Ingenuity Studios
Art Director: Tate Gibson
Illustrator: Claudia Dillard
Motion Designers: Aubie Udochi, Jacob Bommarito

Subscribe to Ringer Movies for more video essays, and episodes of 'The Rewatchables,' and 'The Big Picture.'

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[Muxacb]

Really hope this gets a Rewatchables episode. It’s my favorite Christmas movie.

[NorthernHandle]

Such a well-made and crafted video essay!

Would love to see one the New Batch.

[Marcosvallesmusic]

Love this! Keep putting out stuff like this

[TwoLeftThumbs]

Gremlins is one of my Christmas traditions.

[lidsville]

I enjoyed this. Let's have CR break down a shot, Fennessy talk about some Lean film, and even Mal talk about a sex scene. I'm in.... Oh snap Van just wearing a cowboy hat screaming "why mel!?!"

[iknowbetterthanyou]

light=sabers were not CG in the original Star Wars. It was hand-colored rotoscoping. They did use cgi for the Death Star attack 3d plan I believe.

[yojimbo]

Chris Columbus also directed the first two Harry Potter films.

[scottgray]

Shame that these videos are always the lowest watched videos on ringer movies since it seems like a lot of work goes into them for like less than 5000 views