Its the CinePunked Christmas special, and this time we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of Joe Dante’s cute-but-terrifying Gremlins. Is it a Christmas film? Is it for children? Just what is the magic that has made this a perennial classic?
With Robert JE Simpson and Neil Sedgewick
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Episode URL: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6KuwfINU8g8eETL1rJDDUp?si=710b6a0d5a67485e
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SLEEVE NOTES
Ever since our first episode, we’ve attempted to deliver a festive episode each year without fail – and this year, with Gremlins marking its 40th anniversary, we had to include it. Yes, like Die Hard, this was a summer blockbuster back in the day, but its festive setting and themes around family, gifts and community, ensure that it makes its way to lots of people’s Christmas viewing each year.
Once again, it was just the two of us on a lonely zoom record – though at Neil’s suggestion, we’ve recorded two episodes back to back, with our Gremlins 2 podcast to be released before the New Year.
Rather than simply do a straight production history, we’ve allowed ourselves a little thematic wander with this episode – there’s plenty of other sources for a historical piece. Although I will say that while I contend that Gremlins isn’t a children’s film, it was very clearly marketed as such. Some of the historical adverts that I’ve included in the soundtrack to this episode make that much very clear.
As usual, we recorded the episode via zoom, and I edited in Reaper. Owing to some extra hiss in my clean studio desk record, I’ve attempted some noise reduction in reaper, which may have added some slight digital artefacting. Hopefully this doesn’t detract too much.
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The CinePunked Podcast is an Avalard Production.
The CinePunked theme music is ‘Riding the Synth‘ – © 2020, Ben Blademan Simpson. Used with permission.
The episode features clips and a trailer from Gremlins (1984) directed by Joe Dante, used under fair use guidelines for the purposes of critical review and analysis.
This episode also includes contemporaneous advertisements for assorted Gremlins promotional items, which are presented for historical context.
Episode recorded remotely in Coleraine and Newtownards, Northern Ireland on 12 December 2024.
Engineered and edited by Robert JE Simpson. First published on 27 December 2024.
– Robert
CinePunked 