The director of Gremlins and Matinee has useful horror advice for beginners and hardcore fans alike
'Gremlins' director Joe Dante on a lifetime of horror
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It's possible that no director has introduced more young people to horror films than Joe Dante. His Gremlins movies mix Looney Tunes humor with gore that could only be considered "family friendly" in the late 80s and early 90s. These films inspired countless toys, lunch boxes and new T-shirts. And the series continues to lure kids into a world of slightly creepy media: The latest cartoon spinoff, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, premiered on Max in 2023, and a second season, Gremlins: The Wild Batch, was just announced for the fall.
Dante's later films never quite achieved Gremlin's pop culture dominance, but he continued to invent ways to place horror in front of younger audiences, including 1993's Matinee, set in Key West against the angst of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the thrill of a horror. the film director is setting up shop with his next big project. The film is a showcase for the lovable John Goodman, who embodies elements of Alfred Hitchcock, Roger Corman and William Castle as he promotes an absolutely stunning film-within-a-film: Mant!
