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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. We’re advising all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” That bit of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, spectacled member of the slick creature crowd that infests Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s nothing more than an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. But, curiously, it’s also surprisingly sturdy life advice. Honestly, hear me out.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the most counterproductive action you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. Actually, most of the fang-bearing creatures that populate Dante’s chaotic 1990 feature (possibly his finest) possess the same knowing, self-referential funny bone regarding the blurry line separating the mundane and pure pandemonium. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and the older I get, it’s the message that echoes the loudest.

A Youthful Fascination

Naturally, my connection with this movie didn’t start on such an introspective level. In my youth, 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 almost certainly acquired from an independent video outlet and featuring growling monsters on its worn-out artwork. I was immediately enamoured and these films did not delay lodging themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the accolades, thanks largely to its legacy as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. Nevertheless, its sequel infrequently obtains the same level of high regard, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d retreat into the house and stick it on. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. Over time, it ingrained itself in my mental framework. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Deeper Delights and Pop-Culture References

As I got older, new insights enriched repeat viewings, heightening the enjoyment of watching small emerald creatures joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon 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 “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a real-life “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. One for cinemas, another for home video and television, each providing a grinning portion of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy prior to the concept being mainstream.

An Enduring Influence

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that captured my attention as a child, this hidden treasure kept me hooked as an adult. Eventually, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation informing 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 cartoonish 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 went through a abrupt familial death recently, I was taken aback to discover that, during my most profound sorrow, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Possibly not. The comforting familiarity it furnished was essential to thin out my mind’s sadness sludge – but the perspectives 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 cannot manage. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: embrace the chaos, invest all your resources into canned food and shotguns and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s strong life advice from a most improbable origin – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my go-to cinematic solace.