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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. We’re advising all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into canned food and shotguns.” This piece of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, glasses-wearing member of the oozy monster mob that overruns Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s simply an investment tip from one monster to another. But, oddly enough, it’s also surprisingly sturdy existential counsel. Truly, listen to my reasoning.

When things go bad, the worst thing you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. Indeed, most of the fang-bearing creatures that occupy Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (arguably his best) possess the same wry, meta funny bone regarding the indistinct border separating daily routine and absolute bedlam. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and as I age, it’s the underlying idea that strikes the deepest chord.

An Early Life Fixation

Of course, my attachment to this movie wasn’t born on such an philosophical plane. In my youth, 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 bulky previously-rented case probably bought from an non-chain rental store and featuring growling monsters on its worn-out artwork. I was immediately enamoured and these films wasted no time lodging themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s initial installment usually receives all the accolades, thanks mostly because of its reputation as a partly frightening holiday classic – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. Nevertheless, its successor seldom receives the same level of elevated esteem, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d seclude myself indoors and pop it in. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. With repetition, it etched itself permanently in my mental framework. If my parents observed this fixation, they appeared unbothered.

Hidden Rewards and Societal References

As I matured, new revelations enhanced multiple watches, heightening the enjoyment of watching little green monsters gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the later-to-be-president Donald Trump, with his ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his former spouse Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his real-life counterpart.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was inspired by a real-life “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante went out of his way to film alternate cuts of a meta sequence where Gremlins take over the very film you’re watching. One for cinemas, one for VHS and TV, each offering a winking bit of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy before the term was even a thing.

A Lasting Influence

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that captured my attention as a child, this hidden treasure maintained my fascination as an adult. In time, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no qualms informing me he made the movie with the direct intention of mocking 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 cheerfully disclosed. This Looney Tunes-esque rebelliousness and determination to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only increased my affection for it.

When I experienced a sudden family bereavement recently, I was surprised to find that, during my most profound sorrow, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Maybe not. The nostalgic calm it offered was necessary to dilute my mind’s sadness sludge – but the stuff it had imparted to me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just cannot manage. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: accept the turmoil, commit your entire being into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s robust worldly wisdom from a very unlikely source – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my comfort movie.