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After 30 years, Gushers is bringing back its iconic ’90s commercials — but with a haunted twist.
For many kids who grew up glued to the TV during that decade, Gushers was a familiar fixture with its spots featuring a group of kids biting into the snack before their head morphed into the shape of the fruit flavor of the piece of candy they were eating.
Other versions of the ads showed kids’ faces getting stretched out as the Gusher exploded with taste in the mouth.
Now, a new short film directed by Mike Diva and starring Bradley Whitford and Chester Collins flips the script on the original ad. According to a press release shared with PEOPLE, FruitHead, which debuted online Thursday, Oct. 9, “takes the commercial to sinister new depths.”
Gushers
The horror parody “[reveals] how one unlucky actor from the ’90s ad was cursed to live his life as a FruitHead. Now, as an adult (played by Collins), the character seeks horrifying revenge on the TV commercial director (played by Whitford) who made him this way,” Gushers continued.
For Whitford, 65, the short film was not only a chance to return to the world of horror after successes in the genre with Get Out and The Cabin in the Woods, it was also an opportunity to have fun with the brand’s image.
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Gushers
“When I heard it was a Gushers ad, it made me laugh because it’s a product that has never sort of had an irony deficiency,” the Diplomat star quips while speaking to PEOPLE, noting that the candy was on “sort of a brilliant limb with this commercial.”
Recalling how he saw the original ads on TV, Whitford says he was also aware of Gushers “becoming kind of a viral thing,” with TikTokers revisiting those spots “and talking about it three decades later.”
He adds, “There was something a little disturbing in there and that made me laugh because you have all these teen actors going through a disturbing experience.”
Gushers
Explaining that he doesn’t feel like show business “is emotionally healthy,” the West Wing alum says, “So, I always worry about the young people on the sets. And it really made me laugh to see this teenage kid [in the movie] go on this revenge.”
It also didn’t hurt that the actor has “a very complicated relationship with directors” in his own career and then be able to get to “play a kind of off-kilter version of a commercial director.”
In the end, Whitford jokes that “we’re just trying to traumatize” a new generation with FruitHead. He quips, “I guess it’s a new advertising strategy.”
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Fans can watch the full version of FruitHead on Gushers.com, while fans in New York City can watch it on screen at the upcoming Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.
