Nonetheless, dozens of news articles have reprinted a similar story, and it seemed to peak in the mid 2000s. I'm willing to bet, however, you'd find almost no stories claiming high suicide rates during the holidays before 1984. And it wasn't until about a decade later that they started picking up. And it's all Phoebe Cates' fault.

Ask your dad.
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In 1984's phenomenally awesome and always timely and relevant holiday classic Gremlins, Phoebe Cates, who may have turned you into a man the first time you saw Fast Times At Ridgemont High, plays the girlfriend of the Gremlin-owning Billy. She's also a bit of a sack of neuroses best left untouched since every monologue she has in the film is a depressing diatribe about something terrible, from her dad getting stuck in a chimney pretending to be Santa Claus to the terrible tale of ... increased holiday suicides. It's mostly just a throwaway line, but it was even easily verifiable back then as being untrue.
About 10 years after Gremlins came out, it started being played in heavy rotation during the holiday season. It was an "alternate" holiday movie for those of us who couldn't give two shits about Miracle On 34th Street or any sappy holiday crap. We wanted little green monsters that drink heavily.

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