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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. The guidance we offer all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into preserved goods and firearms.” That bit of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, talking, bespectacled member of the slick creature crowd that infests Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker 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. But, curiously, it’s also surprisingly sturdy existential counsel. Seriously, listen to my reasoning.

When things go bad, the most counterproductive action you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. Actually, most of the dentally-gifted beasts that inhabit Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (arguably his best) possess the same sly, self-aware sense of humour regarding the hazy boundary separating everyday life and pure pandemonium. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and the older I get, it’s the message that echoes the loudest.

An Early Life Fascination

Naturally, my fondness for this movie did not begin on such an introspective level. In my youth, we were limited to a few battered VHS tapes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box probably bought from an off-brand video shop and featuring grimacing beasts on its knackered cover. I was instantly captivated and these films wasted no time inserting themselves inside my small, malleable brain. From then on, they became an practically routine part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s first film usually receives all the praise, thanks primarily due to its reputation as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. That said, its sequel seldom receives the same level of high regard, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During sunny school summer breaks, I’d seclude myself indoors and stick it on. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. Gradually, it ingrained itself in my psyche. If my parents noticed this obsession, they appeared unbothered.

Hidden Discoveries and Societal References

As I grew, new understandings rewarded frequent screenings, amplifying the pleasure of watching diminutive verdant beasts gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his former spouse Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his actual-world equivalent.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was modeled after a real-life “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world really ended. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film varying versions of a self-aware scene where Gremlins hijack the very film you’re watching. One for cinemas, another for home video and television, each providing a grinning portion of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy before the term was even a thing.

A Lasting Appeal

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that captured my attention as a child, this deeper gold maintained my fascination as an adult. In time, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no qualms telling me he made the movie with the direct intention of ridiculing those who loved its silly-yet-sincere predecessor and wanted more. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he gleefully confessed. This anarchic 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 abrupt familial death earlier this year, I was taken aback to discover that, during my heightest mourning, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Perhaps not. The comforting familiarity it furnished was essential to weaken my mind’s grief morass – but the perspectives it had bestowed upon me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just are powerless over. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to be like them: embrace the chaos, invest all your resources into preserved goods and firearms and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s strong life advice from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my feelgood film.