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“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to invest all their resources into preserved goods and firearms.” This nugget of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, bespectacled member of the slimy Gremlin horde that infests Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s nothing more than an investment tip from one monster to another. But, in a strange manner, it’s also remarkably sound life guidance. Seriously, hear me out.

When things go bad, the most counterproductive action you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. Actually, the majority of the dentally-gifted beasts that inhabit Dante’s chaotic 1990 feature (debateably his greatest) possess the same knowing, self-referential funny bone regarding the indistinct border separating daily routine and absolute bedlam. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and with the passage of time, it’s the message that resonates the most.

A Youthful Fascination

Naturally, my connection with this movie didn’t start on such an introspective level. In my youth, 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 likely purchased from an non-chain rental store and featuring snarling creatures on its tattered front. I was immediately enamoured and these films quickly proceeded inserting themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. After that point, they became an almost-daily part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s original typically gets all the accolades, thanks primarily due to its reputation as a partly frightening holiday classic – and don’t get me wrong, 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 retreat into the house and play it. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Gradually, it etched itself permanently in my psyche. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Delights and Cultural References

As I grew, new revelations enriched frequent screenings, elevating the fun of watching diminutive verdant beasts gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time real estate tycoon and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was inspired directly by future president Donald Trump, with his auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his former spouse Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp has more heart than his actual-world equivalent.

The “end of civilisation” 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 as a contingency for the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film varying versions of a meta sequence where Gremlins take over the exact movie you are viewing. A version for theaters, one for VHS and TV, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery prior to the concept being mainstream.

An Enduring Influence

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that caught my eye as a child, this subsurface richness kept me hooked as an adult. Ultimately, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no reservations telling me he made the movie with the express purpose of mocking those who loved its goofy-but-heartfelt predecessor and wanted more. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he cheerfully disclosed. This anarchic rebelliousness and determination to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only made me love it even more.

When I went through a abrupt familial death not long ago, 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? Perhaps not. The soothing reminiscence it furnished was needed to dilute my mind’s mourning mire – but the insights it had given me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s certain elements in life you just cannot manage. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to emulate them: embrace the chaos, commit your entire being into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to view the world with undue solemnity.

It’s robust worldly wisdom from a most improbable origin – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my feelgood film.