WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Critters 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.120 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:15.320 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:18.320 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:20.759 on today's episode of Weird House Cinema, we are going 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.439 to be talking about the nineteen eighty six sci fi 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:28.080 creature feature Critters. I was going to say it's our 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:32.279 first example from the Gromlins subgenre, but it is not. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.120 We've actually talked we did Grimlins two last year, that 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:40.120 we haven't done Grimlins one. And also I think you 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.720 covered a sort of Gromlin's adjacent movie while I was 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:44.640 out last year. 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.960 Yeah, my friend David Streepy came on the show and 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:52.200 we talked about the Gate, which, as we'll discuss here, 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.720 is gromlin esque without being like a like a hard 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.400 Gromlin or direct Gromlin feature. 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:01.680 But if it's okay with you, I thought maybe we 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.760 should start this episode by laying out a sort of 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:09.480 filmographic timeline of the Gromlin subgenre, or what you might 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:13.720 also call like tiny monster movies or small creature features. 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.600 These were very popular in American cinema in the nineteen eighties, 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:20.360 and maybe by kind of laying them out in order 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:23.440 we can help get at what these films mean. 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.800 Yeah, yeah, because Gromlins are always fascinating, like trying to 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.600 figure out like how they work, why they work, you 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:36.920 know why Grimlins spawned so many imitators, and not just imitators, 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.560 but also, as with this movie, I think Legitimate clearly 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:42.880 had an influence on films that had their own ideas 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.920 and had something different to offer, but still delivers on 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.400 that same energy and rides that Gromlin wave. 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:53.080 That's right. Okay, So the first big one is Grimlins 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:56.560 nineteen eighty four. This is the mac Daddy. We covered 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:59.400 Gremlins two already, as I said, but not the original. 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:04.480 So the Grimlins are small monsters that are spawned as 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:08.440 a result of improper pet care. So they begin as 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.280 a cute, friendly, fuzzy little guy called a Magway. And 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.720 the Magua is great. He's a good buddy, but you 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:20.160 absolutely positively cannot get him wet, and unfortunately the humans 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.440 in the movie spill some water on their maguai, spawning 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:25.800 other creatures like him. They kind of pop off of 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.360 his back, but they're not exactly like him. They're not nice, 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:33.440 they're mean, and these creatures are made even worse when 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.919 another rule is violated and they are fed after midnight, 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:41.000 which the characters are told not to do. That transforms 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:45.600 the Mean Magway from just little trickster type things into 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:51.120 dull sized, scaly, reptilian chaos demons that exist to mock 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:55.400 and destroy all systems of order and organization, including human 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:59.680 life itself. But as we talked about in our feature 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.400 on Green Rimlins two, the Grimlins do kill people in 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:07.079 these movies, yes, but what makes them special as monsters 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.840 is that killing people is not their main goal. It's 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:15.440 just one small part of their broader raisondetra, which is 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.560 to make a mess. Grimlins exist to make a mess. 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:22.520 They are chaos embodied and this goes back to their 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:26.560 origin in folklore from before the film. The standard idea 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:30.760 of where Grimlins came from is that British raf pilots 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:34.639 in World War Two would blame engine malfunctions on Grimlins. 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.400 They imagine little monsters that would get into the engines 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.680 of the aircraft and chew through wires, disconnect things, and 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:41.920 cause malfunctions. 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:46.280 Yeah, and in general, I would say the folkloric roots 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:50.080 of the Grimlin, or the basic Gromlin is yeah, any 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.920 kind of diminutive trickster being. So there's a whole host 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.680 of things that you can hold up to the light 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.600 as being in the same vein. I think, like the 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.240 basic that's one of the reasons Grimlins connects so well 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.560 with an audience when it comes out is because this 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:09.320 is not something we haven't seen before to some degree, 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:12.120 and say cartoons, it's not something out of keeping with 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:16.240 folkloric traditions, and so we instantly latch onto it. I 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.880 would argue the other thing that really helps with Grimlins 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:23.560 and the more successful Grimlins imitators, even the bad ones, 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:29.360 is that there is a handcrafted puppet quality to a 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:33.479 true Gromlin, where you know it's a puppet, you know 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.000 it's an artificial being that's being brought to life via 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.480 generally some sort of puppeteering, and that adds to the 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:44.279 effect and also makes the scares a little safer, and 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:49.040 it creates this special energy that is very consumable by 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:50.000 a mass audience. 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:52.839 I think that's a various due to observation, and I 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:54.760 want to come back to that when we talk about 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.000 the appeal of these movies. Okay, but so Grimlins is 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.080 the first one that's eighty four. Second main one that 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:04.359 most people recognize is Ghoulies, which came out either in 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.160 eighty four or eighty five. I've seen both year cited 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.360 for its release, maybe in different markets, I don't know. 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.240 It does seem to have come after Grimlins, because multiple 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.799 reviews at the time call it a Grimlins ripoff. However, 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.719 it seems these two movies were in development at the 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.480 same time, so I haven't done a deep dive on this, 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.359 but I think it appears that Goolies was not just 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.360 like looking at the success of Grimlins and saying, let's 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:30.200 do something like that. 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.880 We will have to watch a Gholies movie someday. Goolies. 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.200 If you're not familiar, and if you're not famili it's 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.880 almost hard for me to believe because having grown up 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:44.880 as a child in the eighties going to VHS and 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:48.160 later DVD rental stores, but especially VHS rental stores and 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.279 seeing the box art and or posters for Goolies, it 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.520 was horrifying because the VHS box art promises one thing, 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:59.880 Goolies will crawl up through the toilet and bite you 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.640 in the butt. They are That is the threat that 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.960 is promised on the VHS I'm not saying the movie 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.960 completely delivers on that concept, but this is just indetachable 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:11.800 from the franchise. 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.840 The main box art is a green, bald Gholie creature 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.159 wearing I don't know, like red suspenders and a blue 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.360 T shirt. I don't know what this outfit means, but 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:25.640 it's this green bald creature with sharp teeth popping up 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.279 out of a toilet bowl with its hands on the seat, 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.599 and the tagline is they'll get you in the end. 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:36.080 I wish they mean the butt. Yeah. Yeah, so horrifying 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:39.080 as a kid, because this is not what you want 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.479 when to go to the bathroom. 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.200 Not at all though. So it's been many years since 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:46.560 I saw Gholies. I have only the vaguest memories about it, 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.560 but I recall this not actually being a thing that 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:51.440 happens in the movie. Am I right about that? 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.719 I think you're right. My memory too, is kind of 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.080 an amalgam of different bits from Goolies movies I watched 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.400 on like late night cable television. I think it might 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.400 not have been a thing in the first film, and 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:05.640 or it might have been like, oh god, we put 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.560 a Gooli coming out of a toilet on the vhs R. 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:10.680 Let's throw in a scene. It might even something like that. 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:13.200 I think by the second film they're definitely making sure 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.920 they get some some toilet humor in there. Well. 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:19.400 The general idea is that this is also a movie 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.760 with small monsters running around a house killing people, but 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:27.520 rather than being an improper pet care situation gone awry, 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.800 the small monsters in Ghoulies are servants of the devil. 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.760 They are summoned by an occult ritual to do the 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.480 bidding of a malevolent Satanic sorcerer. 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:39.760 Yes, they're demons for sure. 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:43.120 Which certainly seems like a more evil and adult kind 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:47.240 of spin on the small monster's idea than in Grimlins. 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:52.280 Yeah, because Grimlins there, Yeah, they're pets, they're vaguely some 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:58.760 sort of creature out of Chinese fantasy. But yeah, this 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.520 time servants of the Yeah, you have to take that 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.600 a lot more seriously because you know that they're underlings 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:05.960 for something else, something worse. 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:09.160 Okay, the next big Grumblins movie on the timeline is 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.280 the one we're talking about today, Critters from nineteen eighty six. 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:15.440 How is this one different? Well, the small monsters here 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:19.520 are not not little chaos goblins from you know that 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.000 sound like something out of a folk tale with little 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:25.680 pet care rules. They're also not servants of Satan. They 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:30.320 are science fiction alien fugitives from an asteroid prison, and 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:33.800 they are here to eat. Their main quality, the main 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.400 quality possessed by the Crites, as they are called in 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.240 the film, is that they are hungry and they will 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.080 eat anything and anyone that's right. 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:46.040 And I would describe them as being kind of little 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:50.720 round guys, kind of in the vibe of a cartoon porcupine, 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.600 but then with just a shark's mouth of teeth, ruby 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:58.479 red eyes. But they still have that, they still have attitude. 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:02.560 They have that kind of Grimlin's energy where they they're hungry. 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:04.720 They're mainly here to eat, but they're up for a 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:05.840 little mischief as well. 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.920 They're little humanoid hedgehogs that shoot poison quills and have 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:14.440 at least three rows of little thornlike teeth. Yeah, and 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.160 mean nasty eyes and they're like they're vindictive. 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.400 They're mean, yeah, but a little bit cute, A little 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:21.880 bit cute, a little bit cute too. 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:24.559 Yeah. Now, the poster art for this one is also 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.200 pretty incredible. I remember this one from the video stores 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:32.760 of old because you have this wonderful illustration of a krite, 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:35.280 and I don't know if it's a one hundred percent 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:37.800 accurate representation of what they look like in the film, 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.440 but it captures the energy, it captures the mischief in Hunger. 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:45.080 I agree. So when you showed me this picture the 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:49.000 poster before we watched the movie, I was thinking, Oh, wow, 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:51.160 this is one of those great things where the monster 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.079 on the box art is fully revealed and it looks 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.640 awesome and is somewhat misleading, Like, it looks a lot 0:09:57.679 --> 0:09:59.680 different than it does in the movie. Actually, once I 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:01.559 watched the the movie, I was like, it's not as 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.280 misleading as I first thought. It's basically on track. You know, 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.719 the eyes are a different color and stuff, but there 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.080 is some kind of energy that's different. This monster is 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.160 just kind of classier looking. 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.120 Yeah, it looks like he needs a little suit or something. Yeah. 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.679 Also, when you shared the poster with me and chat it, 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:23.040 it cropped it so that the title at the bottom 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:24.119 was just Ritter. 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.960 Ritter versus Critter. Was one of the great missed opportunities 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:30.479 of this franchise. 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:34.240 Oh yeah, problem child with Critters. Yeah, all right, but 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.360 that gets us up to nineteen eighty six. It did 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:38.840 not stop there. And by the way, we're not noting these, 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.040 but there are sequels popping up as we go along 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.440 to it, So you're gonna also get Grimlins two Gholies, 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:47.240 two Goolies, three, Critters two and so forth. But in 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:50.680 nineteen eighty seven we get Muncheese. This one is produced 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.400 by our old pal, Roger Korman. Allegedly he was like, hey, 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.800 you know these Grimlin ripoffs, they're making money. Let's do one. 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.720 Yeah, these other films as well, as we'll discuss with 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.960 Critters as well. You know, there are alternate takes on 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:06.160 it where they're like, well, this was already an idea 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.320 and we just tweaked it a little bit. But this 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:10.000 is Corman. You know what's up here. 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.960 Yeah, he's like, let's do a Grimlins clone. So Munchies 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:17.520 was directed by Tina Hirsch. The plot concerns a man 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.760 who brings a creature that he finds in a cave 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.880 in Peru back to the United States, and the problem 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.199 seems to come when someone tries to chop the creature 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.080 in half and it just turns into two creatures and 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.800 so on and so on. So it's like it's like 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.400 Grimlins meets the Legend of the Hydra. 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:37.160 Yeah. 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.559 Yeah, And I've never seen this one, but the box 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.280 art is familiar to me because you basically have what 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:47.360 looks like a cross between a Grimlin and one of 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:51.360 those trolls with the spiky hair treasure trolls. Yeah. Yeah, 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.560 looks like a treasure troll and a Grimlin had a 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.480 baby and then that baby took up drinking beer and 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:57.439 smoking cigarettes. 0:11:57.600 --> 0:11:59.719 Yes, and it's a pervert. That's the main thing you 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:03.079 need understand from the poster is it's like perven on ladies. 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:05.559 Yeah. I don't know if they I mean, I assume 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:07.440 this happens in the movie, who knows, But that's what 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:11.760 they're selling. It's like, we're the Grimlins, too tame for you. 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.800 Do you want Raunchy or Grimlins, Well, then meet the Munchies. 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:17.680 So I've never seen Munchies either, but I found a 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.080 screenshot and Rob, is it just me? Or are the 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:24.800 Munchies dressed like the Bounty hunters in Critters kind of? 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:28.760 They have some sort of weird futuristic doll clothing on, 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:29.280 don't they. 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:34.080 Yeah, similar color scheme that kind of underlying sort of 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.960 red brown clay color and then like the black stuff 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:39.760 on top. I don't know, it looks similar to me. 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.599 Looks like the puppetry has slid a bit from the 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.960 titles we've discussed already and is moving closer to the 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:47.439 title that we're going to discuss next. 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:52.000 The next movie from nineteen eighty eight is Hobgoblins, famous 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.920 for Mystery Science Theater three thousand. The origin of the 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:58.320 monsters here is that they crash landed from space, and 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:00.680 then they were kept locked in a vault in a 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.720 movie studio for decades. Now they have escaped, so it's 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.600 aliens again. This one feels more like it is ripped 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.439 from the plot of critters aliens crashing on Earth. 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:15.559 Hobgoblins is, of course terrific, just a terrific film. Yeah, 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:19.240 I mean, it's one of the great episodes of ms 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.160 T three k. It's a perfect film for riffing on, 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:25.520 though it also inherently has its own built in campiness 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.640 and intentional humor, some of which lands. Some of it 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.720 falls fantastically flat. But when it does fall flat, it 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:34.760 flands in such a way that it can then be 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:36.120 riffed upon and enjoyed. 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.240 I haven't watched this one in a while either, but 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:41.679 I remember it having a great quality of scenes that 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.480 go on way too long and become very funny. 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.640 Yeah yeah, yeap, you get all sorts of cool. So yeah, 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.160 clubs what clubscum? I think they go to clubscum in that. 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:53.560 Yeah, m okay. So that's just a selection of the 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.520 main ones that came to my mind. I think those 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:57.840 are the main franchises you're going to get, are like 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:02.880 Gholi's Critters and Grimlins, but there are some other like 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.880 one offs in between there and addition to all the sequels. 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.280 So there were a lot of these movies and they 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:09.400 made a lot of money. 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:12.400 Yeah yeah, And I think you can kind of divide 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.079 them up. I kind of divide them up into thinking 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.040 about like direct Gromlins and indirect Gromlins. So the direct 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:18.760 ones are going to be pretty much the films we've 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:22.800 already listed, Goolies, Munchies, Hobgoblins, you know, easy to point 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:25.560 out and say, hey, if I liked Grimlins, I might 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:30.160 like that, et cetera. But indirect Gromlins are going to 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.720 be situations where you have things in common with Grimlins, 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.720 and they're still likely to be cash ins to some degree. 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:39.240 If not creative cash ins. Then in many of these cases, 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:43.000 like clearly somebody with the money to finance that. Well, 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:44.760 this is a great idea because we know these sorts 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:49.400 of films actually so. But you may have different things 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.640 going on. For instance, you might have the effects leaning 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:57.880 more into monster suits as opposed to shrieking puppets, and 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:01.000 you also might see greater originality in some cases. So 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:04.160 for example, the Troll movies are sometimes mentioned as being 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.040 Grimlin's ripoffs. And you know, I don't know that I've 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:08.800 ever watched the first Troll all the way through, but 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:12.760 we talked about Troll two on here. Troll two definitely 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:17.520 has Grimlin energy going on, but the creatures are not 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.120 brought to life in such a way. The creatures are 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:26.200 clearly people in costumes that actually comes off more threatening 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:27.720 because the costumes are so bad. 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:30.280 I agree in a way, I don't know if I 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:33.480 would put Troll two in the Gromlins category, because like 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:38.080 the trolls or the goblins, Oh yeah, that's right, they're goblins, 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.440 not trolls. Yeah, they're people in suits, like, they're not 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.080 the like the dull sized creatures running around, you know, 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:47.760 causing mayhem like that, and they've got a different mo 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:53.000 they they're not as mischievous, you know, as the creatures 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:55.120 in all the Gromlins movies are. They just want to 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:56.920 turn you into plant matter and eat you. 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.200 Another film that comes to mind is nineteen eighty five's 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:04.840 Cat's Eye, which was of course a horror anthology film 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:09.480 based on works by Stephen King, and the title story 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:13.560 in it concerns a little troll creature who is It 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.080 comes out of the hole in the wall to suck 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.000 out a child's breath at night while they sleep, and 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.720 the cats are of course blamed for it, but the 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.280 cat is like one of the direct lines of defense 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:25.920 against said troll. 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.520 Yeah, the cat has to save the day. I saw 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:30.400 that movie when I was way too young to see it, 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:31.240 and it scared me. 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.240 Yeah, it's a scary looking creature. I think this one 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:38.720 they mostly did with a costume though, but with really 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:42.880 awesome gigantic sets, so the effects I think are really admirable. 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.760 Here. Okay, another thing that's notable in the Gromlin space, 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.760 while it's not a movie, is I think best seen 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.840 as part of the cultural phenomenon of Gromlins, and that 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:57.080 would be Boglins, released in nineteen eighty seven, a popular 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:01.240 line of monster themed hand puppets for kids. You turn 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:04.200 your hand into a goblin, Rob, did you have Boglins 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:05.840 or do you know what I'm talking about? Oh? 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:07.680 I definitely know what you're talking about. I never had one, 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.159 but I wanted one at the time. These were created 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.520 by Tim Clark, who also worked on The Dark Crystal 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:17.360 and Fraggle Rock and the Creature and Muppet design areas. 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.000 For instance, he was on the team that created the 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:24.919 mystics for The Dark Crystal and I think I follow 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:30.160 him on Instagram because he's brought Boglins back. They've recreated them, 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.680 new materials and new designs for a new generation. I 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.119 would totally buy one if it were the kind of 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:38.720 thing that my son enjoyed at all. But I would 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:42.120 just be buying it for me, which feels which which 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:44.239 I don't feel strongly enough to do. 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:47.000 Rob, you can buy it for you. It's okay, I 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:47.960 give you permission. 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.439 I only have so much room for fake monsters in 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.800 the house, you know. And it's just I'm gonna have 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:56.840 to let somebody else buy that Boglin and love it 0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:57.840 well anyway. 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:02.959 With this whole tiny Monster is phenomenon the Gromlins craze. 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:08.040 I started thinking, why was this a Why was this 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.000 such a thing at the time and place it was. 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:15.000 Why did groups of tiny, rampaging monsters with mischievous personalities 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.360 become such a phenomenon in American movies in the mid 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:24.119 nineteen eighties? Like, what about this theme resonated? I think, 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.040 I don't know this, This is still kind of only 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:31.080 half formed in my mind, but I think there is 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.479 something significant in the fact that these monsters are, in 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:40.800 their very essence like toys somehow, they are already merchandise 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:46.359 marketed to kids in their original form, but they're dangerous 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.400 and pretty close to R rated. So there's a kind 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:53.080 of ambiguity about the intended audience of a number of 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.199 these movies. The original Grimlins. I don't know if so 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:59.360 much for Gholies, but the original Grimlins and Critters. These 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:02.640 are movies that, on one hand, if you watch them, 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:04.359 you'd say, well, I guess this is supposed to be 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:07.600 a regular horror movie for adults only, because you know, 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.239 they're pretty violent and they have some adult themes. But 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:15.119 they're also on the tamer end of adult horror movies, 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.280 and they have elements that seem like maybe they're supposed 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.879 to appeal to kids, Like the fact that the monsters 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:24.920 are little makes them seem kind of cute in a way, 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:27.919 even the ones that are more ugly, and in some 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:32.080 cases these monsters explicitly have cute avatars. Allow the Magwi 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:36.920 in Gremlins or Critters also are They're somewhere between scary 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.119 and cute. They are a little bit cute. Yeah, And 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:43.200 I wonder if this led to it seeming like kids 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.400 could maybe be allowed to watch these movies like Critters 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:48.840 is PG thirteen. It's not rated R, but it's a 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:53.040 rough PG thirteen. And of course a lot of kids, 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.960 you know, they love monsters. They love if the parents 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.080 will let them watch a scary, bloody monster movie, they'll 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.199 be into it. So maybe something about the ability of 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:07.359 these movies to defy marketing and content restriction pipelines and 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.440 end up in front of audiences that were technically too 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:13.320 young for them was part of the success. What do 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:14.040 you think about that? 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:17.880 Yeah, I mean, just looking back on my own childhood, 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.200 it seemed like a time when more kids were watching 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:26.760 films without a lot of parent parental supervision, and so 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.000 there was more room for films like this to sort 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:33.879 of be gateways into other franchises of horror, And I 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:35.480 don't know, I guess it's kind of weird though, to 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:37.320 think about them, because on one hand, like you're saying, 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.320 they're not like Disney Family films like you would rent 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:45.399 during this time period, but they're not like really really 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:48.720 hard horror with like really strong adult themes. They are 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.520 this kind of like transitional place where kids could watch 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:54.800 it and feel like they're breaking the rules a little bit, 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.639 but at the same time, like a parental unit might 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:02.639 watch this and see and like, well, it's fine, it's fine. 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:05.840 It's not too bad. Yeah, another possible part of the appeal. 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:09.160 I was talking to Rachel about this, and we were 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:13.959 wondering if maybe the movies are appealing to adults because 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:19.239 the monsters are in some sense kids. So we were 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:22.560 talking about whether it's possible that, like maybe a certain 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:27.520 generation of filmmakers and audiences, we're all having kids around 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:29.600 around the same time, and of course, you know, we 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:32.680 love our kids, but there is sometimes a great temptation 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:36.920 to imagine our children in their more destructive moods, as 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:39.960 rampaging little monsters that have gotten loose in your house, 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:42.280 and I can see how that could be part of 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.040 the appeal. But of course earlier generations of filmmakers and 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:49.080 audiences would have been having similar experiences becoming parents and 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:52.160 watching their children unleash a flood of chaos through the home. 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:54.639 So that still does leave us back with the question 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:57.280