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“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. The guidance we offer all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” This piece of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, speaking, glasses-wearing member of the slick creature crowd that overruns 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 portfolio pointer from one monster to another. But, curiously, it’s also remarkably sound life guidance. Honestly, listen to my reasoning.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the worst thing you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. Indeed, the majority of the dentally-gifted beasts that inhabit Dante’s wild 1990 film (debateably his greatest) possess the same wry, meta sense of humour regarding the indistinct border separating everyday life and absolute bedlam. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and the older I get, it’s the message that resonates the most.

An Early Life Obsession

Naturally, my attachment to this movie did not begin on such an deeply thoughtful note. Growing up, we were limited to a few well-worn videocassettes 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 off-brand video shop and featuring growling monsters on its knackered cover. I was right away smitten and these films wasted no time inserting themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. After that point, they became an practically routine part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s initial installment typically gets all the plaudits, thanks largely to its reputation as a partly frightening holiday classic – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. Nevertheless, its follow-up rarely gets the same level of elevated esteem, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d lock myself inside and stick it on. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. Gradually, it became deeply rooted in my mental framework. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they appeared unbothered.

Hidden Rewards and Societal Easter Eggs

As I got older, new understandings rewarded multiple watches, elevating the fun of watching diminutive verdant beasts happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the later-to-be-president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his former spouse Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his actual-world equivalent.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was based on a real-life “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world really ended. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film alternate cuts of a self-referential segment where Gremlins take over the very film you’re watching. A version for theaters, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each delivering a smirking slice of self-referential entertainment sorcery before the term was even a thing.

An Enduring Legacy

While it was creature designer Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that captured my attention as a child, this hidden treasure kept me hooked as an adult. In time, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no qualms informing me he made the movie with the express purpose of ridiculing those who loved its silly-yet-sincere predecessor and desired a sequel. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he gleefully confessed. This cartoonish defiance and commitment 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 sudden family bereavement earlier this year, I was astonished to realize that, during my most profound sorrow, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Perhaps not. The comforting familiarity it furnished was essential to weaken my mind’s mourning mire – but the insights it had imparted to me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just are powerless over. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to emulate them: welcome the pandemonium, commit your entire being into canned food and shotguns and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s robust worldly wisdom from a highly unexpected fountain – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my feelgood film.