🔗 Share this article

“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. We’re advising all of our clients to invest all their resources into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” This piece of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, speaking, glasses-wearing member of the slick creature crowd that infests Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s nothing more than an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. However, in a strange manner, it’s also remarkably sound life guidance. Truly, consider my perspective.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the biggest mistake you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. Indeed, most of the toothy monsters that inhabit Dante’s chaotic 1990 feature (possibly his finest) possess the same sly, self-aware funny bone regarding the indistinct border separating daily routine and absolute bedlam. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and with the passage of time, it’s the theme that strikes the deepest chord.

An Early Life Fixation

Of course, my connection with this movie wasn’t born on such an deeply thoughtful note. In my youth, we only had a few well-worn videocassettes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its sequel, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box probably bought from an off-brand video shop and featuring growling monsters on its tattered front. I was immediately enamoured and these films quickly proceeded embedding themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the accolades, thanks primarily due to its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. However, its successor infrequently obtains the same level of elevated esteem, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d lock myself inside and play it. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Over time, it etched itself permanently in my mindset. If my parents noticed this obsession, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Rewards and Societal Easter Eggs

As I matured, new understandings rewarded multiple watches, elevating the fun of watching little green monsters gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time real estate tycoon 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) echoing his second wife Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his genuine article inspiration.

The “end of civilisation” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was modeled after a real-life “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante went out of his way to film varying versions of a meta sequence where Gremlins take over the exact movie you are viewing. One for cinemas, another for home video and television, each delivering a smirking slice of meta pop-culture magic before the term was even a thing.

An Enduring Influence

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that caught my eye as a child, this hidden treasure kept me hooked as an adult. In time, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no qualms telling me he made the movie with the express purpose of poking fun at those who loved its goofy-but-heartfelt predecessor and desired a sequel. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he cheerfully disclosed. This Looney Tunes-esque defiance and resolve to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only made me love it even more.

When I experienced a sudden family bereavement recently, I was astonished to realize that, during my heightest mourning, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Possibly not. The nostalgic calm it provided was needed to thin out my mind’s sadness sludge – but the stuff it had imparted to me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just cannot manage. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to be like them: embrace the chaos, put everything you’ve got into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to view the world with undue solemnity.

It’s robust worldly wisdom from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will forever remain my go-to cinematic solace.