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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. We’re advising all of our clients to invest all their resources into preserved goods and firearms.” That bit of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, talking, glasses-wearing member of the slick creature crowd 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 simply an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. Yet, oddly enough, it’s also surprisingly sturdy existential counsel. Truly, hear me out.

When situations deteriorate, the worst thing you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. Actually, most of the fang-bearing creatures that inhabit Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (arguably his best) possess the same wry, meta comic sensibility regarding the hazy boundary separating everyday life and pure pandemonium. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and as I age, it’s the theme that resonates the most.

A Youthful Fixation

Naturally, my attachment to this movie didn’t start on such an introspective level. Growing up, we possessed merely a few battered VHS tapes at home. Part of that group 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 grimacing beasts on its tattered front. I was immediately enamoured and these films quickly proceeded inserting themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. After that point, they became an near-everyday part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s first film usually receives all the plaudits, thanks mostly because of its reputation as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. That said, its successor infrequently obtains the same level of elevated esteem, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d invariably jump at the prospect to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d seclude myself indoors and pop it in. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Over time, it etched itself permanently in my psyche. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they appeared unbothered.

Hidden Rewards and Pop-Culture Easter Eggs

As I grew, new revelations enriched repeat viewings, 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 modeled closely on the later-to-be-president Donald Trump, with his auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his former spouse Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his actual-world equivalent.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a actual “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world really ended. I noticed how Dante went out of his way to film alternate cuts of a self-referential segment where Gremlins hijack the actual feature in progress. A version for theaters, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of meta pop-culture magic ahead of its time.

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 held my interest as an adult. Eventually, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no qualms telling me he made the movie with the direct intention of ridiculing those who loved its absurd-yet-genuine predecessor and craved further installments. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he happily revealed. This anarchic defiance and resolve to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only made me love it even more.

When I went through a abrupt familial death not long ago, I was astonished to realize that, during my deepest grief, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Odd, no? Possibly not. The comforting familiarity it offered was essential to dilute my mind’s sadness sludge – but the insights it had bestowed upon me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just cannot manage. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: welcome the pandemonium, invest all your resources into preserved goods and firearms and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my go-to cinematic solace.