Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s Behind the Scenes Pic!

Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas! Santa Quint has brought you an awesome gift for the holidays! The good folks at Trailers From Hell and the great Joe Dante himself, who is apparently a constant reader of this column, have helped Santa Quint bring goodies to all you good little boys and girls.

Not only do I have some awesome behind the scenes pics from the making of Gremlins, culled from Joe Dante’s personal files, but I also have a holiday giveaway for one of my North American readers (sorry rest of the world, but Santa Quint doesn’t have a magical sleigh and reindeers, just a leaky boat and a bastard shark).

Up first are the photos, followed by the contest where you could win an autographed Gremlins Blu-Ray and Volume 1 of the Best of Trailers From Hell.

Click on any of the below pictures for the super big versions (ie your new desktop)!

Brilliant. Thanks very much, Mr. Dante. Any time you want to raid your files for behind the scenes pics you have a place for them!

Let’s figure out this contest, shall we? Like I mentioned above the Trailers From Hell folks have offered up an autographed Blu-Ray of Gremlins and Volume 1 of The Best of Trailers From Hell, a very rad collection of older trailers with commentaries by filmmakers discussing the trailers, the movies and cinema itself.

I know it’s Christmas Eve and tomorrow’s Christmas Day and even if you don’t celebrate the holiday you’re likely shutting down and playing your Xbox or PS3 for 24 hours straight to enjoy the holiday. So, I’m going to give this contest until Tuesday at 11:59pm CST.

I want to honor the heart-stoppingly gorgeous Phoebe Cates and hear, in 100 words or less, your worst Christmas story; the very worst thing to happen to you on or around Christmas (or your seasonal holiday of choice). Bonus points if there’s photo evidence to back up your outlandish shit.

Email your entry to this email address with the subject line “Why I Hate Christmas.” You need to include your mailing address (in the event that you’re the winner, will only be used for the purposes of this contest, I promise) and your story in 100 words or less. If you’re sending photos, keep them under a meg. Contest begins now and ends 11:59pm CST Tuesday, December 28th.

I’ll post a story with the winning entry (if you want your name kept private let me know that in the email) shortly thereafter. Good luck all!

Thanks to Joe Dante, Danny Mears and the rest of the crew of Trailers from Hell for making this entry so special!

Tomorrow’s pic is a real Christmas miracle executed in a nearly forgotten filmmaking technique (unless you’re Abed). Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

-Quint

quint@aintitcool.com

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