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“Well, it’s rather brutal here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into canned food and shotguns.” That bit of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a scientifically altered, articulate, spectacled member of the slimy Gremlin horde that overruns Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s merely an investment tip from one monster to another. However, curiously, it’s also pretty solid life advice. Truly, listen to my reasoning.

When situations deteriorate, the biggest mistake you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. Indeed, most of the toothy monsters that populate Dante’s wild 1990 film (possibly his finest) possess the same sly, self-aware comic sensibility regarding the blurry line separating the mundane and pure pandemonium. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and the older I get, it’s the underlying idea that echoes the loudest.

A Childhood Obsession

Naturally, my fondness for this movie did not begin on such an deeply thoughtful note. In my youth, we only had a few battered VHS tapes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box probably bought from an off-brand video shop and boasting snarling creatures on its knackered cover. I was instantly captivated and these films quickly proceeded inserting themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. From then on, they became an practically routine part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s original usually receives all the plaudits, thanks mostly because of its reputation as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. However, its sequel rarely gets the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d seclude myself indoors and play it. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Gradually, it ingrained itself in my psyche. If my parents observed this fixation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Rewards and Cultural Easter Eggs

As I grew, new insights rewarded frequent screenings, amplifying the pleasure of watching small emerald creatures joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon future president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his second wife Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his real-life counterpart.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a actual “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante went out of his way to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins seize control of the exact movie you are viewing. An edit for movie houses, one for VHS and TV, each delivering a smirking slice of self-referential entertainment sorcery before the term was even a thing.

An Enduring Influence

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that drew my gaze as a child, this subsurface richness maintained my fascination as an adult. Eventually, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no qualms revealing to me he made the movie with the express purpose 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 gleefully confessed. This cartoonish insubordination and resolve to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only made me love it even more.

When I experienced a unexpected loss in the family recently, I was surprised to find that, during my heightest mourning, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Odd, no? Perhaps not. The nostalgic calm it offered was essential to dilute my mind’s sadness sludge – but the stuff it had imparted to me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just cannot manage. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: welcome the pandemonium, invest all your resources into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to view the world with undue solemnity.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a highly unexpected fountain – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my feelgood film.