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“Well, it’s rather brutal here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into preserved goods and firearms.” This nugget of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, glasses-wearing member of the slimy Gremlin horde that infests Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s nothing more than an investment tip from one monster to another. However, in a strange manner, it’s also remarkably sound existential counsel. Honestly, consider my perspective.

When things go bad, the biggest mistake you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin understands this. Indeed, a large portion of the fang-bearing creatures that populate Dante’s chaotic 1990 feature (arguably his best) possess the same sly, self-aware 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 the older I get, it’s the theme that strikes the deepest chord.

A Childhood Fixation

Understandably, my attachment to this movie didn’t start on such an deeply thoughtful note. In my youth, we were limited to a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box almost certainly acquired from an non-chain rental store and featuring growling monsters on its knackered cover. I was instantly captivated and these films did not delay embedding themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. Henceforth, they became an practically routine part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s original commonly garners all the accolades, thanks largely to its status as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. That said, its follow-up seldom receives the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d retreat into the house and pop it in. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. With repetition, it etched itself permanently in my mental framework. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they gave no indication of concern.

Subtler Rewards and Pop-Culture References

As I got older, new understandings rewarded frequent screenings, heightening the enjoyment of watching little green monsters happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time 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) alluding to his one-time partner Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his actual-world equivalent.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was inspired by a genuine “Doomsday” video commissioned 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 self-referential segment where Gremlins take over the very film you’re watching. An edit for movie houses, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy prior to the concept being mainstream.

A Persistent Appeal

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that captured my attention as a child, this deeper gold held my interest as an adult. Ultimately, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no reservations revealing to me he made the movie with the specific aim 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 cheerfully disclosed. This anarchic defiance and resolve to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only increased my affection for it.

When I went through a abrupt familial death recently, I was taken aback to discover that, during my heightest mourning, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Possibly not. The nostalgic calm it provided was needed to dilute my mind’s grief morass – but the insights it had given me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just can’t control. 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 tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a very unlikely source – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my go-to cinematic solace.