🔗 Share this article

“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into preserved goods and firearms.” This piece of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, speaking, bespectacled member of the slick creature crowd 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 nothing more than an financial suggestion from one monster to another. Yet, curiously, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Truly, consider my perspective.

When things go bad, the worst thing you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. In fact, most of the toothy monsters that occupy Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (possibly his finest) possess the same wry, meta sense of humour regarding the indistinct border separating everyday life and absolute bedlam. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and with the passage of time, it’s the message that echoes the loudest.

A Childhood Fixation

Of course, my connection with this movie didn’t start on such an introspective level. In my youth, we were limited to a few battered VHS tapes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case likely purchased from an non-chain rental store and sporting growling monsters on its worn-out artwork. I was right away smitten and these films wasted no time embedding themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. Henceforth, 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 legacy as a partly frightening holiday classic – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. However, its sequel rarely gets the same level of lofty appreciation, 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 stick it on. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. With repetition, it ingrained itself in my mindset. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they gave no indication of concern.

Subtler Discoveries and Cultural References

As I grew, new insights enhanced frequent screenings, amplifying the pleasure of watching little green monsters 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) echoing his former spouse Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his genuine article inspiration.

The “end of civilisation” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was modeled after a real-life “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film varying versions of a self-referential segment where Gremlins seize control of the exact movie you are viewing. A version for theaters, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery prior to the concept being mainstream.

A Persistent Legacy

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that caught my eye as a child, this hidden treasure held my interest as an adult. Ultimately, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no reservations telling me he made the movie with the express purpose of ridiculing 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 cheerfully disclosed. This Looney Tunes-esque rebelliousness and determination to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I endured a unexpected loss in the family not long ago, I was astonished to realize that, during my deepest grief, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Perhaps not. The comforting familiarity it offered was needed to thin out my mind’s mourning mire – but the insights it had given me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s certain elements in life you just cannot manage. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to emulate them: embrace the chaos, put everything you’ve got into preserved goods and firearms 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 feelgood film.