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“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” This piece of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, glasses-wearing member of the slimy Gremlin horde that swarms Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s nothing more than an financial suggestion from one monster to another. But, oddly enough, it’s also surprisingly sturdy life advice. Seriously, consider my perspective.

When things go bad, the worst thing you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. In fact, a large portion of the toothy monsters that occupy Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (arguably his best) possess the same sly, self-aware comic sensibility regarding the indistinct border separating the mundane 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 underlying idea that resonates the most.

A Childhood Fascination

Understandably, my fondness for this movie didn’t start on such an introspective level. As a child, we possessed merely a few battered VHS tapes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case almost certainly acquired from an off-brand video shop and featuring growling monsters on its tattered front. I was instantly captivated and these films did not delay embedding themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. From then on, they became an almost-daily part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s original typically gets all the plaudits, thanks largely to its legacy as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. That said, its sequel rarely gets the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d invariably jump at the prospect to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d seclude myself indoors and play it. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Gradually, it etched itself permanently in my psyche. If my parents observed this fixation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Delights and Cultural Easter Eggs

As I matured, new revelations rewarded repeat viewings, elevating the fun of watching small emerald creatures joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the future-focused development mogul 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 has more heart than his actual-world equivalent.

The “end of civilisation” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a actual “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world really ended. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film alternate cuts of a meta sequence where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. An edit for movie houses, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each providing a grinning portion of meta pop-culture magic ahead of its time.

An Enduring Legacy

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that captured my attention as a child, this subsurface richness kept me hooked as an adult. In time, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no qualms telling me he made the movie with the direct intention of poking fun at 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 gleefully confessed. This Looney Tunes-esque defiance and resolve 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 abrupt familial death not long ago, 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. Odd, no? Perhaps not. The comforting familiarity it offered was essential to dilute my mind’s sadness sludge – but the insights it had bestowed upon me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s certain elements in life you just are powerless over. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: accept the turmoil, 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 the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my go-to cinematic solace.