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“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. We’re advising all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” This piece of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a scientifically altered, speaking, bespectacled member of the oozy monster mob that swarms Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s simply an financial suggestion from one monster to another. However, oddly enough, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Seriously, consider my perspective.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the most counterproductive action you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. Actually, a large portion of the fang-bearing creatures that inhabit Dante’s chaotic 1990 feature (arguably his best) possess the same knowing, self-referential comic sensibility regarding the indistinct border separating everyday life and pure pandemonium. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and as I age, it’s the theme that strikes the deepest chord.

A Childhood Fascination

Of course, my attachment to this movie didn’t start on such an deeply thoughtful note. As a child, we possessed merely a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box almost certainly acquired from an independent video outlet and boasting grimacing beasts on its tattered front. I was right away smitten and these films wasted no time inserting themselves inside my small, malleable brain. After that point, they became an near-everyday part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s first film usually receives all the plaudits, thanks mostly because of its status as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. Nevertheless, its successor 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 lock myself inside and pop it in. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. With repetition, it ingrained itself in my mindset. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they gave no indication of concern.

Subtler Delights and Pop-Culture References

As I matured, new insights rewarded multiple watches, 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 later-to-be-president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his second wife Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his real-life counterpart.

The “end of civilisation” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a genuine “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case 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 exact movie you are viewing. An edit for movie houses, another for home video and television, each providing a grinning portion of self-referential entertainment sorcery ahead of its time.

An Enduring Influence

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that captured my attention as a child, this subsurface richness maintained my fascination as an adult. Eventually, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no qualms revealing to me he made the movie with the direct intention 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 defiance and resolve to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I went through a abrupt familial death not long ago, I was taken aback to discover that, during my deepest grief, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Maybe not. The comforting familiarity it provided was needed to thin out my mind’s grief morass – but the perspectives it had given me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just cannot manage. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to be like them: welcome the pandemonium, put everything you’ve got into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s robust worldly wisdom from a highly unexpected fountain – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will forever remain my feelgood film.