🔗 Share this article

“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. The guidance we offer all of our clients to invest all their resources into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” This nugget of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, glasses-wearing member of the oozy monster mob that swarms Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s nothing more than an investment tip from one monster to another. However, in a strange manner, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Truly, hear me out.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the most counterproductive action you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. Indeed, the majority of the dentally-gifted beasts that populate Dante’s wild 1990 film (possibly his finest) possess the same sly, self-aware funny bone regarding the hazy boundary separating everyday life and absolute bedlam. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and the older I get, it’s the underlying idea that strikes the deepest chord.

A Youthful Fixation

Understandably, my connection with this movie did not begin on such an introspective level. Growing up, we were limited to a few well-worn videocassettes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box almost certainly acquired from an off-brand video shop and sporting snarling creatures on its tattered front. I was right away smitten and these films quickly proceeded embedding themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s initial installment usually receives all the praise, thanks largely to its reputation as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. However, its sequel infrequently obtains the same level of elevated esteem, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During sunny school summer breaks, I’d retreat into the house and pop it in. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. Gradually, it became deeply rooted in my mindset. If my parents observed this fixation, they appeared unbothered.

Subtler Discoveries and Pop-Culture References

As I grew, new revelations rewarded repeat viewings, elevating the fun of watching small emerald creatures joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon the later-to-be-president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his former spouse Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his actual-world equivalent.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was based on a real-life “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 varying versions of a self-aware scene where Gremlins take over the very film you’re watching. One for cinemas, one for VHS and TV, each offering a winking bit of meta pop-culture magic prior to the concept being mainstream.

A Lasting Legacy

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that captured my attention as a child, this subsurface richness kept me hooked as an adult. In time, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation telling me he made the movie with the specific aim of poking fun at those who loved its absurd-yet-genuine predecessor and desired a sequel. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he cheerfully disclosed. This cartoonish rebelliousness and determination to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I experienced a abrupt familial death earlier this year, I was astonished to realize that, during my deepest grief, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Perhaps not. The soothing reminiscence it provided 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 particular aspects in life you just cannot manage. 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 most improbable origin – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my feelgood film.