Although fondly remembered as a bizarre, but strangely heart-warming Christmas movie, Gremlins was originally conceived as a gory R-rated horror. Directed by Joe Dante and written by Chris Columbus, 1984’s Christmas-themed Gremlins movie introduced the cuddly but mischievous creatures known as Mogwai. The Mogwai wreak sufficient havoc on a small Rockwellian town, but their actions in the original script were considerably darker than in the final film.
In Gremlins, Billy (Zach Galligan) is gifted a Mogwai named Gizmo as an early Christmas present and he is instructed to follow three essential rules to care for the strange pet. It’s not long before one of these rules is broken, and the good-natured Gizmo spawns several troublemaking Mogwai, led by Stripe. The new Mogwai become increasingly malicious, transforming into scaly monsters who besiege the town. Aided by Gizmo and his colleague and crush, Kate (Phoebe Cates), Billy resolves to put an end to the creatures’ reign of terror.
The horror-comedy was a critical and commercial success, with a sequel released in 1990, titled Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Some took issue with the PG-rated film’s violence, especially when Gizmo was marketed as a cute and friendly creature who would appeal to children. However, Chris Columbus’ original script for Gremlins would have made it a gory R-rated movie, before executive producer Steven Spielberg intervened. Columbus spoke to Collider about his inspiration for Gremlins and revealed some of the gory death scenes that would have drastically altered the tone of the movie.
When it came to the inspiration for his macabre Christmas movie, Columbus recalled his fondness for classic Universal monster films, which prompted his friend to encourage him to write his own horror. Despite its holiday setting, Gremlins definitely evokes a traditional monster movie vibe, rich in atmosphere and practical effects like Universal’s iconic monsters gallery. Columbus also noted rodents were living in his New York apartment. He stated, “I was thinking about these mice running around at night, they would scurry by my finger if my hand was over the bed… that’s how I came up with the idea of Gremlins.” This is apparent in the final film, with the vicious creatures initially hidden post-transformation, such as when one scampers around the floor of the school laboratory, akin to a common house mouse, before its monstrous reveal. However, even though the Gremlins' evil alien creature Mogwai murder townspeople in the final movie, their actions were far more gruesome in Gremlins’ original script, even decapitating Billy’s mom, Lynn (Francis Lee McCain).
Columbus laughed, “Hard R, mom’s head comes rolling down the stairs, Billy and Kate go into McDonald’s and none of the food is eaten but all of the people are eaten.” Billy’s mother received an admirable standoff against the evil Mogwai in Gremlins’ final cut, killing three creatures, including blowing one up in a microwave. The original decapitation would have been a shock, but Lynn successfully fighting back against the gremlins is more amusing and prevents the movie from becoming too dour. It’s also difficult to imagine McDonald’s not taking issue with their fast-food chain being the site of a massacre. Yet, it would have provided Gremlins with another inventive sequence and biting commentary on contemporary US culture. As luck would have it, director Steven Spielberg stumbled upon Columbus’ movie script by chance, taking notice of the film’s promising title. Spielberg advised that Gremlins would “reach a much wider audience” if the script was toned down from the gory R-rated movie Columbus envisioned.
The screenwriter said Spielberg was “instrumental” in shaping the movie and agreed that changing Gremlins’ original script to a more light-hearted story was the correct decision. The movie is dark enough without appearing too morbid, especially with Kate’s almost-removed Santa speech. Should Gremlins 3 be made, it’s possible Columbus could still deliver a more explicitly horrifying interpretation.