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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 sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, speaking, glasses-wearing member of the oozy monster mob that overruns Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s simply an investment tip from one monster to another. Yet, in a strange manner, it’s also remarkably sound existential counsel. Seriously, hear me out.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the biggest mistake you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. In fact, a large portion of the fang-bearing creatures that populate Dante’s wild 1990 film (debateably his greatest) possess the same wry, meta sense of humour 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 as I age, it’s the theme that echoes the loudest.

An Early Life Obsession

Understandably, my connection with this movie wasn’t born on such an introspective level. As a child, we only had a few battered VHS 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 sporting grimacing beasts on its worn-out artwork. I was instantly captivated and these films wasted no time lodging themselves inside my small, malleable brain. Henceforth, they became an practically routine part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the accolades, thanks mostly because of its legacy as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. However, its sequel seldom receives the same level of elevated esteem, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d invariably jump at the prospect 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 remained on repeat in my bedroom. Over time, it etched itself permanently in my mindset. If my parents noticed this obsession, they didn’t seem to mind.

Deeper Discoveries and Cultural Nuggets

As I grew, new insights enriched repeat viewings, elevating the fun of watching small emerald creatures gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the future-focused property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on future president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his second wife Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp has more heart than his real-life counterpart.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was modeled after a genuine “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film varying versions of a meta sequence where Gremlins take over the exact movie you are viewing. An edit for movie houses, one for VHS and TV, each providing a grinning portion of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy ahead of its time.

A Lasting Appeal

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that caught my eye as a child, this deeper gold kept me hooked as an adult. Eventually, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no reservations telling me he made the movie with the specific aim of ridiculing those who loved its absurd-yet-genuine predecessor and wanted more. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he cheerfully disclosed. This Looney Tunes-esque insubordination and commitment to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only increased my affection for it.

When I experienced a unexpected loss in the family earlier this year, I was taken aback to discover that, during my heightest mourning, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Perhaps not. The nostalgic calm it provided was necessary to weaken my mind’s grief morass – but the perspectives it had imparted to me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just can’t control. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to be like them: 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 highly unexpected fountain – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my feelgood film.