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“Well, it’s rather brutal here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into preserved goods and firearms.” That bit of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, talking, spectacled member of the slick creature crowd that infests Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s simply an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. Yet, curiously, it’s also surprisingly sturdy existential counsel. Honestly, consider my perspective.

When situations deteriorate, the worst thing you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. In fact, the majority of the dentally-gifted beasts that inhabit Dante’s wild 1990 film (arguably his best) possess the same sly, self-aware sense of humour regarding the hazy boundary separating everyday life and pure pandemonium. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and with the passage of time, it’s the theme that resonates the most.

A Childhood Fixation

Understandably, my connection with this movie wasn’t born on such an introspective level. As a child, we were limited to a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a thick former-rental sleeve almost certainly acquired from an non-chain rental store and boasting growling monsters on its worn-out artwork. I was immediately enamoured and these films quickly proceeded lodging themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. After that point, they became an practically routine part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the praise, thanks primarily due to its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. However, its successor rarely gets the same level of lofty appreciation, 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 play it. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. With repetition, it ingrained itself in my mindset. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Hidden Rewards and Pop-Culture Nuggets

As I got older, new understandings enhanced frequent screenings, elevating the fun of watching small emerald creatures joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was inspired directly by future president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his second wife Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his real-life counterpart.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was based on a actual “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. A version for theaters, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery ahead of its time.

A Lasting Appeal

While it was creature designer Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that caught my eye as a child, this deeper gold kept me hooked as an adult. In time, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no reservations informing me he made the movie with the specific aim of mocking those who loved its goofy-but-heartfelt predecessor and craved further installments. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he happily revealed. This cartoonish defiance and resolve to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only increased my affection for it.

When I went through a unexpected loss in the family earlier this year, I was astonished to realize that, during my most profound sorrow, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Possibly not. The soothing reminiscence it provided was necessary to thin out my mind’s grief morass – but the insights it had imparted to me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just cannot manage. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: accept the turmoil, invest all your resources into preserved goods and firearms and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s robust worldly wisdom from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will forever remain my feelgood film.