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“Well, it’s rather brutal here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into canned food and shotguns.” This piece of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, talking, glasses-wearing member of the oozy monster mob that overruns Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s simply an investment tip from one monster to another. However, in a strange manner, it’s also remarkably sound life advice. Honestly, hear me out.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the worst thing you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. In fact, a large portion of the toothy monsters that inhabit Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (arguably his best) possess the same wry, meta sense of humour regarding the blurry line separating daily routine and pure pandemonium. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and the older I get, it’s the underlying idea that resonates the most.

An Early Life Fixation

Naturally, my fondness for this movie wasn’t born on such an introspective level. Growing up, we possessed merely a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case almost certainly acquired from an off-brand video shop and sporting grimacing beasts on its worn-out artwork. I was immediately enamoured and these films wasted no time embedding themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. After that point, they became an practically routine part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s first film commonly garners all the praise, thanks largely to its legacy as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. However, its successor seldom receives the same level of high regard, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During sunny school summer breaks, I’d seclude myself indoors and pop it in. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Over time, it ingrained itself in my mindset. If my parents observed this fixation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Hidden Discoveries and Cultural References

As I matured, new insights enhanced repeat viewings, elevating the fun of watching little green monsters joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time real estate tycoon and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the later-to-be-president Donald Trump, with his ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his one-time partner Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his actual-world equivalent.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was inspired by a real-life “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world really ended. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film alternate cuts of a self-referential segment where Gremlins seize control of the actual feature in progress. An edit for movie houses, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each delivering a smirking slice of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy ahead of its time.

A Lasting Influence

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that drew my gaze as a child, this subsurface richness maintained my fascination as an adult. Eventually, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no reservations revealing to me he made the movie with the direct intention of mocking those who loved its silly-yet-sincere predecessor and desired a sequel. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he happily revealed. This cartoonish defiance and commitment to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only increased my affection for it.

When I endured a sudden family bereavement recently, I was surprised to find that, during my heightest mourning, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Possibly not. The nostalgic calm it provided was necessary to thin out my mind’s grief morass – but the stuff it had given me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just cannot manage. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: welcome the pandemonium, put everything you’ve got into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a very unlikely source – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my comfort movie.