🔗 Share this article

“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. We’re advising all of our clients to invest all their resources into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” This nugget of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, speaking, bespectacled member of the oozy monster mob that swarms Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s merely an investment tip from one monster to another. Yet, oddly enough, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Honestly, consider my perspective.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the most counterproductive action you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. Actually, most of the dentally-gifted beasts that inhabit Dante’s wild 1990 film (possibly his finest) possess the same knowing, self-referential sense of humour regarding the hazy boundary separating everyday life and unadulterated chaos. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and the older I get, it’s the message that resonates the most.

An Early Life Fascination

Of course, my attachment to this movie did not begin on such an introspective level. Growing up, we possessed merely a few battered VHS tapes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box almost certainly acquired from an independent video outlet and sporting growling monsters on its worn-out artwork. I was instantly captivated and these films quickly proceeded lodging themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. After that point, they became an practically routine part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s initial installment usually receives all the plaudits, thanks mostly because of its legacy as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. Nevertheless, its sequel seldom receives the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d lock myself inside and pop it in. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Gradually, it ingrained itself in my mental framework. If my parents noticed this obsession, they appeared unbothered.

Subtler Discoveries and Pop-Culture Easter Eggs

As I grew, new revelations enriched repeat viewings, heightening the enjoyment of watching diminutive verdant beasts gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on future president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his second wife Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his genuine article inspiration.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was inspired by a real-life “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante went out of his way to film alternate cuts of a self-aware scene where Gremlins seize control of the actual feature in progress. An edit for movie houses, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery prior to the concept being mainstream.

A Persistent Influence

While it was creature designer Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that caught my eye 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 informing me he made the movie with the express purpose of mocking those who loved its absurd-yet-genuine 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 insubordination and resolve to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only increased my affection for it.

When I went through a abrupt familial death not long ago, I was surprised to find that, during my heightest mourning, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Possibly not. The soothing reminiscence it furnished was essential to thin out my mind’s sadness sludge – but the insights it had given me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just are powerless over. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: welcome the pandemonium, commit your entire being into preserved goods and firearms and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s strong life advice from a highly unexpected fountain – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my feelgood film.