🔗 Share this article

“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. The guidance we offer all of our clients to invest all their resources into canned food and shotguns.” That bit of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a scientifically altered, speaking, glasses-wearing member of the slimy Gremlin horde that swarms 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 nothing more than an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. However, curiously, it’s also surprisingly sturdy life advice. Honestly, listen to my reasoning.

When things go bad, the most counterproductive action you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. Actually, a large portion of the dentally-gifted beasts that inhabit Dante’s wild 1990 film (debateably his greatest) possess the same knowing, self-referential sense of humour regarding the indistinct border separating everyday life and unadulterated chaos. 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 strikes the deepest chord.

A Youthful Fascination

Of course, my attachment to this movie didn’t start on such an deeply thoughtful note. In my youth, we possessed merely a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a thick former-rental sleeve likely purchased from an independent video outlet and boasting snarling creatures on its worn-out artwork. I was immediately enamoured and these films quickly proceeded lodging themselves inside my small, malleable brain. After that point, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the plaudits, thanks largely to its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. Nevertheless, its follow-up infrequently obtains the same level of high regard, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d retreat into the house and play it. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Gradually, it ingrained itself in my mental framework. If my parents observed this fixation, they appeared unbothered.

Subtler Delights and Cultural Nuggets

As I grew, new understandings rewarded multiple watches, heightening the enjoyment of watching little green monsters happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon future president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his one-time partner Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his genuine article inspiration.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was modeled after a genuine “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film different iterations of a self-referential segment where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. A version for theaters, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery before the term was even a thing.

A Persistent Legacy

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that caught my eye as a child, this subsurface richness maintained my fascination as an adult. Eventually, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation revealing to 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 cheerfully disclosed. This cartoonish rebelliousness and commitment to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only increased my affection for it.

When I experienced a abrupt familial death earlier this year, I was surprised to find that, during my most profound sorrow, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Possibly not. The comforting familiarity it offered was needed to weaken my mind’s mourning mire – but the insights it had given me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just are powerless over. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: accept the turmoil, commit your entire being into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to view the world with undue solemnity.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my go-to cinematic solace.