🔗 Share this article

“Well, it’s rather brutal here. The guidance we offer all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into preserved goods and firearms.” That bit of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a scientifically altered, talking, bespectacled member of the oozy monster mob that infests Manhattan’s super-smart Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s merely an financial suggestion from one monster to another. However, in a strange manner, it’s also pretty solid life advice. Truly, hear me out.

When situations deteriorate, the worst thing you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. In fact, a large portion of the fang-bearing creatures that inhabit Dante’s wild 1990 film (arguably his best) possess the same knowing, self-referential funny bone regarding the indistinct border separating daily routine and absolute bedlam. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and with the passage of time, it’s the underlying idea that echoes the loudest.

An Early Life Obsession

Understandably, my attachment to this movie wasn’t born on such an philosophical plane. 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 thick former-rental sleeve probably bought from an independent video outlet and boasting growling monsters on its knackered cover. I was immediately enamoured and these films quickly proceeded inserting themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the accolades, thanks largely to its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. Nevertheless, its sequel seldom receives the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d seclude myself indoors and play it. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. With repetition, it became deeply rooted in my psyche. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Hidden Delights and Cultural Nuggets

As I grew, new insights enhanced frequent screenings, heightening the enjoyment of watching small emerald creatures gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the future-focused property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon future president Donald Trump, with his auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his one-time partner Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp has more heart than his genuine article inspiration.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was based on a genuine “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world really ended. I noticed how Dante went out of his way to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins seize control of the actual feature in progress. A version for theaters, one for VHS and TV, each providing a grinning portion of meta pop-culture magic before the term was even a thing.

An Enduring Influence

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that captured my attention as a child, this deeper gold kept me hooked as an adult. Eventually, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no qualms telling me he made the movie with the specific aim of ridiculing those who loved its goofy-but-heartfelt predecessor and craved further installments. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he gleefully confessed. This anarchic defiance and commitment to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I endured a abrupt familial death recently, I was taken aback to discover that, during my most profound sorrow, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Possibly not. The nostalgic calm it offered was necessary to dilute my mind’s mourning mire – but the insights it had given me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just cannot manage. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to be like them: welcome the pandemonium, put everything you’ve got into canned food and shotguns and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a highly unexpected fountain – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my feelgood film.