🔗 Share this article

“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into canned food and shotguns.” That bit of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, talking, spectacled member of the slick creature crowd that overruns Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s merely an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. Yet, oddly enough, it’s also pretty solid life advice. Truly, listen to my reasoning.

When situations deteriorate, the worst thing you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. Actually, most of the fang-bearing creatures that occupy Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (debateably his greatest) possess the same wry, meta sense of humour regarding the indistinct border separating the mundane 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 underlying idea that echoes the loudest.

A Childhood Fascination

Understandably, my fondness for this movie did not begin on such an introspective level. As a child, we were limited to a few scratched-up video tapes 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 independent video outlet and featuring growling monsters on its knackered cover. I was instantly captivated and these films wasted no time embedding themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. Henceforth, they became an near-everyday part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s first film usually receives all the plaudits, thanks largely to its status as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. Nevertheless, its successor infrequently obtains the same level of high regard, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d retreat into the house and play it. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. With repetition, it etched itself permanently in my mindset. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Deeper Discoveries and Cultural Easter Eggs

As I grew, new revelations enriched multiple watches, elevating the fun of watching little green monsters happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the future-focused property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his one-time partner Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his genuine article inspiration.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was based on a actual “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film varying versions of a self-aware scene where Gremlins hijack the very film you’re watching. One for cinemas, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each delivering a smirking slice of meta pop-culture magic before the term was even a thing.

A Lasting Influence

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that drew my gaze 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 qualms informing me he made the movie with the specific aim 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 happily revealed. This cartoonish defiance and determination to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only increased my affection for it.

When I went through a sudden family bereavement earlier this year, I was astonished to realize that, during my heightest mourning, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Possibly not. The soothing reminiscence it offered was needed to dilute my mind’s sadness sludge – but the perspectives it had given me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s certain elements in life you just cannot manage. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to be like them: accept the turmoil, put everything you’ve got into canned food and shotguns and try not to view the world with undue solemnity.

It’s robust worldly wisdom from a most improbable origin – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my comfort movie.