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“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into canned food and shotguns.” This piece of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, talking, bespectacled member of the oozy monster mob that infests Manhattan’s super-smart Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s simply an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. Yet, oddly enough, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Honestly, 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. Indeed, a large portion of the fang-bearing creatures that populate Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (arguably his best) possess the same sly, self-aware sense of humour regarding the blurry line separating everyday life and unadulterated chaos. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and with the passage of time, it’s the underlying idea that strikes the deepest chord.

An Early Life Fascination

Of course, my attachment to this movie did not begin on such an introspective level. As a child, we possessed merely a few battered VHS tapes at home. Part of that group 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 grimacing beasts on its tattered front. I was immediately enamoured and these films quickly proceeded inserting themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s initial installment commonly garners all the plaudits, thanks largely to its reputation as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. However, its follow-up rarely gets the same level of high regard, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d lock myself inside and pop it in. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Over time, it became deeply rooted in my mindset. If my parents noticed this obsession, they didn’t seem to mind.

Deeper Delights and Pop-Culture Easter Eggs

As I matured, new revelations enhanced repeat viewings, amplifying the pleasure of watching little green monsters joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking real estate tycoon and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon future president Donald Trump, with his auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his second wife Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his real-life counterpart.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was based on a actual “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film varying versions of a self-aware scene where Gremlins take over the exact movie you are viewing. One for cinemas, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery prior to the concept being mainstream.

A Persistent Legacy

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that caught my eye as a child, this subsurface richness kept me hooked as an adult. Eventually, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no qualms telling me he made the movie with the express purpose of mocking 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 cheerfully disclosed. This cartoonish insubordination and resolve to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only increased my affection for it.

When I endured a unexpected loss in the family recently, I was astonished to realize that, during my deepest grief, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Possibly not. The nostalgic calm it provided was needed to dilute my mind’s sadness sludge – but the stuff it had bestowed upon me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just can’t control. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to emulate them: accept the turmoil, invest all your resources 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 always be my go-to cinematic solace.