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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. We’re advising all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into canned food and shotguns.” This nugget of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, articulate, spectacled member of the slick creature crowd that swarms Manhattan’s super-smart Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s simply an financial suggestion from one monster to another. However, oddly enough, it’s also pretty solid life guidance. Seriously, consider my perspective.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the biggest mistake you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. Indeed, most of the fang-bearing creatures that inhabit Dante’s chaotic 1990 feature (debateably his greatest) possess the same wry, meta funny bone regarding the blurry line separating the mundane and absolute bedlam. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and as I age, it’s the message that resonates the most.

An Early Life Obsession

Understandably, my attachment to this movie did not begin on such an philosophical plane. As a child, we were limited to a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a thick former-rental sleeve probably bought from an off-brand video shop and featuring growling monsters on its tattered front. I was immediately enamoured and these films wasted no time lodging themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. After that point, they became an practically routine part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the praise, thanks largely to its status as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. That said, its successor rarely gets the same level of elevated esteem, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d retreat into the house and play it. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. Gradually, it ingrained itself in my psyche. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they appeared unbothered.

Deeper Delights and Pop-Culture References

As I grew, new insights rewarded frequent screenings, heightening the enjoyment of watching diminutive verdant beasts joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was inspired directly by the later-to-be-president Donald Trump, with his ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his one-time partner Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his genuine article inspiration.

The “end of civilisation” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was based on a actual “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world really ended. 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. A version for theaters, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy before the term was even a thing.

An Enduring Appeal

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that captured my attention as a child, this subsurface richness held my interest as an adult. In time, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no reservations revealing to me he made the movie with the express purpose of ridiculing 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 gleefully confessed. This Looney Tunes-esque insubordination and commitment to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only made me love it even more.

When I experienced a abrupt familial death not long ago, I was surprised to find that, during my heightest mourning, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Odd, no? Maybe not. The nostalgic calm it furnished was essential to thin out my mind’s sadness sludge – but the perspectives it had imparted to me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s certain elements in life you just can’t control. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: embrace the chaos, invest all your resources into canned food and shotguns and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my feelgood film.