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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” That bit of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, spectacled member of the oozy monster mob that swarms Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s simply an financial suggestion from one monster to another. Yet, oddly enough, it’s also surprisingly sturdy existential counsel. Truly, hear me out.

When situations deteriorate, the most counterproductive action you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. Actually, most of the fang-bearing creatures that populate Dante’s wild 1990 film (possibly his finest) possess the same knowing, self-referential comic sensibility regarding the hazy boundary separating the mundane and absolute bedlam. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and with the passage of time, it’s the theme that echoes the loudest.

An Early Life Fixation

Understandably, my connection with this movie wasn’t born on such an deeply thoughtful note. As a child, we were limited to a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case likely purchased from an off-brand video shop and sporting growling monsters on its tattered front. I was instantly captivated and these films did not delay lodging themselves inside my small, malleable brain. From then on, they became an practically routine part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s original commonly garners all the praise, thanks mostly because of its reputation as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. Nevertheless, its follow-up seldom receives the same level of high regard, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d seclude myself indoors and play it. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Gradually, it ingrained itself in my psyche. If my parents noticed this obsession, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Rewards and Societal References

As I got older, new understandings rewarded frequent screenings, heightening the enjoyment of watching diminutive verdant beasts joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his one-time partner Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his real-life counterpart.

The “end of civilisation” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was modeled after a real-life “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film varying versions of a self-referential segment where Gremlins hijack the actual feature in progress. An edit for movie houses, another for home video and television, each providing a grinning portion of self-referential entertainment sorcery before the term was even a thing.

A Persistent Legacy

While it was creature designer Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that captured my attention as a child, this subsurface richness held my interest as an adult. Ultimately, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no reservations telling me he made the movie with the direct intention of mocking those who loved its absurd-yet-genuine predecessor and craved further installments. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he gleefully confessed. This anarchic defiance and commitment to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only made me love it even more.

When I endured a sudden family bereavement recently, I was taken aback to discover that, during my most profound sorrow, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Possibly not. The nostalgic calm it offered was needed to dilute my mind’s mourning mire – but the perspectives it had imparted to me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s certain elements in life you just can’t control. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to be like them: welcome the pandemonium, invest all your resources into preserved goods and firearms and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s strong life advice from a most improbable origin – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my comfort movie.