GREMLINS - DANTE REFUSED TO LET KNIFING RUIN RARE MOVIE SCREENING

DANTE REFUSED TO LET KNIFING RUIN RARE MOVIE SCREENING

GREMLINS director JOE DANTE was so determined to finish a rare screening of Italian horror movie THE WHIP AND THE BODY, he refused to move from his cinema seat when a member of the audience was stabbed. Dante was watching director Mario Bava's cult 1963 film, which stars Christopher Lee, when a man was 'knifed'. But the movie-loving future filmmaker stayed in his seat at the 'grindhouse' cinema in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as police arrived. He recalls, "There's a scene where Christopher Lee is beating Daliah Lavi with a whip on a beach at sunset. Somebody in the theatre got so excited that he stabbed the guy next to him. "This was the only time this picture had played and, by God, I wasn't going to get up and leave. The police came... but I stuck around to see the end of the picture."