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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” This piece of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, articulate, bespectacled member of the slick creature crowd 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 merely an investment tip from one monster to another. However, oddly enough, it’s also remarkably sound existential counsel. Seriously, hear me out.

When situations deteriorate, the worst thing you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. Actually, the majority of the dentally-gifted beasts that inhabit Dante’s wild 1990 film (arguably his best) possess the same wry, meta sense of humour regarding the blurry line separating everyday life and absolute bedlam. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and the older I get, it’s the theme that resonates the most.

An Early Life Fascination

Naturally, my attachment to this movie wasn’t born on such an philosophical plane. As a child, we were limited to a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its sequel, the latter housed in a thick former-rental sleeve almost certainly acquired from an non-chain rental store and boasting growling monsters on its worn-out artwork. I was immediately enamoured and these films quickly proceeded inserting themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. Henceforth, they became an near-everyday part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s first film usually receives all the plaudits, thanks primarily due to its legacy as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. Nevertheless, 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 long summer holidays, 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 mental framework. If my parents noticed this obsession, they didn’t seem to mind.

Hidden Discoveries and Societal Nuggets

As I got older, new understandings enhanced multiple watches, amplifying the pleasure of watching little green monsters 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 modeled closely on future president Donald Trump, with his auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his second wife Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his actual-world equivalent.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a real-life “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante went out of his way to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins take over 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.

A Lasting Legacy

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that drew my gaze 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 qualms informing me he made the movie with the express purpose of mocking those who loved its silly-yet-sincere predecessor and craved further installments. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he cheerfully disclosed. This Looney Tunes-esque defiance and commitment to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only increased my affection for it.

When I endured a sudden family bereavement earlier this year, 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. Weird, right? Maybe not. The nostalgic calm it offered was necessary to weaken my mind’s grief morass – but the stuff 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 are powerless over. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to emulate them: welcome the pandemonium, commit your entire being into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a very unlikely source – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will forever remain my comfort movie.