Gremlins
Sunday, 23.40, ITV2
For a certain generation, this was the ultimate Film You Weren’t Allowed To See (well, apart from Electric Blue 007), with a ludicrous 15 certificate rendering the film itself inaccessible while all manner of comic strip adaptations and talking books, none of which skimped on the detail, found their way into several million Christmas stockings. Then erstwhile recipients of said Christmas stockings ended up sharing a house at University with a girl who got so off her face on alcopops and ‘certain substances’ during pre-Christmas post-exam celebrations that she spent two days solid singing the film’s theme music and giggling, leading to it becoming impossible to watch with a straight face ever again.
It’s often shown in the afternoons with all the gory bits hacked out, a bit like The Goonies & Bond films shown in a similar slot.
Supposedly it was going to be even more horrific, with Billy finding his Mum’s head in the microwave rather than it being used for Gremlin splatting.