ADHD-DVD, Episode #37: Gremlins

We close out Dante's In Fer November with a movie that could not be better suited to Black Friday, an anti-capital, anti-consumerist screed with a sharp sense of humour that lands perfectly in that liminal space between Halloween and Christmas. It's 1984's Gremlins, directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus, and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Frances Lee McCain, Corey Feldman, Dick Miller, Judge Reinhold, Jonathan Banks, and featuring the voices of Howie Mandel and Frank Welker. Like Die Hard, it is perfect Christmas Eve alternative programming, but the movie is such a blast that you can watch it any time of year. It released in fact on June 8th, 1984 -- the very same day as Ghostbusters, as horror comedy was having a moment on that particular Friday. It's a J Mo favourite that Hayley had never seen, and was an easy nomination to be this month's entry into the podcast canon of classic films.

Other works discussed in this episode include Fantastic Voyage, Small Soldiers, the concept of comfort movies, Hot Rod, Black Dynamite, Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, Dark Blue, Run This Town, Nightbreed, Hellraiser, Band of Brothers, Homeland,  Dreamcatcher, Plants & Animals, Super Mario RPG, road rage, It’s A Wonderful Life, Furby, Back to the Future, Goonies, Super 8, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, secret nanomachines, and the rom-zom-com trifecta of Life After Beth, Warm Bodies, and Burying The Ex.

If you'd like to watch Gremlins along with us before listening to the episode, it's currently streaming in Canada on Crave, Starz and Hollywood Suite at the time of publication.

We'll be back next week to kick off A DePalmber to ReMalmber, a three-week series on the films of Brian DePalma, with 1983's Scarface, a film that can currently be found streaming on Netflix, Starz and Amazon Prime in Canada. Find us on Twitter @ADHDDVDpod for the full December release schedule!