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“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to invest all their resources into canned food and shotguns.” That bit of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, glasses-wearing member of the slimy Gremlin horde that overruns Manhattan’s ultra-modern 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, oddly enough, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Truly, consider my perspective.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the worst thing you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. In fact, most of the fang-bearing creatures that occupy Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (possibly his finest) possess the same wry, meta funny bone regarding the indistinct border separating everyday life 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 Youthful Obsession

Naturally, my attachment to this movie wasn’t born on such an philosophical plane. Growing up, we were limited to a few well-worn videocassettes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case probably bought from an off-brand video shop and featuring snarling creatures on its tattered front. I was instantly captivated and these films wasted no time inserting themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. Henceforth, they became an practically routine part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s first film usually receives all the plaudits, thanks mostly because of its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. That said, its successor seldom receives the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d invariably jump at the prospect to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d lock myself inside and pop it in. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. Over time, it etched itself permanently in my mindset. If my parents observed this fixation, they gave no indication of concern.

Hidden Rewards and Cultural Easter Eggs

As I grew, new insights rewarded multiple watches, elevating the fun of watching little green monsters joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his former spouse Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his actual-world equivalent.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was based on a genuine “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case 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 hijack the exact movie you are viewing. One for cinemas, one for VHS and TV, each delivering a smirking slice of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy ahead of its time.

An Enduring Appeal

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that captured my attention as a child, this deeper gold held my interest as an adult. Ultimately, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no qualms telling me he made the movie with the specific aim of mocking those who loved its absurd-yet-genuine predecessor and desired a sequel. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he gleefully confessed. This cartoonish defiance and resolve to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only increased my affection for it.

When I experienced a abrupt familial death recently, I was taken aback to discover that, during my most profound sorrow, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Maybe not. The soothing reminiscence it furnished was necessary to thin out my mind’s sadness sludge – but the insights it had given me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just cannot manage. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: welcome the pandemonium, commit your entire being into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s strong life advice from a very unlikely source – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will forever remain my feelgood film.