{"id":859,"date":"2026-05-01T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/01\/secret-screening-of-gremlins-reveals-assembly-cut-of-1980s-classic-for-first-time-since-1983-exclusive\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T23:00:00","slug":"secret-screening-of-gremlins-reveals-assembly-cut-of-1980s-classic-for-first-time-since-1983-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/01\/secret-screening-of-gremlins-reveals-assembly-cut-of-1980s-classic-for-first-time-since-1983-exclusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret Screening of \u2018Gremlins\u2019 Reveals Assembly Cut of 1980s Classic for First Time Since 1983 (Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\t \t \t\t<\/svg>\t\tLogo text<\/span> \t<\/a> <\/p>\n

\tIt\u2019s a version of a movie not seen since 1983. It wasn\u2019t even supposed to still exist. But we can definitively tell you that yes, Virginia, there really is a 2.5-plus hour cut of\u00a0Gremlins<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\tAnd, in its first-ever screening, a select few fans, who also happen to be leading the charge of the new generation of horror, got to see it Thursday night. <\/p>\n

\tThe audience initially had no idea what they were in for. The invite, \u201cto watch a movie no one has ever seen,\u201d was texted to select members of the horror community and was being presented by Verve and\u00a0Scott Glassgold\u2019s 1201 Films production banner. \u201cYou will never forgive yourself,\u201d it read. \t<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt\u2019s an archival screening, in a way,\u201d is what Gremlins<\/em>\u2019 legendary director\u00a0Joe Dante<\/a> said, describing the evening and what was about to be shown. He cautioned that this was a rough version, filled with greasy pencil marks and missing scenes, and said he hoped the assembled crowd wouldn\u2019t replace the finished film that has lived on in their heads with the imperfection about to be shows.<\/p>\n

\tThe crowd was a who\u2019s who of today\u2019s horror players:\u00a0Final Destination: Bloodlines<\/a><\/em>\u00a0filmmakers (and\u00a0Gremlins 3<\/em>\u00a0writers)\u00a0Adam B. Stein\u00a0and\u00a0Zach Lipovsky,\u00a0Drew Hancock\u00a0(Companion<\/em>),\u00a0Rob Savage\u00a0(The Boogeyman<\/em>),\u00a0Dan Berk\u00a0and Robert Olsen (Novocaine<\/em>),\u00a0Brian Duffield\u00a0(Whalefall<\/em>),\u00a0Akela Cooper\u00a0(M3GAN<\/em>),\u00a0Guy Busick\u00a0(Ready or Not<\/em>), Atomic Monster producer\u00a0Michael Clear,\u00a0Adam Robitel\u00a0(Escape Room<\/em>) and 20th Century Studios head\u00a0Steve Asbell, among others. <\/p>\n

\tAll were there to see the curtain unveiled behind a monster movie that blended horror and comedy, helped bring about the PG-13 rating, launched Chris Columbus<\/a>\u2018 writing career, and introduced a set of rules a generation of movie-watchers lived by. \t<\/p>\n

\tMade in late 1983, the assembly cut ran about 2 hours, 35 minutes, about an hour longer than the movie released in June 1984, now fondly remembered as an \u201880s classic. While rumors of its existence swirled for years, it was only this year that Dante finally copped to it existing.<\/p>\n

\tHe gave the only known surviving version \u2014 his personal VHS copy, for Gimzo\u2019s sake! \u2014 to The Gremlins Museum, an online archive and showcase<\/a> of Gremlins<\/em> props by Gremlins fanatic\u00a0Ian Grant.<\/p>\n

\tGrant then spent months cleaning up the material, digitizing it, and making it presentation worthy.<\/p>\n

\tThe cut features plenty of unseen character arcs and alternate takes. The first Gremlin\u00a0doesn\u2019t even show up until an hour in. Once the nasty little buggers do, however, there\u2019s a lot of time spent on them (the chaos at the bar goes on for 10 or more minutes). Yes, we even get to see them walk. And\u00a0Phoebe Cates\u2019 speech about why she hates Christmas is nowhere to be found in this version.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThis is a very unusual screening,\u201d said Dante. \u201cYou usually don\u2019t go back into the archives and pull out stuff from the bin and show it to people, warts and all.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>

\t \t\t\t\t\tGremlins director\u2019s cut screening<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTHR Staff\/Borys Kit<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logo text It\u2019s a version of a movie not seen since 1983. It wasn\u2019t even supposed to still exist. But we can definitively tell you that yes, Virginia, there really is a 2.5-plus hour cut of\u00a0Gremlins. And, in its first-ever screening, a select few fans, who also happen to be leading the charge of the new generation of horror, got to see it Thursday night. The audience initially had no idea what they were in for. The invite, \u201cto watch a movie no one has ever seen,\u201d was texted to select members of the horror community and was being presented by Verve and\u00a0Scott Glassgold\u2019s 1201 Films production banner. \u201cYou will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[526,527,528,2,529,27,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chris-columbus","category-final-destination-bloodlines","category-gremlins","category-hollywood","category-joe-dante","category-movie-news","category-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}