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“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into canned food and shotguns.” This piece of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, talking, bespectacled member of the slimy Gremlin horde that infests Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s nothing more than an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. However, curiously, it’s also surprisingly sturdy life guidance. Honestly, listen to my reasoning.

When situations deteriorate, the biggest mistake you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. In fact, most of the fang-bearing creatures that populate Dante’s wild 1990 film (possibly his finest) possess the same wry, meta comic sensibility regarding the hazy boundary separating the mundane 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 underlying idea that resonates the most.

A Childhood Fascination

Understandably, my connection with this movie wasn’t born on such an philosophical plane. Growing up, we only had a few battered VHS tapes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box probably bought from an independent video outlet and boasting grimacing beasts on its worn-out artwork. I was immediately enamoured and these films quickly proceeded embedding themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. After that point, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s initial installment commonly garners all the praise, thanks largely to its status as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. Nevertheless, its sequel seldom receives the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During sunny school summer breaks, I’d retreat into the house and stick it on. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. Gradually, it etched itself permanently in my mindset. If my parents observed this fixation, they gave no indication of concern.

Subtler Delights and Cultural Nuggets

As I grew, new understandings enhanced frequent screenings, amplifying the pleasure of watching diminutive verdant beasts gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his second wife Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his real-life counterpart.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was modeled after a actual “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world really ended. I noticed how Dante went out of his way to film varying versions of a meta sequence where Gremlins take over the very film you’re watching. One for cinemas, one for VHS and TV, each delivering a smirking slice of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy before the term was even a thing.

A Lasting Influence

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that caught my eye as a child, this hidden treasure kept me hooked as an adult. In time, 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 absurd-yet-genuine predecessor and desired a sequel. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he cheerfully disclosed. This anarchic rebelliousness and commitment to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only made me love it even more.

When I experienced a unexpected loss in the family recently, I was surprised to find that, during my deepest grief, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Odd, no? Possibly not. The soothing reminiscence it offered was necessary to weaken my mind’s sadness sludge – but the insights it had imparted to me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just are powerless over. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to be like them: embrace the chaos, invest all your resources into canned food and shotguns and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s robust worldly wisdom from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will forever remain my comfort movie.