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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to invest all their resources into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” This nugget of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, talking, glasses-wearing member of the slimy Gremlin horde that swarms Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s simply an investment tip from one monster to another. But, oddly enough, it’s also pretty solid life guidance. Truly, listen to my reasoning.

When things go bad, the biggest mistake you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. In fact, a large portion of the toothy monsters that inhabit Dante’s wild 1990 film (arguably his best) possess the same knowing, self-referential comic sensibility regarding the hazy boundary separating everyday life and unadulterated chaos. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and with the passage of time, it’s the message that resonates the most.

An Early Life Fascination

Of course, my fondness for this movie didn’t start on such an deeply thoughtful note. In my youth, we only had a few battered VHS tapes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case likely purchased from an non-chain rental store and featuring snarling creatures on its tattered front. I was instantly captivated and these films did not delay embedding themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. Henceforth, they became an almost-daily part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s initial installment usually receives all the plaudits, thanks mostly because of its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. Nevertheless, its follow-up seldom receives the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d seclude myself indoors and play it. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. Gradually, it became deeply rooted in my psyche. If my parents observed this fixation, they gave no indication of concern.

Deeper Rewards and Pop-Culture References

As I grew, new insights enhanced frequent screenings, amplifying the pleasure of watching small emerald creatures happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time real estate tycoon 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) alluding to his former spouse Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his real-life counterpart.

The “apocalyptic” 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 went out of his way to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins hijack the very film you’re watching. An edit for movie houses, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of meta pop-culture magic before the term was even a thing.

A Persistent Appeal

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that caught my eye as a child, this hidden treasure held my interest as an adult. Eventually, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no reservations informing me he made the movie with the express purpose of poking fun at 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 happily revealed. This Looney Tunes-esque insubordination and determination to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I experienced a sudden family bereavement earlier this year, I was taken aback to discover that, during my deepest grief, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Maybe not. The nostalgic calm it furnished was needed to weaken my mind’s mourning mire – but the stuff it had imparted to me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just can’t control. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to emulate them: welcome the pandemonium, commit your entire being into preserved goods and firearms 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 forever remain my comfort movie.