🔗 Share this article

“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to invest all their resources into canned food and shotguns.” This piece of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a scientifically altered, talking, glasses-wearing member of the slimy Gremlin horde that overruns Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s nothing more than an financial suggestion from one monster to another. Yet, in a strange manner, it’s also pretty solid life guidance. Seriously, listen to my reasoning.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the biggest mistake you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. In fact, a large portion of the dentally-gifted beasts that occupy Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (debateably his greatest) possess the same knowing, self-referential comic sensibility regarding the indistinct border separating the mundane and absolute bedlam. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and the older I get, it’s the message that echoes the loudest.

An Early Life Fixation

Understandably, my connection with this movie did not begin on such an philosophical plane. As a child, we were limited to a few well-worn videocassettes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box almost certainly acquired from an non-chain rental store and featuring growling monsters on its knackered cover. I was instantly captivated and these films quickly proceeded embedding themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. After that point, they became an almost-daily part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s initial installment typically gets all the plaudits, thanks mostly because of its reputation as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. That said, 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 seclude myself indoors and pop it in. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Gradually, it became deeply rooted in my mindset. If my parents observed this fixation, they gave no indication of concern.

Deeper Discoveries and Cultural References

As I got older, new revelations enriched repeat viewings, elevating the fun of watching little green monsters happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his second wife Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp has more heart than his actual-world equivalent.

The “end of civilisation” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was based on a genuine “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film varying versions of a self-aware scene where Gremlins seize control of the exact movie you are viewing. One for cinemas, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each delivering a smirking slice of self-referential entertainment sorcery prior to the concept being mainstream.

An Enduring Influence

While it was creature designer Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that caught my eye as a child, this subsurface richness kept me hooked as an adult. Ultimately, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation revealing to me he made the movie with the specific aim 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 insubordination and determination to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only made me love it even more.

When I endured a unexpected loss in the family earlier this year, I was surprised to find that, during my deepest grief, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Maybe not. The comforting familiarity it offered was essential to thin out my mind’s sadness sludge – but the stuff it had imparted to me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just cannot manage. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. 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 powerful existential guidance from a most improbable origin – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my comfort movie.