🔗 Share this article Imprinted in My Mind’: The Reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch Is My Feelgood Movie “Well, it’s rather brutal here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into canned food and shotguns.” This nugget of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a scientifically altered, articulate, spectacled member of the slick creature crowd that swarms Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s nothing more than an portfolio pointer from one monster to another. However, oddly enough, it’s also remarkably sound existential counsel. Seriously, consider my perspective. When things go bad, the most counterproductive action you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. Indeed, a large portion of the toothy monsters that occupy Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (arguably his best) possess the same wry, meta funny bone regarding the hazy boundary separating daily routine and absolute bedlam. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and with the passage of time, it’s the message that echoes the loudest. An Early Life Fascination Understandably, my attachment to this movie did not begin on such an deeply thoughtful note. Growing up, we were limited to a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case almost certainly acquired from an non-chain rental store and sporting grimacing beasts on its worn-out artwork. I was immediately enamoured and these films wasted no time inserting themselves inside my small, malleable brain. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my early years entertainment regimen. Dante’s original commonly garners all the praise, thanks mostly because of its status as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. Nevertheless, its follow-up rarely gets the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d retreat into the house 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 mindset. If my parents observed this fixation, they didn’t seem to mind. Deeper Rewards and Pop-Culture Nuggets As I grew, new revelations rewarded frequent screenings, heightening the enjoyment of watching diminutive verdant beasts happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his former spouse Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp has more heart than his actual-world equivalent. The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was based on a actual “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film alternate cuts of a meta sequence where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. An edit for movie houses, another for home video and television, each delivering a smirking slice of self-referential entertainment sorcery before the term was even a thing. An Enduring Appeal While it was creature designer Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that caught my eye as a child, this subsurface richness kept me hooked as an adult. Eventually, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation revealing to me he made the movie with the express purpose of poking fun at those who loved its absurd-yet-genuine predecessor and desired a sequel. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he happily revealed. This anarchic defiance and commitment to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only increased my affection for it. When I endured a unexpected loss in the family earlier this year, I was taken aback to discover that, during my heightest mourning, all I wanted 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 grief morass – but the insights it had bestowed upon 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 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 preserved goods and firearms and try not to approach life with excessive gravity. It’s strong life advice from a most improbable origin – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my feelgood film.