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“Well, it’s rather brutal here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into preserved goods and firearms.” That bit of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, articulate, glasses-wearing member of the slick creature crowd that swarms Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s simply an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. But, curiously, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Seriously, consider my perspective.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the worst thing you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. In fact, most of the fang-bearing creatures that occupy Dante’s wild 1990 film (debateably his greatest) possess the same knowing, self-referential comic sensibility regarding the hazy boundary separating daily routine and pure pandemonium. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and with the passage of time, it’s the theme that resonates the most.

A Youthful Obsession

Naturally, my attachment to this movie didn’t start on such an introspective level. In my youth, we only had a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its sequel, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case almost certainly acquired from an off-brand video shop and sporting growling monsters on its knackered cover. I was immediately enamoured and these films quickly proceeded lodging themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. After that point, they became an practically routine part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s original typically gets all the praise, thanks primarily due to its legacy as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. Nevertheless, its sequel seldom receives the same level of elevated esteem, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d seclude myself indoors and pop it in. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. With repetition, it became deeply rooted in my mindset. If my parents observed this fixation, they gave no indication of concern.

Hidden Rewards and Cultural References

As I grew, new revelations enhanced repeat viewings, elevating the fun of watching small emerald creatures happily vandalize 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 auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his former spouse Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his actual-world equivalent.

The “end of civilisation” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a actual “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world really ended. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film different iterations of a self-aware scene where Gremlins take over the very film you’re watching. A version for theaters, one for VHS and TV, each offering a winking bit of meta pop-culture magic before the term was even a thing.

An Enduring Influence

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that caught my eye as a child, this hidden treasure held my interest as an adult. In time, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation informing me he made the movie with the direct intention of poking fun at those who loved its silly-yet-sincere predecessor and wanted more. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he happily revealed. This Looney Tunes-esque rebelliousness and resolve to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only made me love it even more.

When I endured a abrupt familial death recently, I was taken aback to discover that, during my most profound sorrow, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Maybe not. The soothing reminiscence it furnished was necessary to weaken my mind’s grief morass – but the perspectives it had bestowed upon me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects 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 canned food and shotguns and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s robust worldly wisdom from a very unlikely source – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my go-to cinematic solace.