🔗 Share this article

“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to invest all their resources into preserved goods and firearms.” This nugget of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a scientifically altered, speaking, glasses-wearing member of the oozy monster mob that infests Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s merely an financial suggestion from one monster to another. However, curiously, it’s also pretty solid life advice. Honestly, consider my perspective.

When things go bad, the worst thing you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. In fact, the majority of the fang-bearing creatures that populate Dante’s wild 1990 film (possibly his finest) possess the same sly, self-aware sense of humour regarding the blurry line separating everyday life and pure pandemonium. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and as I age, it’s the message that strikes the deepest chord.

An Early Life Obsession

Understandably, my fondness for this movie wasn’t born on such an introspective level. As a child, we were limited to 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 likely purchased from an off-brand video shop and sporting growling monsters on its knackered cover. I was right away smitten and these films did not delay embedding themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. After that point, they became an practically routine part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s initial installment commonly garners all the accolades, thanks largely to its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. That said, its successor rarely gets the same level of high regard, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d invariably jump at the prospect to watch Gremlins 2. During sunny school summer breaks, I’d seclude myself indoors and play it. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Over time, it became deeply rooted in my mindset. If my parents observed this fixation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Rewards and Societal References

As I grew, new insights enhanced frequent screenings, heightening the enjoyment of watching small emerald creatures joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time real estate tycoon and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon future president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his former spouse Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his actual-world equivalent.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was based on a real-life “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world really ended. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins take over the actual feature in progress. A version for theaters, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each offering a winking bit of meta pop-culture magic prior to the concept being mainstream.

A Persistent Appeal

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that drew my gaze as a child, this deeper gold held my interest as an adult. Eventually, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation informing me he made the movie with the specific aim of poking fun at those who loved its goofy-but-heartfelt predecessor and wanted more. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he happily revealed. This cartoonish rebelliousness and commitment to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only increased my affection for it.

When I endured a sudden family bereavement recently, I was surprised to find that, during my heightest mourning, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Perhaps not. The soothing reminiscence it furnished was essential to dilute my mind’s grief morass – but the insights it had imparted to me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just are powerless over. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to be like them: welcome the pandemonium, put everything you’ve got into canned food and shotguns and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a highly unexpected fountain – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my go-to cinematic solace.