Real Beer, Nuts, And Popcorn Gave The Gremlins Bar Scene An Awful Smell

Joe Dante's "Gremlins" is a monster movie masterpiece stuffed with memorable set pieces. The death of Mrs. Deagle, the near-death of the Futtermans (they live to see "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" if only because Dante couldn't make a movie without his onscreen lucky charm Dick Miller), and, of course, the sing-a-long screening of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" are all wackadoodle gems, but the most smashingly chaotic showcase for the feral beasties arrives when they descend upon Dorry's Tavern.

This is where Dante's Chuck Jones worship transforms "Gremlins" into something hilariously unruly and, if you grew up watching Looney Tunes cartoons, truly holy. The title critters have taken over the Kingston Falls dive bar, leaving poor Kate Beringer (Phoebe Cates) to keep their beer mugs full and cigarettes blazing. Within this bedlam, Dante and creature designer Chris Walas stage a series of goofball vignettes that find the Gremlins engaging in all manner of insanity — which, this being 1984, includes breakdancing.

The frame is crammed with oddball activity to the extent that, after double-digit viewings, you might still be discovering little bits of comedic business. It's a joy to behold, but, according to The Ringer's recently published 40th anniversary oral history of "Gremlins," it was a stinky, stomach-turning nightmare to shoot.

Walas told The Ringer that the trouble started with Dante exhorting the crew to suggest drunken activities for the Gremlins to perform. Dante soon realized Walas' right to be concerned. "There were so many Gremlins in that scene," said the director. "And they were doing so many different things, and there were so many people that you had to hide that it just became logistically really difficult."

Their most malodorous misstep was using real beer, popcorn, and peanuts in the sequence. Given that the scene took two weeks to shoot, this turned the soundstage into a fetid hell, particularly for Cates.

Per Dante:

"[P]oor Phoebe, she turned green in all of the garbage and having to do things over and over because the Gremlins didn't work. I mean, that's the other thing about the actors: They have to be very patient. It's like working with animals."

Eventually, the fake Dorry's Tavern became overrun with very real pests. Walas is still haunted by one vivid low point:

"I'll never forget, we were setting up a shot, and I hear Phoebe scream, and I'm going, 'Wow, that was really convincing!' And then she says, 'There's a huge f***ing cockroach on the counter!' And there was. There were rats. It was a once in a lifetime experience, thankfully."

All I can do is thank Dante, Walas, and especially Cates for their service (at least she got a show-stopping monologue out of the deal). "Gremlins" is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement, a classic of an analog age when, if you wanted to dazzle moviegoers with a wild assortment of monsters, you made them with your hands instead of one and zeroes. And if that meant setting set upon by rat-sized cockroaches, so be it.