🔗 Share this article

“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is 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, talking, bespectacled member of the oozy monster mob that swarms Manhattan’s super-smart Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s nothing more than an financial suggestion from one monster to another. However, curiously, it’s also remarkably sound existential counsel. Seriously, 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 grasps this. In fact, a large portion of the dentally-gifted beasts that occupy Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (debateably his greatest) possess the same wry, meta comic sensibility regarding the blurry line separating the mundane and unadulterated chaos. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and with the passage of time, it’s the underlying idea that resonates the most.

A Childhood Fixation

Understandably, my connection with this movie did not begin on such an introspective level. Growing up, we possessed merely a few battered VHS tapes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its sequel, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box likely purchased from an off-brand video shop and featuring growling monsters on its tattered front. I was right away smitten and these films wasted no time embedding themselves inside my small, malleable brain. After that point, they became an almost-daily part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s original typically gets all the plaudits, thanks primarily due to its reputation as a partly frightening holiday classic – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. However, its follow-up infrequently obtains the same level of high regard, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d retreat into the house and pop it in. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. Gradually, it became deeply rooted in my mindset. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they gave no indication of concern.

Hidden Rewards and Pop-Culture References

As I grew, new understandings enriched multiple watches, elevating the fun of watching small emerald creatures happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time real estate tycoon and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was inspired directly by the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his second wife Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his genuine article inspiration.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was inspired by a actual “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins hijack the actual feature in progress. A version for theaters, one for VHS and TV, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery before the term was even a thing.

A Persistent Appeal

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that caught my eye as a child, this subsurface richness held my interest as an adult. Ultimately, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation informing me he made the movie with the direct intention of mocking 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 gleefully confessed. This Looney Tunes-esque rebelliousness and resolve to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I endured a sudden family bereavement recently, I was astonished to realize that, during my heightest mourning, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Possibly not. The nostalgic calm it furnished was necessary to weaken my mind’s sadness sludge – but the stuff it had bestowed upon me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just are powerless over. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to be like them: welcome the pandemonium, put everything you’ve got into preserved goods and firearms and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my go-to cinematic solace.