🔗 Share this article

“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. We’re advising all of our clients to invest all their resources into canned food and shotguns.” This nugget of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, glasses-wearing member of the slimy Gremlin horde that swarms Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s simply an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. Yet, curiously, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Honestly, hear me out.

When things go bad, the worst thing you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. In fact, most of the toothy monsters that populate Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (possibly his finest) possess the same wry, meta comic sensibility regarding the hazy boundary separating everyday life and pure pandemonium. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and the older I get, it’s the underlying idea that resonates the most.

A Childhood Fascination

Of course, my connection with this movie didn’t start on such an philosophical plane. In my youth, we possessed merely a few well-worn videocassettes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box probably bought from an off-brand video shop and boasting grimacing beasts on its worn-out artwork. I was instantly captivated and these films quickly proceeded embedding themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. After that point, they became an almost-daily part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the plaudits, thanks largely to its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. That said, its sequel seldom receives the same level of high regard, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d invariably jump at the prospect to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d lock myself inside and stick it on. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. Gradually, it ingrained itself in my mental framework. If my parents observed this fixation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Hidden Discoveries and Pop-Culture References

As I got older, new insights enriched repeat viewings, elevating the fun of watching diminutive verdant beasts gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the future-focused real estate tycoon 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 actual-world equivalent.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was inspired by a genuine “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film varying versions of a self-aware scene where Gremlins take over the very film you’re watching. An edit for movie houses, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each providing a grinning portion of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy prior to the concept being mainstream.

A Persistent Appeal

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that captured my attention as a child, this hidden treasure kept me hooked as an adult. Ultimately, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no qualms informing me he made the movie with the express purpose of poking fun at 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 cheerfully disclosed. This Looney Tunes-esque insubordination and determination 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 sudden family bereavement not long ago, I was astonished to realize that, during my deepest grief, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Maybe not. The soothing reminiscence it furnished was needed to weaken my mind’s sadness sludge – but the perspectives it had bestowed upon me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just cannot manage. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: accept the turmoil, put everything you’ve got into preserved goods and firearms and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s strong life advice from a most improbable origin – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will forever remain my feelgood film.