The Gremlins 2 "Monolith" First Draft Script

An early glimpse into what would become a classic movie

Introduction

The original draft of Gremlins 2 by Charlie Haas presents a compelling initial look at what would go on to become a cult classic film. This draft of the screenplay presents a true alternative vision of the movie, with moments that never appeared on screen and even character names that would become fully replaced. While still raw and largely underdeveloped in some respects, it presents an unusual glimpse into the process of creativity behind one of the most anarchic and anticipated 1990s movies.

In this article, I'll point out 14 of my favorite scenes from this early draft that differ from what we saw in the final version of Gremlins 2. Please note, the red MON00016 is a studio stamp assigned to a crew member. Who that is, we are yet to find out.

Right out of the gate, Daniel Clamp is initially known as "Richard Clamp" and starts the movie by visiting Mr. Wing in Chinatown, rather than Forester. He also delivers the Casablanca joke instead of Grandpa Fred to Billy later.

Gizmo still wants to get at his TV, but instead of watching Rambo , he's watching a martial arts movie.

As we get inside the Clamp Center and Billy gets interrogated by Forster, there's a great little gag about Billy having a new malfunctioning Peltzer invention.

After Billy and Gizmo meet each other again in the bathroom, there is a long deleted scene where Gizmo has dramatic flashbacks to Mr. Wing's shop being destroyed by a giant monster caterpillar. Some of this scene even made it as far as the storyboard phase, but it was ultimately removed.

Forster searches for rule-breaking pets around the office with a trained dog and Gizmo escapes just in time. He wanders into the Clamp mezzanine- where he gets wet not by the broken water fountain, but an automated plant grooming and watering system.

Mohawk gets a lot more screen time in the Clamp control center where he imprisons Kate and then later manages to get wet, creating hundreds of Gremlins.

Some of the proposed Gremlin designs to come out of the Splice o' Life lab in the Clamp Center. The Elephant and Mouse Gremlin design actually had prototypes made, but it ultimately got scrapped.

Dr. Catheter, known as Dr. Millhauser in this early version, has a Loony Tunes inspired death courtesy of some of the genetic serums he helped create.

An interesting element in the script is the idea of Gizmo channeling the apparition of Mr. Wing while being tortured by the Gremlins. In the final version, this spiritual encouragement from his former caretaker was replaced with inspiration drawn from John Rambo.

It looks like we missed a pretty significant cameo from Sigourney Weaver in her prime! Clearly this is a riff on her Aliens role as Ripley, which came out two years prior to the first draft script being written.

The last pages of the script are just pure Gremlin chaos and completely filled to the brim with giant complex and amazing ideas...including a Gremlin music video!

Most of the Spider Gremlin scene is similar to the film version, except Billy just so happens to be carrying some arrows and has been using a lighter instead of a flashlight to scare off Gremlin threats. He lights one of the arrows and kills the Spider instead of Gizmo.

Gizmo couldn't go out without a big pivotal scene like in the final film, so we get Gizmo the martial artist with a samurai and nunchaku.

Many of the original Gremlins 2 pitches centered on a "Gremlins City" idea and it looks like the first draft of this script brought that element in as well. You'd gotta admit, this would be pretty funny to see.