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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. We’re advising all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into preserved goods and firearms.” This nugget of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, speaking, spectacled member of the oozy monster mob that swarms Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s simply an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. However, oddly enough, it’s also remarkably sound life guidance. Seriously, hear me out.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the worst thing you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. Indeed, most of the fang-bearing creatures that inhabit Dante’s wild 1990 film (arguably his best) possess the same wry, meta sense of humour regarding the indistinct border separating daily routine and absolute bedlam. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and as I age, it’s the theme that resonates the most.

A Youthful Obsession

Naturally, my attachment to this movie wasn’t born on such an deeply thoughtful note. As a child, we only had a few battered VHS tapes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box likely purchased from an non-chain rental store and featuring snarling creatures on its tattered front. I was immediately enamoured and these films wasted no time lodging themselves inside my small, malleable brain. After that point, they became an near-everyday part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s initial installment typically gets all the praise, thanks largely to its status as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. However, its follow-up infrequently obtains the same level of elevated esteem, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance 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 stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Over time, it etched itself permanently in my mental framework. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Delights and Societal Easter Eggs

As I grew, new insights enriched frequent screenings, heightening the enjoyment of watching little green monsters 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 future president Donald Trump, with his ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his former spouse Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his genuine article inspiration.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was inspired by a genuine “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world really ended. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film alternate cuts of a self-aware scene where Gremlins hijack the very film you’re watching. One for cinemas, another for home video and television, each providing a grinning portion of self-referential entertainment sorcery ahead of its time.

A Lasting Appeal

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that caught my eye as a child, this subsurface richness maintained my fascination as an adult. In time, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation informing me he made the movie with the express purpose of mocking those who loved its goofy-but-heartfelt predecessor and desired a sequel. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he gleefully confessed. This cartoonish rebelliousness and determination to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only made me love it even more.

When I went through a abrupt familial death recently, I was taken aback to discover 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 nostalgic calm it offered was necessary to thin out my mind’s sadness sludge – but the insights it had imparted to me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just cannot manage. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to be like them: embrace the chaos, commit your entire being into canned food and shotguns and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a most improbable origin – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my comfort movie.