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“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is 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, talking, bespectacled member of the slick creature crowd that swarms Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s simply an financial suggestion from one monster to another. But, curiously, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Seriously, hear me out.

When situations deteriorate, the worst thing you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin understands this. In fact, the majority of the dentally-gifted beasts that inhabit Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (possibly his finest) possess the same knowing, self-referential sense of humour regarding the hazy boundary separating everyday life and pure pandemonium. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and the older I get, it’s the underlying idea that strikes the deepest chord.

A Youthful Fascination

Of course, my attachment to this movie wasn’t born on such an introspective level. In my youth, we were limited to a few battered VHS tapes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its sequel, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box likely purchased from an independent video outlet and featuring growling monsters on its tattered front. I was immediately enamoured and these films wasted no time embedding themselves inside my small, malleable brain. From then on, they became an practically routine part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s initial installment typically gets all the accolades, thanks mostly because of its reputation as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. However, its follow-up seldom receives the same level of elevated esteem, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d lock myself inside and stick it on. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. Over time, it etched itself permanently in my psyche. If my parents observed this fixation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Delights and Pop-Culture Easter Eggs

As I grew, new revelations enriched multiple watches, heightening the enjoyment of watching small emerald creatures gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the future-focused property magnate and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was inspired directly by future president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his former spouse Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his actual-world equivalent.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a actual “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film different iterations of a self-referential segment where Gremlins take over the exact movie you are viewing. An edit for movie houses, another for home video and television, each delivering a smirking slice of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy before the term was even a thing.

A Persistent Appeal

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that drew my gaze as a child, this hidden treasure kept me hooked as an adult. Ultimately, I even spoke to 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 goofy-but-heartfelt predecessor and craved further installments. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he gleefully confessed. This anarchic rebelliousness and commitment to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I experienced a abrupt familial death earlier this year, I was surprised to find that, during my deepest grief, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Perhaps not. The comforting familiarity it offered was essential to weaken my mind’s sadness sludge – but the stuff it had bestowed upon me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins tearing apart 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 follow their example: accept the turmoil, put everything you’ve got into preserved goods and firearms and try not to view the world with undue solemnity.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a most improbable origin – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my go-to cinematic solace.