While secret screenings are nothing new, we rarely hear about one as coveted as the one on this past Thursday night, when Gremlins director Joe Dante presented a 2.5-hour assembly cut of his 1984 horror-comedy classic. One of the coolest aspects of this event is that the crowd, made up of a who’s who of horror filmmakers, had no idea what they were in for. The invite arrived by text, with the message urging them “to watch a movie no one has seen before.” Adding, “you’ll never forgive yourself” if you miss out on this unicorn opportunity.
Who got to see the assembly cut of Gremlins?
“It’s an archival screening, in a way,” Dante said about his assembly cut of Gremlins. It’s a version of the film with additional scenes and concepts rendered in greasy pencil drawings; the audience fills in the action with their imagination. The Hollywood Reporter, who exclusively wrote about the screening, provided a list of attendees, which included: Final Destination: Bloodlines filmmakers (and Gremlins 3 writers) Adam B. Stein and Zach Lipovsky, Drew Hancock (Companion), Rob Savage (The Boogeyman), Dan Berk and Robert Olsen (Novocaine), Brian Duffield (Whalefall), Akela Cooper (M3GAN), Guy Busick (Ready or Not), Atomic Monster producer Michael Clear, Adam Robitel (Escape Room) and 20th Century Studios head Steve Asbell, among others.
What’s in the assembly cut?
According to THR, the assembly cut runs about 2 hours, 35 minutes, roughly an hour more than the original. The assembly cut includes unseen character arcs and alternate takes on the original concept. The first Gremlin doesn’t appear until an hour into the movie, and Phoebe Cates’s disturbing speech about why she hates Christmas is no longer a part of the experience.
As I said, it’s rare to see a movie presented in this manner, but Dante wanted to treat his fellow filmmakers to something special and bring a long-rumored version of his classic film to light. The screening reminds me of something you’d see at a midnight festival screening, or during a studio visit, where question marks represent the last two hours of the event. I once saw an alternate version of Ultraman: Rising at Skywalker Ranch‘s Stag Theater, hosted by Lucasfilm. The Stag is outfitted with THX-certified M&K Sound, delivering volume and clarity that would make any audiophile weep with joy. It was one of the most intense theater-going experiences I’ve ever witnessed.
Would you like to see Joe Dante’s assembly cut of Gremlins? Are there any other rumored versions of movies you’d love to see? Let us know in the comments section below.
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