One little-known truth of “Gremlins” is that the original version was supposed to be much darker. But honestly, it’s hard to envision anything darker than having to watch sweet Gizmo slowly deteriorate into oblivion. It’s even worse that Gizmo’s just lying on the ground, entirely helpless. But even though plenty of people want to help the Gizmo puppet, it may be best not to follow the advice from @MainMotar, who wrote, “[He’ll] be fine hes just a little dehydrated, he might needs some water.”
This isn’t even the first time a degraded movie prop has sparked widespread discussion online. In 2019, a rotting Leonardo costume from 1993’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III” went up for auction and sparked a lot of discussion over how creepy it was, especially with its exposed teeth and gums. Now, dehydrated Gizmo is carrying on the legacy and inspiring many comments from people ruminating on what could’ve happened to the little guy, including this one from @MustacheHam: “Gizmo looks like they were left in the car without A/C for 30 minutes on a hot day.”
When looking up what the cast of “Gremlins” looks like today, it’s a safe bet this isn’t what people had in mind for Gizmo. For now, everyone should be prepared to see the image of a horrified Gizmo crop up as a meme across social media. At the very least, all of this attention may convince the Seattle Museum of Pop Culture to prop the puppet up so that it doesn’t look so much like a tiny, adorable corpse.