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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. We’re advising all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into preserved goods and firearms.” This nugget of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, speaking, glasses-wearing member of the slick creature crowd that infests Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s simply an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. Yet, oddly enough, it’s also remarkably sound life guidance. Honestly, listen to my reasoning.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the worst thing you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin understands this. In fact, a large portion of the dentally-gifted beasts that populate Dante’s wild 1990 film (arguably his best) possess the same sly, self-aware sense of humour 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 as I age, it’s the theme that echoes the loudest.

A Youthful Fixation

Of course, my attachment to this movie wasn’t born 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 second chapter, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case almost certainly acquired from an off-brand video shop and featuring growling monsters on its worn-out artwork. I was right away smitten and these films did not delay embedding themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. After that point, they became an almost-daily part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s initial installment commonly garners all the praise, thanks largely to its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. However, its follow-up seldom receives the same level of elevated esteem, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During sunny school summer breaks, I’d lock myself inside and play it. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. Over time, it became deeply rooted in my psyche. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they gave no indication of concern.

Deeper Delights and Cultural Easter Eggs

As I grew, new insights enhanced frequent screenings, heightening the enjoyment of watching small emerald creatures 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 ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his one-time partner Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his actual-world equivalent.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was based on a real-life “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world really ended. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film alternate cuts of a self-aware scene where Gremlins hijack the exact movie you are viewing. A version for theaters, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of meta pop-culture magic before the term was even a thing.

A Lasting Influence

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that caught my eye as a child, this deeper gold maintained my fascination as an adult. In time, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation revealing to me he made the movie with the express purpose of ridiculing those who loved its absurd-yet-genuine predecessor and wanted more. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he happily revealed. This anarchic insubordination and commitment to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I went through a unexpected loss in the family earlier this year, I was surprised to find that, during my heightest mourning, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Perhaps not. The soothing reminiscence it provided was essential to weaken my mind’s mourning mire – but the perspectives it had given me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just are powerless over. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to be like them: welcome the pandemonium, invest all your resources into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to view the world with undue solemnity.

It’s strong life advice from a very unlikely source – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will forever remain my go-to cinematic solace.