Mixing horror with comedy is a fine line. Throw in too many laughs, and the scares can be stripped away. Make the plot too dark, and there’s no joke funny enough. Movies like An American Werewolf in London, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, Scream, and so many others have pulled it off by delivering on the comedy while also keeping the antagonists terrifying. Then there’s Joe Dante‘s Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch. The original is filled with plenty of Christmastime horror as hundreds of pint-sized little creatures descend on a town and start killing the residents. Despite being PG, it gave plenty of kids, including this writer, countless nightmares.

However, the gremlins and their wild antics are also a source of laughs. This is done to great effect in the first film, then turned up to eleven in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. In the sequel, Dante throws everything at the wall, and most of it sticks in a zany, meta comedy that feels like a live-action Looney Tunes cartoon. Considered a disappointment when it was released, the sequel is now a cult classic. Together, Gremlins and Gremlins 2 show the passion of a talented filmmaker let loose.

‘Gremlins’ Was Made More Family Friendly by Producer Steven Spielberg

Before he directed Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, and multiple Harry Potter movies, Chris Columbus was a struggling writer when he came up with the idea for Gremlins. His original screenplay was a vicious, R-rated monster movie, with the creatures killing everyone in their path, including the family dog. But then executive producer Steven Spielberg saw the script, and before it went into production with Joe Dante, he suggested several changes. He wanted Gremlins to be a boy-and-his-dog type movie, so he made Gizmo, who was originally supposed to turn into an evil gremlin too, the protagonist alongside Billy (Zach Galligan), and cut down on a lot of the death scenes.

Families went into the theater in 1984 not knowing what to expect. The PG rating alluded to a cute little movie, perhaps with some slightly scary creatures thrown in. What they got was scene after scene of gremlin carnage, with creatures exploding in microwaves and humans chomped on and launched out of windows. Gremlins is tame compared to today’s levels of violence, but in the mid 80s, the outrage was enough that Spielberg helped create the PG-13 rating in response.

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Gremlins perfectly blends genres. It is a boy-and-his-dog type movie reminiscent of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, as Billy forms a bond with the impossibly adorable and wide-eyed Gizmo, a happy creature who is nothing like the vicious spawn that comes from him. Billy is given a sweet romance with Kate (Phoebe Cates), but none of it works without the creatures themselves. The gremlins were created by Chris Walas, who would later go on to win a Best Makeup Academy Award for The Fly. In an era before CGI, and better than CGI could ever do, Walas brought the gremlins to life in a three-dimensional space. They felt like they truly existed, which only heightens both the laughs and the terror.

Warner Bros. Gave Director Joe Dante Creative Control for ‘Gremlins 2: The New Batch’

It’s no surprise that Joe Dante would make such a good horror comedy. He’d already done it before with Piranha and The Howling. However, when Warner Bros. came to him hoping for Gremlins 2, he had no interest in repeating himself. But then the studio made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: complete creative control. Dante would be allowed to do whatever he wanted with zero studio interference. How could he say no to that?

Written by Charles S. Haas, Dante took Warner Bros. up on their offer and went for it. Gremlins 2: The New Batch is similar to the first film, with Billy, Kate, and Gizmo returning, but this time the suburbs of Kingston Falls are traded in for a New York City skyscraper run by the Donald Trump-like Daniel Clamp (John Glover). This becomes the setting for all types of havoc where everything you can think of is tried. The mogwai are a little sillier this time around. When they transform, the building’s advancements, including an in-house science lab, leads to the most cartoony monster movie you’ll ever see. One gremlin turns into a spider, another a bat. Tony Randall voices one who puts on glasses and talks. Gremlins 2 is the pub scene in Gremlins if it lasted for two whole acts. Its meta approach, which includes the gremlins shutting the real movie down until Hulk Hogan intervenes, works because, although how the gremlins are created has those three famous rules, the creatures themselves have no rules to their behavior. They are born chaos with zero limitations. Destruction and wild behavior are their entire reason for existing, allowing Dante to push the envelope without ever risking jumping the shark. It was done so well that Key & Peele would parody it brilliantly a few decades later.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch was a dud when it came out in 1990, only making $41 million at the box office compared to the original’s $148 million. Audiences wanted a repeat of the first film and got the exact opposite. It’s the definition of a movie made before it’s time. Today, it’s celebrated as a stellar meta horror comedy, and the type of movie they don’t make anymore. Combined, they’re perfect to watch together to see how a two-film franchise can evolve. Whenever Gremlins 3 is made, it’s going to have a very hard act to follow.

Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch are available to rent or buy on VOD services in the U.S.

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Release Date

June 8, 1984

Runtime

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106 minutes

Director

Joe Dante

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Writers

Chris Columbus

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Producers

Michael Finnell

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  Zach Galligan

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  Billy Peltzer

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  Phoebe Cates

  Kate Beringer

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Tiger Woods was arrested Friday (March 27) at the scene of a car crash. He reportedly struck another vehicle and rolled his Land Rover, authorities said. Woods was apparently showing signs of impairment. The news broke on Friday afternoon.

RELATED: Florida Dad Battling Stage 4 Cancer Reportedly Receives 37-Year Sentence After Unlicensed Son Killed 4 In Car Crash

No Injuries In Car Crash Allegedly Caused By Tiger Woods

Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said Tiger Woods and the person in the other vehicle were not injured. Woods was able to crawl out of the passenger side of his Land Rover. The crash occurred just after 2 p.m., not far from where the golf champ lives on Jupiter Island.

Budensiek said Tiger Woods attempted to pass a pressure cleaner truck while driving on a two-lane road. He swerved to avoid a collision as he was passing the truck, but clipped the back end of the truck’s trailer. Tiger Woods’ vehicle then rolled onto its driver’s side.

Police Believe Woods Was Impaired & Arrest Him

Sheriff Budensiek said investigators at the scene found Woods was showing signs of impairment. He did a breathalyzer test, which came out negative. However, he refused to take a urine test. Ultimately, authorities charged him with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test, Budensiek said. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Woods’ manager at Excel Sports did not immediately respond to a text message seeking information, per the Associated Press.

Tiger Woods Has A History Of Car-Related Incidents

This was at least the third time Woods has been involved in a car crash. The most recent one happened in February 2021 when his SUV ran off a coastal road in Los Angeles at a high rate of speed. That accident led to multiple leg and ankle injuries. Woods said later doctors considered amputation. Woods has played 11 tournaments since that 2021 crash. However, he hasn’t finished closer than within 16 shots of the winner the four times he finished 72 holes.

Also, Tiger Woods was arrested on a DUI charge in 2017. At the time, south Florida police found him asleep behind the wheel of his car. The vehicle was parked awkwardly with damage to the driver’s side. Woods said he had taken a bad mix of painkillers. He later pleaded guilty to reckless driving.

Golfer Is Recovering From Seventh Back Surgery

Woods won his fifth Masters, and 15th major, in 2019. He has 82 wins on the PGA Tour, tied for the all-time record with Sam Snead. Woods, 50, had been working his way back to golf from a seventh back surgery in September. He had not decided whether he could play in the Masters on April 9-12.

His last official tournament was the British Open in 2024. Woods ruptured his Achilles tendon in March 2025. That kept him off the course all season even before the back surgery. He managed to play in his indoor TGL golf league on Tuesday night (March 24).

RELATED: Video Shows LaMelo Ball Involved In Car Crash In Downtown Charlotte, Hazel E Reacts (WATCH)

Associated Press contributed to this report via AP Newsroom. 

Meghan McCain issued a strong defense over the allegedly “evil” criticism of Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk (née Frantzve).

“I do not understand why Erika Kirk, who saw her husband get brutally assassinated on live television, is a target of such evil and cruelty,” McCain, 41, wrote via X on Friday, March 27. “Why are you all doing this to her? Have she and her children not suffered enough?”

Charlie, a conservative political commentator, was shot and killed during a Utah speaking engagement in September 2025. He was 31 and is survived by Erika and their two young children.

“Some of you were literally birthed in hell,” McCain added on Friday.

Weeks after Charlie’s death, Erika assumed the role of CEO of Charlie’s Turning Point USA organization and went on a press tour promoting his posthumous book, Stop in the Name of God.

“My daughter and I [have] talked about this at night. She would ask, ‘What do you think Daddy did today in heaven?’” Erika told Sean Hannity on Fox News in December 2025. “I’ll have her relay that back to me. We’ve come to the understanding — and I’ve tried to explain this to her — that Daddy’s still with us, he’s just in a different location, and he’s building us a home in heaven.”

Erika has drawn criticism for diving into work so quickly after her husband’s death.

“I didn’t ask for this,” she stated during a CBS town hall held later in December 2025. “I view it as a blessing [and] a duty to my husband, but I was very happy being a stay-at-home mom. There’s nothing wrong with being a mother.”

Erika continued, “Stepping into this role is not so much a job title. It’s not a 9-to-5 for me, [and] this is something that I’m very passionate about. [Turning Point USA] is still a living, breathing version of my husband. This organization is not just a company to me, and the staff and employees are not just staff and employees, they’re family.”

Social media commenters also criticized Erika over her now-infamous hug with Vice President JD Vance at a Turning Point event earlier in fall 2025. (JD, 41, is married to Usha Vance, who is pregnant with the couple’s fourth baby.)

“My love language is touch, if you will,” Erika said of the seemingly cozy moment on Megyn Kelly Live in November 2025. “I will give you a play-by-play: They just played the emotional video. I’m walking over, [JD] is walking over. I’m starting to cry. He says, ‘I’m so proud of you.’ And I say, ‘God bless you,’ and I touch the back of his head. Anyone whom I have hugged, that I have touched the back of your head when I hug you, I always say, ‘God bless you.’”

By Douglas Helm
| Published 1 hour ago

Video game adaptations have come a long, long way, with titles like The Last of Us and Arcane receiving widespread critical praise. Still, it’s fun to go back to the dark days of video game adaptations, like 1999’s Wing Commander, which was loosely based on the game series of the same name.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to revisit these films HD versions can’t be found on streaming services.

Wing Commander never received a 4K restoration. In short, there’s really not a great way to watch the film on modern TVs. But it’s not entirely surprising that this movie isn’t getting a lot of love because it’s pretty terrible.

Wing Commander follows an interstellar war between two factions known as the Terran Confederation and the cat-like Kilrathi Empire. A young crew ends up being the last hope for Earth after finding a device that allows them to intercept the Kilrathi invasion. A young team of fighter pilots is forced to hold off the Kilrathi until reinforcements arrive.

Wing Commander has a pretty decent cast that includes Freddie Prinze Jr, Matthew Lillard, Saffron Burrows, Tcheky Karyo, Jurgen Prochnow, David Suchet, and David Warner. Also, Chris Roberts, the creator of the video game series, directed the film. Unfortunately, having these elements in place did not equate to a good movie.

Wing Commander was a massive critical and commercial failure, only making a measly $11.6 million at the box office. This makes it easily the worst film that Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard ever starred in together. Before Wing Commander, the two starred in She’s All That and would later star in both the live-action Scooby-Doo films and the movie Summer Catch.

It’s not hard to imagine that there is a better version of the Wing Commander movie out there, but some mistakes were definitely made along the way during production. For one, Roberts decided to make the most of the film’s budget and shoot most of the movie in the interiors of the spaceships, which takes away some of the space-opera grandeur you expect from cosmic dogfights.  Also, the film sadly missed out on having some of the voice actors from the video game series.

The Wing Commander movie was a prequel, so it was decided that Mark Hamill was too old to reprise his role from the games. Also, Malcolm McDowell plays Admiral Tolwyn in the game, but he had scheduling conflicts that prevented him from appearing in the movie. Finally, the production was rushed because the studios wanted to get the movie out before Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace came out and destroyed any hope of competing space movies to make money at the box office that year.

In the end, Wing Commander ended up being a disaster, no matter how you slice it. Still, sometimes, it’s fun to revisit terrible movies and see how bad they really were. Unfortunately, the movie isn’t available legally on most streaming services, and it’s definitely not out there in HD.

Justin Hartley‘s newest Tracker case finds Colter Shaw helping Paradise’s Jon Beavers look for his missing son.

In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the Sunday, March 29, episode of the hit CBS series, Colter (Hartley) helps James (Beavers) up after he gets beat up. He then asks Sylvia what she knows about the boy’s disappearance.

“His son is missing, we are looking for him. He disappeared from the science center this morning,” Colter says. “This is his son, Alex. He is the same age as your older son. We are looking for the truth.”

James, meanwhile, jumps in to ask why Sylvia left “before the police had a chance to question” her. Sylvia denies taking the boy while defending how her past led to her losing custody of her own kids.

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Justin Hartley‘s CBS series Tracker has won over its audience because of the intriguing cases — and the impressive guest stars. Tracker, which premiered in February 2024, is centered around a survivalist named Colter (Hartley) who travels the country helping people and law enforcement tackle a variety of mysteries. As the series unfolds, viewers learn […]

According to the official synopsis, Tracker‘s newest case is about how “when a young boy disappears during a school field trip at the aquarium, Colter must navigate a volatile father’s desperation to find his son.”

Beavers’ appearance on Tracker comes after his scene-stealing performance as Billy on Hulu’s Paradise. His is one of many high-profile cameos on Hartley’s show, which follows a survivalist who travels the country helping people and law enforcement tackle a variety of mysteries.

Hartley, 49, who is also an executive producer on the show, previously hinted at how far the show will push his character.

“I just love that when you watch a show like that and you tune into season 1 and then you tune into the last season, you see the development of the character and you go, ‘Wait a minute, are they playing different roles?’ But then if you watch it throughout the years, you experience those things with the characters,” he told TV Insider in September 2024. “As competent and confident as Colter is, I don’t at all think for a second that he doesn’t have a ton to learn, especially about himself and his family and all that.”

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Justin Hartley‘s Tracker has gone through some surprising cast changes, so who will appear in season 3? Tracker, which premiered in February 2024, follows survivalist Colter (Hartley) as he travels the country to help find missing people, track down information on criminal cases and more. As the cases have grown more complex, Colter has received help […]

Hartley continued: “Going forward, I think that will be how the show lives on a long runway, is that we keep developing this character and he becomes better at what he’s doing. He’s a restless man, and for an audience member, at least shows that I love to watch, you love to see that growth of a character and we have that.”

The actor also warned that the character could die in the future.

“It’s important to keep upping the stakes. I like being Colter as a hero, finding people and all that. I also really like seeing him in a suspenseful thriller and a dangerous situation,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in April 2025. “I don’t want our audience to forget that this man is mortal, he’s not a superhero. He can die! The things he is doing are very very dangerous.”

Tracker airs on CBS Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.

Laura Dern is saying what a lot of actresses have been thinking for years, and she’s not holding back. The Oscar winner, who has been making the rounds promoting her latest film, “Is This Thing On?,” reuniting with co-star Will Arnett, and even teaming back up with “Jurassic Park” icons Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum for a Super Bowl ad, is opening up about Hollywood’s ongoing obsession with youth, calling attention to the lack of meaningful roles for older women while embracing aging as something powerful, not something to hide.

At the same time, Laura Dern is navigating a deeply personal chapter, choosing to slow down her schedule as she mourns the loss of her mother, actress Diane Ladd, and raises awareness for the disease that took her life.

Laura Dern Redefines What’s Sexy

Dern also opened up about how her understanding of confidence and sexuality has evolved over time.

“You know, it’s interesting: What they think you want to explore as a female actor is so bizarre,” she told AARP’s Movies for Grownups. “Like to explore sexuality at 20 in my case meant, ‘Tell me who you want me to be, or what you think is sexy or pretty, and I’ll try to mimic that in a film. I don’t know my own self or my own sexuality yet.’”

She added, “But at 50, it’s like, ‘This is what’s interesting. This is what’s sexy. That’s what’s unattractive. This is what feels human.’ Vulnerability is sexuality.”

Grown-Up Love Stories Bring A Different Kind Of Heat

According to Dern, intimacy later in life carries a different kind of power, one that Hollywood doesn’t often showcase.

“When [Will Arnett and I] were reading the scene in ‘Is This Thing On?’ where we were talking about what we didn’t like in the relationship or in each other, and Bradley Cooper, our director, was like, ‘That scene was so sexy.’ And I just loved that,” she said.

“I loved that this filmmaker saw communication as hot and intimacy as erotic,” the actress added. “Because it’s not what you get to see in movies, and it only worked because it’s about a marriage of 26 years. You know, it’s not about new infatuation.”

Laura Dern Calls Out Hollywood’s Lack Of Stories About Aging

While she embraces this stage of life, Dern didn’t hold back when addressing what she sees as a major gap in the industry.

“My mom would always say that ageism when you look great isn’t quite as overt, but she’s like, ‘How many movies do we have of 80-year-olds?’” she said before thanking Michael Haneke, the 83-year-old Austrian screenwriter and director of 2012’s Oscar-winning “Amour,” among others.

“We have them more. But it’s very rare to see films about what I’ve just walked through with my mother and her journey with IPF,” she said. “Where are those stories? Where are the love stories between us and our parents in cinema, in television?”

Dern Gets Real About Life’s Hardest Truths

Dern ended on a deeply reflective note, pointing out how little society and Hollywood prepare people for the realities of aging.

“We all know what it’s like to be a kid, but we don’t know how to grow old,” she said. “And we don’t know how to find community around it, and how to talk about our fear of disease, of losing life, of losing loved ones. It’s pretty amazing in a community of storytellers that there are hardly any stories about that, and yet it’s inescapable for us all to face.”

Laura Dern Teases What’s Next In Her Career

Even as she takes time to reflect and reset, Laura Dern made it clear she’s far from slowing down. Looking ahead, the actress revealed she has several exciting projects in the works, including a collaboration with longtime friend and co-star Nicole Kidman.

“There are a couple of projects that Nicole Kidman and I have, a film we’re excited about that’s in development, and another show that I’m working hard at right now,” Dern shared.

While she’s intentionally taking a moment for herself, she reassured fans there’s plenty to look forward to. “So there are exciting things to come,” she said. “But I’m taking a little time and then will get back to work.”