The majority of the creatures in Gremlins, like Gizmo and Stripe, were all puppets created for the movie. But, before they decided on puppets, they actually tried to get monkeys to play the Gremlins, but the monkeys started freaking out when they put the masks on them. This is just one of the Gremlins facts in the latest installment of You Think You Know Movies!

Gremlins may have scared some kids in 1984 (it was responsible for the PG-13 rating being created), but it could’ve been even scarier. The original script, as written by Chris Columbus, was much more intense with the Gremlins killing Billy’s mom, rolling her head down the stairs, eating Barney the family dog, and attacking a McDonald’s and eating the people inside. Studio executives also wanted to cut out Phoebe Cates’ horrifying story of her father dressing as Santa, getting stuck in the chimney and dying, but director Joe Dante refused.

‘You Think You Know Movies?’ is a ScreenCrush original series that dives deep into the cinematic worlds of your favorite movies and freeze frames a few tidbits you might not have known. We’ve already tackled Star Wars, The Avengers and Spider-Man, but now, it’s time to come out to the coast, get together and have a few laughs with Die Hard!

Watch more installments of ‘You Think You Know Movies?’ below and let us know in the comments what movies we should cover next.

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