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“Well, it’s rather brutal here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to invest all their resources into preserved goods and firearms.” This nugget of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, talking, spectacled member of the slick creature crowd that overruns Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s nothing more than an investment tip from one monster to another. However, in a strange manner, it’s also pretty solid life advice. Seriously, listen to my reasoning.

When things go bad, the worst thing you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. Indeed, the majority of the fang-bearing creatures that populate Dante’s chaotic 1990 feature (possibly his finest) possess the same knowing, self-referential sense of humour regarding the hazy boundary separating the mundane and absolute bedlam. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and with the passage of time, it’s the underlying idea that resonates the most.

A Youthful Fascination

Understandably, my connection with this movie did not begin on such an introspective level. As a child, we only had a few well-worn videocassettes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box probably bought from an independent video outlet and featuring grimacing beasts on its worn-out artwork. I was instantly captivated and these films quickly proceeded embedding themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. After that point, they became an near-everyday part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the praise, thanks largely to its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. Nevertheless, its successor rarely gets the same level of high regard, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d invariably jump at the prospect to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d seclude myself indoors and play it. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. Over time, it etched itself permanently in my psyche. If my parents observed this fixation, they gave no indication of concern.

Deeper Delights and Cultural References

As I matured, new insights enriched frequent screenings, elevating the fun of watching diminutive verdant beasts gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was inspired directly by the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing 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 based on a actual “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 different iterations of a self-referential segment where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. One for cinemas, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery ahead of its time.

A Lasting Influence

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that captured my attention 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 qualms revealing to 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 gleefully confessed. This anarchic defiance and determination to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only increased my affection for it.

When I went through a sudden family bereavement earlier this year, I was surprised to find that, during my heightest mourning, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Maybe not. The soothing reminiscence it offered was necessary to weaken my mind’s mourning mire – but the perspectives it had bestowed upon me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just can’t control. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: embrace the chaos, commit your entire being into canned food and shotguns and try not to take things too seriously.

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