🔗 Share this article

“Well, it’s rather brutal here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into preserved goods and firearms.” This nugget of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, talking, glasses-wearing member of the slick creature crowd that overruns Manhattan’s super-smart Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s merely an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. But, oddly enough, it’s also surprisingly sturdy life advice. Honestly, hear me out.

When situations deteriorate, the worst thing you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. Actually, the majority of the fang-bearing creatures that occupy Dante’s chaotic 1990 feature (possibly his finest) possess the same knowing, self-referential sense of humour regarding the hazy boundary separating everyday life and absolute bedlam. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and with the passage of time, it’s the message that strikes the deepest chord.

A Youthful Fixation

Understandably, my fondness for this movie wasn’t born on such an philosophical plane. In my youth, we were limited to a few battered VHS tapes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case almost certainly acquired from an non-chain rental store and boasting snarling creatures on its knackered cover. I was right away smitten and these films did not delay lodging themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. After that point, they became an near-everyday part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s original usually receives all the praise, thanks mostly because of its legacy as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. Nevertheless, its follow-up infrequently obtains the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d seclude myself indoors and pop it in. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped 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 Discoveries and Societal References

As I matured, new understandings rewarded multiple watches, amplifying the pleasure of watching little green monsters joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his former spouse Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his real-life counterpart.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was modeled after a genuine “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante went out of his way to film different iterations of a self-referential segment where Gremlins take over the actual feature in progress. A version for theaters, another for home video and television, each providing a grinning portion of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy before the term was even a thing.

A Persistent Influence

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that caught my eye as a child, this deeper gold maintained my fascination as an adult. Eventually, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no qualms telling me he made the movie with the express purpose 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 happily revealed. This cartoonish defiance and resolve to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I went through a sudden family bereavement earlier this year, I was surprised to find that, during my deepest grief, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Possibly not. The nostalgic calm it offered was needed to dilute my mind’s grief morass – but the perspectives it had imparted to me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just can’t control. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: embrace the chaos, commit your entire being into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s strong life advice from a most improbable origin – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my feelgood film.